{"id":136513,"date":"2026-03-12T15:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/136513\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T15:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T15:56:12","slug":"bethlehem-catholic-staves-off-villa-maria-to-reach-5a-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/136513\/","title":{"rendered":"Bethlehem Catholic staves off Villa Maria to reach 5A quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST NORRITON \u2014 One team was very familiar with where they wanted to get to, the other hadn\u2019t been there in awhile. Familiarity won out.<\/p>\n

The Bethlehem Catholic girls basketball team broke open a tight game in the second quarter and went on to post a 51-42 victory over Villa Maria in the second round of the PIAA 5A playoffs Wednesday at Norristown Area High School.<\/p>\n

\"BethlehemBethlehem Catholic\u2019s Brooklyn Lewis, left, and Leah Ault celebrate Wednesday\u2019s 51-42 victory over Villa Maria. Tom Silknitter \u2013 For MediaNews Group<\/p>\n

The win puts the District 11 champions (25-4) into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight season. They will face Archbishop Wood on Saturday for the third consecutive year, losing to them in the quarters last season, and the semifinals in 2024. The Hurricanes were looking to reach the final eight for the first time since 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to play Wood again, so I\u2019m excited about that and can\u2019t wait for that challenge,\u201d said Bethlehem Catholic coach Arnold Alleyne. \u201cTheir two best players are gone, so the opportunity is there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game was played at frenetic pace all evening as both teams went up and down the court, for better or worse. The Golden Hawks recorded 20 turnovers for the game to 26 for Villa, many of them came because of errant passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome,\u201d Villa coach Kathy McCartney said when asked if the pace contributed to the miscues. \u201cBut, some of ours were like, what were we seeing. Uncharacteristic mistakes that were made.\u201cBut I said to them that I\u2019m really proud of the fact that they kept fighting. They could\u2019ve folded. It could have gotten ugly, and they kept battling. They were more athletic than us and they were better shooters than we were, but we hung in and we did some good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first quarter was a seesaw affair. Villa took its first lead at 7-6 on a three-pointer from Brielle Romeo.<\/p>\n

The Golden Hawks came back on baskets from freshmen Kamryn Gallis and Ayva Radande to go ahead, 10-7.<\/p>\n

\"BethlehemBethlehem Catholic freshman Kamryn Gallis gets fouled by Villa Maria\u2019s Georgia Spano in the first quarter Wednesday. Tom Silknitter \u2013 For MediaNews Group<\/p>\n

With Becahi trailing, 15-13, Alleyne called time out and brought back in senior Aliyah Brame just before the end of the quarter. That decision proved to be benefical as Brame swished in a three from about 30 feet as the horn sounded for a 16-15 lead after one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taking a sip of water and coach put me in real quick,\u201d recalled Brame. \u201cIt was something we practiced, game situations like that. Just making sure we\u2019re getting up a shot and Brooklyn (Lewis) set a great screen for me, so I was able to get the shot. I felt like it gave us a lot of momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

BC rode that momentum into second quarter, going on a 7-0 run to open up a 25-15 lead with 3:30 left. Ava Broadhurst broke the scoring drought for Villa with a three at the 1:40 mark.<\/p>\n

Avaughna Gordon scored the final basket of the first half with a minute left as the Golden Hawks took a 27-18 advantage into the halftime break.<\/p>\n

Villa star Sophia Tray, who went scoreless in the first half, quickly rectified that at the start of the third. She scored five points in the first minute to slice the deficit to 27-23. The Golden Hawks went on a 10-1 spurt, highlighted by by five straight points from Gillis, who celebrated a birthday on Thursday, to jump out to a 37-24 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew they were going to come back, so we stayed calm and stayed composed,\u201d said Gillis. \u201cJust running what we do, if the shots come to me or whoever it comes to, we trust in our teammates to knock it down. We\u2019re aggressive, we trust in each other and let our game take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

BC scored six of the quarter\u2019s last eight points and had its largest margin of the game, 43-29, heading into the final stanza.<\/p>\n

\"VillaVilla Maria\u2019s Becca Croft\u2019s shot gets blocked by Bettlehem Catholic\u2019s Kendall Nickischer on Wednesday. Tom Silknitter \u2013 For MediaNews Group<\/p>\n

Tray had nine of the Hurricanes\u2019 11 points in the third and McCartney pointed out how Tray has carried the team all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did and she has all season,\u201d she said. \u201cShe\u2019s our go-to person. It did hurt us she didn\u2019t score in the first half, but she refused to give up. The kid\u2019s a beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villa made things tense as they tried to take advantage of a Becahi dry spell. They scored six straight points \u2014 four from Margo Irvine off the bench \u2014 to trail, 43-36, with 4:50 left.<\/p>\n

But, a huge three from Gillis and a layup from Brooklyn Lewis off a turnover, restored the double-digit margin at 48-36 as the Golden Hawks held firm to advance to another quarterfinal appearance.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes concluded their season at 16-10. McCartney talked about the seniors she will be losing in Tray and Romeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrielle is the heart and soul of our team, the kid that\u2019s puts it all out there,\u201d she said. \u201cThat kind of tenacity and teamwork will serve them well at whatever it is they will be doing. They\u2019re going to be really successful adults and that\u2019s makes my heart happy.<\/p>\n

\"VillaVilla Maria guard Brielle Romeo drives the lane against Bethlehem Catholic on Wednesday. Tom Silknitter \u2013 For MediaNews Group<\/p>\n

\u201cSophia is a lacrosse player who play basketball in the winter and is our best player. That tells you something about the kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Catholic 51, Villa Maria 42Villa Maria: Tray 4 3-5 11; Vickers 0 0-0 0; Romeo 1 0-2 3; Croft 3 0-2 6; Troy 2 0-0 4; Urbanski 2 0-0 4; Spano 1 0-0 3; Broadhurst 3 0-0 8; Irvine 1 1-1 3; Del Fra 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 4 10 42.Bethlehem Catholic: Gallis 5 4-4 16; Ault 0 0-0 0; Brame 6 0-0 15; Lewis 2 1-3 5; Gordon 2 0-0 5; Radande 1 2-6 4; Nickischer 0 3-4 3; Davis 0 0-0 0; Fagan 1 1-2 3. Totals: 18 11-19 51.Villa Maria 15 3 11 13 \u2014 42Bethlehem Catholic 16 11 14 8 \u2014 51Three-point goals: Broadhurst 2, Romeo, Spano, Brame 3, Gallis 2, Gordon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST NORRITON \u2014 One team was very familiar with where they wanted to get to, the other hadn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,305,725,726,3801],"class_list":["post-136513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-high-school-sports","tag-pa-prep-live","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-dln"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}