Lehighton fends off furious Tamaqua rally

It might be February, but it felt like homecoming night for Lehighton head coach Joe Berezwick.

After 18 years sporting the navy blue and white on the Tamaqua bench, the first-year Lehighton mentor made his first trip to the Raiders’ gym in maroon and white.

After the dust settled, Berezwick and his new team picked up win No. 13 of the year, as the Indians edged the Raiders in Schuylkill League action, 59-55.

“It was strange,” said Berezwick. “When this gym was built, I was the first girls coach to coach here. Now, it’s the first time back and sitting on the opposing side. It was a strange feeling, but it still feels like home. The people here still greet you as if you never left. It’s just that the colors flipped from navy to burgundy tonight.”

The Tribe went on a 10-0 run in the opening quarter and led by eight after the initial frame. With 1:45 left in the period, Lehighton’s Skylynn Faust grabbed a rebound, and did her best Tom Brady impression, rifling a one-handed outlet down the middle of the court to Aubrey Blasiak for an easy layup.

“Sky is a special player and she continues to be our go-to kid,” said the Lehighton coach. “She just continues to keep getting better and better — and keeps surprising us.”

Tamaqua made a surge in the second quarter to cut the halftime deficit to a bucket. Forward Emily Titus was on a mission and couldn’t be stopped. She had a dozen points in the second period alone, and finished the night with 22. She was everywhere; grabbing offensive rebounds, flashing post moves, and hitting mid-range jumpers.

“Emily Titus really had a nice game,” Berezwick said. “She found the pockets that we were giving and she made us pay. Tamaqua did some really good stuff exploiting where our holes were to keep it a game. You gotta give credit to them for hanging in there. They kept making those runs to counter-punch us. They wouldn’t stop chasing her.”

Lehighton’s right-left combo all season has been Faust and Blasiak. It was a special night for Blasiak, as she hit the back-end of a one-and-one with 6:21 left in the game to record her 1,000th career point. The dynamic duo combined for 37 on Friday.

“Aubrey and Sky just have that knack of knowing where each other is on the court,” Berezwick said. “It’ a great one-two punch. I’m just so happy for her. I knew how stressful this has been down the stretch. I’m happy it’s off her back, and I’m proud of how she was able to handle that.”

Blasiak’s 1,000th made it a 15-point game, but it might have made Tamaqua play with a little extra juice down the stretch.

The Raiders went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes, thanks to Emma Kuczynski scoring 16 of her 27 in the final quarter.

“She’s dynamite,” said the Lehighton coach. “We were playing triangle the whole game. From that stand point, we respected her for what she could do, and she was still able to create stuff for herself.”

With 30 seconds remaining, Blasiak fouled Kuczynski while attempting a triple, and the Tamaqua sophomore calmly went to the line and drilled all three foul shots to make it a 56-54 game. About 10 seconds later, Titus went to the line with the score 58-54. She made the first, and missed the back-end. After a scurry for the ball, it ended in the hands of Kuczynski, who got off a decent look from beyond-the-arc, which could have tied the game—but she hit back iron and the Indians corralled the rebound. Faust hit another foul shot to seal the deal for the Tribe with just a few ticks left.

“They just stayed after it,” said Berezwick of Tamaqua. “One of the keys we thought was that we had to come out and get a good start. We accomplished that. There are times where we had them, but we couldn’t put them away and close the door.”

1K … Blasiak became the eighth Lady Indian to join the 1,000-point club. Be on the lookout for a feature story on the Lehighton senior sometime next week.

1 … While it was a magical night for Blasiak, Tamaqua’s magic number is still one. The Raiders have one game left and will need to win in order to qualify for District 11 competition.

FRENCH FREYS … Julia Frey dropped 11 points and made some clutch plays. It was a season high and first time she reached double figures. “This might have been her best game she had all year. Don’t get me wrong, she’s been doing all of the little things great, she’s been dynamite all year, but this was probably her biggest step-out game. When Tamaqua was taking Sky and Aubrey away, she had some opportunities and she stepped into it and she made some big shots for us,” said Berezwick.

LEHIGHTON

Brown 1-0-0-2, Frey 4-0-1-11, Long 0-0-1-0, Hibbler 0-1-2-1, Blasiak 4-8-10-16, Miller 1-0-0-2, Pantella 3-0-2-6, Faust 8-5-7-21. TOTAL: 21-14-23-59.

TAMAQUA

Zuber 1-0-0-3, Hromyak 0-0-0-0, Jones 1-1-2-3, Boyle 0-0-0-0, Titus 5-10-13-22, Frederickson 0-0-0-0, Kuczynski 6-13-17-27. TOTAL: 14-24-32-55.

Lehighton 16 12 18 13 - 59

Tamaqua 8 18 8 21 - 55

Three-pointers: L - Frey 3; T - Kuczynski 2, Zuber 1.