Bonner Prendergast knocks off Jim Thorpe

Crunch time.

The moments at the end of a game that are crucial to coming away with a win.

This season’s No. 3 seed out of District 12, Bonner Prendergrast, knows how to perform when the game is on the line.

The Pandas (9-16) have reached the PIAA 4A state semifinals the past two seasons, and used that experience to put away Jim Thorpe in Saturday’s opening round of the 4A state tournament at the Lehighton Elementary Center.

A big 24-point fourth quarter by Bonner Prendergrast — and good foul shooting in the clutch — helped it come away with a 52-44 victory over the Olympians.

The contest turned out to be a tale of two halves.

In the first half, Thorpe was able to execute its game plan, holding the Pandas’ leading scorers — Bridie McCann and Alexis Gleason — to no points. But offensively, the Olympians (23-5) could never pull away, missing multiple close range opportunities.

Thorpe forced nine Bonner Prendergrast turnovers, and the Pandas shot just 3-of-13 from three, but the Olympians only held a five-point (18-13) advantage at intermission.

“We just talked about it, and probably our biggest regret in this one was I thought we should’ve been up a significant amount of points at half,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac. “We left a lot of points out there in the first half, and then in the second half they got hot and in rhythm.

“And then we couldn’t get stops. We tried multiple defenses we run, but just couldn’t get the stops we needed. But again looking back at it, we missed an opportunity in that first half to get up on them by I think what could’ve been 10-15 points instead of five.”

Thorpe continued to hang onto the lead for most of the third quarter, but the Pandas’ Alexis Eagan eventually got hot.

Eagan hit three triples in the third after hitting two in the first half. Her final three of the frame gave Bonner Prendergrast its first lead of the ballgame at the two-minute mark (28-26).

An answer from Thorpe guard Skyler Searfoss to end the quarter forced a tie heading into the final period.

“Gleason didn’t touch the ball much in the first half, so once we got her more involved, it opened up some things for us,” said Pandas head coach Tom Stewart. “And once they made the switch to man-to-man, I thought we were also able to get good penetration.

“Then Eagan got going for us. She’s our top outside shooter, and she actually missed the first 14 games of the season with a broken arm, so I’m really happy for her. This is a battle-tested group. Our league is so tough. I think we went 2-10 in our league, but you put us in any other league and we’d have a lot better record.”

The two squads traded buckets for the first half of the fourth, with neither team gaining any type of game-changing momentum.

After a Searfoss three put the Olympians up one with 3:35 remaining, Bonner Prendergrast would make its winning run.

This time it was McCann who came up big, hitting a deuce to give the lead back to the Pandas. On their ensuing possession, McCann hit a triple from the right wing, which proved to be the dagger.

With Bonner Prendergrast leading by four with around three minutes remaining, Thorpe still had a few more chances to close, but it couldn’t get key buckets to fall late in the game.

LEADERS ... Eagan led the Pandas with 21, and McCann helped out with 13. Searfoss scored a game-high 24 points for Jim Thorpe, while Olivia Smelas chipped in with 12.

CLUTCH SHOOTING ... The Pandas sealed the deal because of great foul shooting down the stretch, going 13-of-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

BONNER PRENDERGAST

Gleason 2-3-4-7, Eagan 5-6-6-21, Beaty 3-0-0-7, McCann 3-6-7-13, Dolan 2-0-0-4, Jackson 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-15-17-52.

JIM THORPE

Scott 0-0-0-0, Snisky 0-0-0-0, Hurley 2-3-4-8, Searfoss 8-6-6-24, O. Smelas 5-3-3-12, Yuhas 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15 -1-13-44.

Bonner Pren. 8 5 15 24 - 52

Jim Thorpe 10 8 10 16 - 44

Three-pointers: BP - Eagan 5, Beatty 1, McCann 1; JT - Searfoss 2, Hurley 1.