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By Nate Oxman
Council Rock North senior Kate Logan sprinted toward the baseline, tracked down an offensive rebound, turned and hit a wide-open Kelly Scull for a layup.On the next Indians’ possession, Logan used a deft crossover dribble to beat her defender baseline and then kicked the ball out to Devin Gold, who buried a three-point bucket.
In the next two minutes, the hard-working Logan knocked down a turnaround 18-foot jumper and also corralled an offensive rebound and converted the putback.
Host Cardinal O’Hara was well on its way to a 56-41 win Friday night at Monsignor Bonner High School in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA girls’ basketball playoffs, but Logan’s all-out effort would continue until the final buzzer sounded.
“I told Kate after the game, ‘When you only have two seniors, it’s so hard,’” said CR North coach Lou Palkovics. “Kate’s kind of been like the unsung hero all year. She doesn’t get the press and all that stuff, but man she makes a difference in games. I just told her that. I said, ‘I’m going to miss you,’ because if anybody exceeded my expectations this year it was her.
“People might say, ‘Well, what do you mean? What did she average, five or six points a game?’ She made a difference in every game, whether it was stepping in and taking that charge or covering the best player on the other team or just hitting a big three when we needed one. She hit that big three in the second half to start us off.”
Logan’s inspired play throughout the contest was infectious and helped carry the Indians in a fourth quarter in which they trailed by as many as 27 points but finished on a 16-6 run.
“I guess my personal philosophy, and hopefully our team’s philosophy, is play as hard as you can and hopefully you’ll win because of that,” said Logan, who will continue her career next year at Division III Middlebury College in Vermont. “But no matter the outcome, always play with heart.”
Scull, a junior who scored nine of her team-high 11 points in the second half, also shined in the defeat, refusing to back down to the high-powered Lions (24-2), who entered the game as the top-ranked team in the state and the District 12 champion.
“I love it,” said Scull on playing with Logan, who scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds. “It’s one of those things where if there’s a loose ball and Kate and another girl are going for it, you know Kate is going to win it. It’s not even a question. I’ve never played with a girl who has that much heart.”
With much of CR North’s focus defensively on O’Hara’s 6-foot-4 senior center Stephanie Holzer, who drew immediate double and sometimes triple teams from the Indians, the Lions guards were able to find open looks from in-close early.
But the Indians hung tough and shrugged off some quick-trigger shooting in the first few minutes, thanks to four quick points from junior forward Sarah Kiely, who drew the difficult task of attempting to lock down the Vanderbilt University-bound Holzer.The Indians trailed just 8-6 before the Lions reeled off an impressive 10-0 run to end the first quarter. It was keyed largely by the heavy focus on Holzer, who kick-started the spurt with a bucket off a textbook press break, then dished out of a double-team to a wide-open Alysha Womack (headed to Monmouth) for two, and again to an unguarded Danielle Callahan (La Salle).
“Not only were they able to get to the rim, but they were able to hit shots in the grid,” said Palkovics. “You know you’ve got to give up something. You’re facing five Division One players and you know they can all play.
“But I just didn’t want to make things easy for Steph inside. The only way we could really do that is [by not playing her] one-on-one in the post. We had to double-down. We had to play two people in there. It didn’t work until the second half when she got into a little foul trouble. That helped us out a little bit.”
Holzer, who finished with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds, scored six straight points to start the second quarter as the Lions stretched their lead to 24-10 and the Indians’ struggled to generate good looks offensively.
The deficit reached 34-12 at the break, but Logan began the second half with a three-pointer and then Kiely converted two free throws after driving to the basket and drawing the second foul on Holzer.But close to the six-minute mark of the third quarter, Kiely picked up a costly fourth personal foul and headed to the bench. The Indians caught a break when Holzer was called for her third foul at the 3:36 mark, but she sat out for just 29 seconds and helped the Lions take a 45-22 advantage into the final frame.
Holzer caught the ball deep in the post and scored an easy two to start the fourth, but was then whistled for her fourth foul while reaching in on a drive by Scull with 7:30 left to play.
Although Holzer sat out the rest of the way and her departure coincided with the start of the Indians’ 16-6 run, the Lions’ other four starters, who also included the University of Maryland-bound Natasha Cloud, remained on the floor.
“I love the way our kids battled though,” said Palkovics. “I mean, they battled … They had their starters in. We had our starters in. With their two kids being in foul trouble, they were out for a little bit, but our kids battled.”Despite the defeat, the Indians were able to end their season with a strong second-half performance – they outscored O’Hara 29-22 – and erase the memories of a hard-to-swallow three-game losing streak that preceded Friday’s game.
“I think that O’Hara was probably the best team for us to play after those three games,” said Scull. “It was one of those things where it was like, ‘How good are you?’ We went undefeated in our league and then we went on a three-game losing streak. This was like a test and the fact that we came out soft in the first half but finished hard shows a lot.”
The Indians (22-6) graduate Logan and hard-nosed guard Juliann Fricke, but return three starters in Scull, Keily and Devin Gold, as well as guard Lauren Gold, forward Emily Groundman and a promising group of underclassmen.
“Coming in, no one expected anything of us and I think the comeback that we made in the second half is what we need to take out of this game,” said Scull. “We could dwell on this first half for a whole year but the fact that we’re only losing two seniors and we have a young team. We have to take that second half and carry it over into next year.”
CARDINAL O’HARA 56, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 41
Council Rock North (41)—D. Gold 2 1-2 7; Fricke 1 0-0 2; Keily 1 5-6 7; Scull 5 0-0 11; Logan 4 0-1 9; L. Gold 2 1-2 5; Groundman 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-11 41.
Cardinal O’Hara (56)—Cloud 3 0-0 7; Callahan 2 5-6 9; Womack 5 2-4 12; Manning 5 0-1 10; Holzer 9 0-1 18; Gardler 0 0-1 0; Stam 0 0-0 0; Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 7-13 56.
Three-point goals: D. Gold 2, Scull, Logan; Cloud
Council Rock North 6 6 10 19—41
Cardinal O’Hara 18 16 11 11—56
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