Raiders keep league playoff hopes alive

FOUNTAIN SPIRINGS – Tamaqua’s chances of getting one of four berths in the upcoming Schuylkill League girls basketball playoffs got a tad better Thursday evening.

The Raiders throttled a youthful North Schuylkill team, 66-57, making sure the Spartans weren’t going to get a clinching victory. Now the trick is for Dame Fortune to step in and help the Blue Raiders.

To be sure, it is a longshot that Tamaqua (14-4, 8-4 SIAL) can get the league’s Division 1 wild card berth, simply because it trails in the loss column to North Schuylkill by two games with two to play.

“Lots of hope and prayers for us to get there,” said Tamaqua coach Erika Davis after avenging a previous 75-71 loss to the Spartans less than a week earlier.

Whether the win eventually earns Tamaqua a spot in the league playoffs or not, it’s still important as far as the tightly contested District 11 Class 4A playoff seedings are concerned. Tamaqua is currently in a battle with Northwestern and Allentown Central Catholic for the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

“It’s huge win as far as district seeding is concerned,” said Davis. “It’s really tight for that No. 3 seed.”

As for the chances at the league playoff? It’s long shot for the Raiders, since all North Schuylkill (13-5, 10-2) needs to do is claim a win over struggling Pottsville (3-9) Monday evening at Martz Hall and they’re in. Should an upset come about, the Spartans would then face a much tougher task as they would need a win at home next week against powerful Jim Thorpe.

Tamaqua at least kept itself in the playoff conversation, however, thanks in part to a new look zone defense that tilted things in its favor.

“We went zone, which was kind-of-a scary thing because they’re a three-point shooting team,” said Davis.

But the move paid off as North Schuylkill shot just 2-for-16 from behind the arc.

“I thought their zone hurt us,” said North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel. “They slowed us down a little bit. You’ve got to knock some outside shots down, which we didn’t do. We were a step slow tonight.”

North Schuylkill did grab an early 17-11 lead, before the Raiders turned to their one-two punch of Emily Titus and Emma Kuczynski.

Kuczynski whipped up another dandy effort with 26 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Fellow senior Titus dug in to sink 23 points and six rebounds,

Tamaqua also got rock-steady efforts by Bailey Reinhardt and Jamie Zuber. Zuber fashioned up eight points, while Reinhardt connected for six points during the crucial time of the game.

The Raiders came out firing in the second quarter reeling off 16 points, holding North Schuylkill to eight to assert themselves. Kuczynski, Titus and Reinhardt set the tone in a 10-2 spurt. When Kuczynski raced to the bucket with time running out for a buzzer-beating layup, Tamaqua had a 31-25 lead, but more importantly a huge shot of confidence and momentum.

Titus had a monster third quarter with 12 points as the Raiders built a commanding 54-41 lead.

Tamaqua’s lead grew to as much as 62-46 with 2:10 showing in the game.

YOUTHFUL SPARTANS … North Schuylkill does not have one senior on its roster. It has seven frosh and most of them contribute. Sensational freshman Kamryn Mengel poured in 22 points to lead the way against the Raiders.

ANOTHER WIN … Raiders won the JV contest 46-32 improving to 14-2. Serena Jones 12 and Trenyce Wingler added 10 points in the win. Jones had a double-double with 21 rebounds.

TAMAQUA

Kane 1-0-0-2, Zuber 1-5-6-8, Hromyak 0-0-0-0, Boyle 1-0-0-2, Titus 7-8-11-22, Frederickson 0-0-0-0, Kuczynski 11-4-4-26, Reinhardt 3-0-1-6. TOTALS: 24-17-22-66.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL

Himes 3-0-0-6, Wetzel, Mya 3-0-0-7, Mengel, 10-2-2-22, Gawrylik 3-0-0-6, Wetzel, Mad 4-0-0-9, Wagner 2-1-2-5, Stitzer 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 26-3-4-57.

Tamaqua 15 16 23 12 - 66

N. Schuylkill 17 8 16 16 - 57

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Zuber 1; North Schuylkill - Mya Wetzel 1, Maddy Wetzel 1.