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By Nick DeLorenzo
Temple University Intern
In front of a jam-packed and raucous gymnasium, Council Rock North remained unbeaten in Suburban One National play, defeating archrival Council Rock South in overtime 50-38.
With the score tied 38-38 with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter, North head coach Lou Palkovics had his team hold the ball just past the halfcourt line to drain the clock, calling a timeout with 12 seconds left to devise a play for the final shot.
“We had our reasons for holding it out,” said Palkovics, whose team improved to 7-0 in league play. “Sarah [Kiely] had four fouls, and we felt we had to shorten the game a little bit, and we knew they weren’t going to come out and play (us).”
Palkovics plan didn’t work out, however.
After South used its last two fouls on two successful inbounds, the Golden Hawks forced an errant pass on the Indians’ third inbound attempt, thus securing overtime.
While regulation was evenly matched back-and-forth action, overtime was owned by North. After holding South to a miss on its first field goal attempt, Rock North junior guard Devin Gold hit a three-pointer with 2:58 left to give the Indians the lead.
After North forced a Hawks turnover, Gold came back 30 seconds later and drilled another three to all but wrap it up for North.
While Palkovics wasn’t thrilled with the shot selection at the time, the Indians’ coach can’t complain about the results.
“Up three points with less than two minutes to go, I was going to hold the ball out,” Palkovics said. “We did run an inbounds play, but it actually wasn’t even for [Devin Gold], but she stepped back off another screen and they never came out to play it.”
Gold herself admits she was surprised to be taking that shot.
“They left me wide open, so there was nothing I could do but shoot,” said Gold, who led all Indian’s scorers with 13 points. “Even though I was off the whole game I just kept my head up and kept shooting and I made them at the right time.”
To go along with her clutch shooting, Gold, along with her younger sister, sophomore guard Lauren Gold, led a defensive attack that forced 13 turnovers and held South to a season-low 38 points.
“When you have [Devin and Lauren Gold] up top, it’s tough for teams to get complacent,” said Coach Palkovics. “It’s tough for teams to slow down games because of the way those two hawk you all over. And when you have somebody as athletic as Kelly [Scull] and Sarah [Kiely] in the back, they can get sideline to sideline pretty fast, which gives Devin and Lauren more freedom to take chances, run and jump and do the little things that cause havoc for teams. I know I’m blessed by having those two up there [playing guard].”
Lauren Gold also recognizes how important her defense was in deciding the outcome of the game, especially during overtime.
“[Coach Palkovics] said we needed to pressure them on defense and not let them get any more baskets in overtime, and we stopped them,” said Gold. “All we could do is not foul, just play strong defense throughout the rest of game and that’s what we did.”
Lauren Gold, who finished with 8 points, closed out the game by going 4-4 from the free throw stripe in the final minute, capping a stellar night from the line for the Indians, who finished 18 for 23.
Senior forward and co-captain Kelly Scull contributed 12 points while fellow senior forward and co-captain Sarah Kiely, who was honored before the game for amassing 1,000 career points, chipped in with 11 points. Coach Palkovics understands the value that his senior leaders bring to the floor every time out, claiming that they are able to open things up so that others are able to make plays.
Rock South – which led 13-8 at the end of one quarter only to fall behind 27-22 by halftime – saw its record drop to 5-2. The Golden Hawks are now in sole possession of third place in the SOL National Division behind North and Abington (6-1).
Leading the way for South was sophomore forward Alex Wheatley with 13 points, just below her 14.1 average, which is seventh in the SOL. Senior forward and co-captain Emily Nowicke tallied 10 points for the Hawks.
The win marks the third dramatic outing in a row for Rock North, which lost by one point to Harvest Prep in a non-league contest Saturday and beat previously undefeated Abington in overtime on Friday night. As a result of its recent success, Rock North finds itself in control of its own destiny in the SOL National Division.
“We’re still undefeated in the league and that’s big,” said Palkovics. “It puts a lot of pressure on South and Abington. We’re happy.”
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 50, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 38 (OT)
Council Rock South (38) – Alex Wheatley 5 3-3 13; Emily Nowicke 5 0-0 10; Jackie Weber 1 0-0 3; Chelsea Allen 2 2-2 6; Lea Britton 1 0-0 3; Alexis Hofstaedter 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 15 5-5 38.
Council Rock North (50) – Kelly Scull 4 3-4 12; Devin Gold 5 1-1 13; Lauren Gold 0 8-10 8; Sarah Kiely 3 4-6 11; Megan Cunningham 2 0-0 4; Emily Grundman 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 14 18-23 50.
Council Rock South 13 9 9 5 2-38
Council Rock North 8 19 7 2 14-50
3-point goals: CR South – Britton, Hofstaedter, Weber. CR North – D.Gold 2, Scull, Kiely.
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