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GIRLS' BASKETBALL: Career-Best Contributions Lift Lansdale Catholic into First Place

By John Knebels (video by John Knebels), 01/13/20, 5:45PM EST

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By: John Knebels

PHILADELPHIA – The crowd was raucous from start to finish. Their opponent aggressively contested basket after basket. Despite the potential anxiety, visiting Lansdale Catholic maintained its composure and forged a 72-58 victory January 10 over St. Hubert’s.

The blue-collar victory bequeathed the Crusaders sole possession of first place in the Catholic League Blue Division at 3-0 while dropping the Bambies to 3-1. The two teams will meet again on February 4 at Lansdale Catholic.

“We needed to come in here and take care of business,” said senior Mia Rosenberger, who recorded four assists, two points, and two rebounds. “Everybody on our team can score. I think we’re trying to have fun with it.”

A well-rounded effort proved to be too much for a resilient Hubert’s team. Junior Timaya Lewis-Eutsey produced a career-high 31 points, hitting on 12 field goals, one three, and four of six from the line. She added nine rebounds and six assists while recording three of the team’s seven blocks.

Freshman Gabby Casey was sensational with 13 points and 17 rebounds. Senior Riley Devitis scored nine points, drilling seven of 10 from the foul line.

Then there was senior Kelly Sabolsky.

Replacing injured sophomore Lauren Edwards at guard and making her first varsity start, Sabolsky scored a career-high 15 points on seven-of-13 shooting, one a three-pointer.

“I was obviously a little nervous, said Sabolsky. “I knew I had to make the most out of the opportunity my coaches gave me. It was a great game and St. Hubert’s played hard, but we came in ready to play.

“I’m thankful for teammates who hyped me up on the bench and kept my confidence up. Being a senior, after taking a year off, it felt nice to get back into a competitive game, play so well, and to be back with my teammates.”

A pleased Lansdale Catholic coach Eric Gidney complimented his entire group, in particular Lewis-Eutsey and Gidney.

“We’ve been decimated by injuries,” said Gidney. “This was Gabby Casey’s first game back from missing a couple. Lauren Edwards was not in the lineup tonight. Autumn Weber, our starting center, was home with the flu. I almost feel like the Eagles. We’ve sort of adopted that next-player-up approach.

“Timaya only had a single field goal in the fourth quarter, but she may have had more assists than every player combined,” he said. “What worked was her understanding that we needed to use more clock. We needed better possessions. We needed to be more efficient with the ball. Her recognizing that was big.

“For Kelly Sabolsky to come out with a career-high 15 and some big baskets, that was a big difference maker for us.”

Game Highlights: Lansdale Catholic Raised record to 3-0 in Blue Division with win over St. Huberts. (Video by John Knebels for PSD)

(L to R) LC's T(L to R) LC's Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, Riley Devitis & Mia Rosenberger talk about today's game and going forward. (video by John Knebels for PSD)

Lansdale Catholic head coach Eric Gidney discusses his team's efforts and composure. (video by John Knebels for PSD)

A blistering second quarter saw the Crusaders outscore the Bambies by 20-7 to take a commanding 33-18 lead into halftime. Defense was at a premium in the third quarter, as LC outscored Hubert by 24-22.

At no point did the Crusaders seem in danger of surrendering their lead.

“We came together as a team,” said Devitis. “You can definitely tell when we’re not sharing the ball because we don’t score as much. But when we do share the ball, we have a high score.”

Lewis-Eutsey agreed.

“When the ball is being shared, it opens up the floor for everyone to take care of their opportunities,” said Lewis-Eutsey. “We played hard and kept the pressure on them.”

Outside of the second quarter – a stanza that has haunted them on several occasions this year – the Bambies proved that they are one of the Blue Division’s top squads. Five players scored seven or more points and three – senior Cassidy Ruk (12), junior Sarah Spaeth (12), and junior Payton Pugh (11) – reached double figures.

“To Hubert’s credit, they came to play,” said Gidney. “They’re a tough team. They’re much improved from last season.”

 

(Contact John Knebels at Jknebels@gmail.com or on Twitter @johnknebels.)