HAZLETON — Things seemed to be going North Schuylkill’s way.
Until Alexis Lewis took over.
The Holy Redeemer star contributed 18 points to a 20-point run spanning the second and third quarters to overtake the Spartans for a 61-48 victory Tuesday in the second round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs at Hazleton’s McGeehan Gymnasium.
“She’s a great basketball player. She’s going D-I for a reason,” North Schuylkill coach John Rizzo said of Lewis, an Iona recruit. “That’s probably the best player I’ve seen all year.”
North Schuylkill (25-3) forced five first-quarter turnovers to hold a 16-14 lead after eight minutes.
Spartan senior forward Carly Gregas fueled a 10-3 run with eight points that saw North Schuylkill go ahead 26-17. Guard Tiffany Lapotsky notched the second of her four total steals to finish the run with three minutes to play in the half.
Lewis scored the final five points before intermission off two rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot to cut the Spartans’ lead to 26-22.
“I thought we came out and executed pretty well on both ends of the court in the first half,” Rizzo said. “Any time you can hold Holy Redeemer to 22 points in a half, that might have been the first time all year. I haven’t seen many boxscores where they’ve scored that low amount of points.
“But that’s a good basketball team. You can only contain them for so long,” Rizzo added. “We knew Lewis was going to score points. Could we do a good job of defending the other kids? What we really
didn’t expect was us to turn the ball over that much. The second half killed us, the third quarter especially.”
North Schuylkill turned the ball over six times in the third quarter — most of them coming from the Royals’ full-court zone press — and Holy Redeemer (25-2) reaped the benefits.
Lewis, the younger sister of Penn State wide receiver Geno Lewis, picked up her first-half run where she left off. The 5-foot-11 senior scored 13 of her game-high 30 points in the third and had three of her five steals in the frame.
“We went into the locker room, we talked about some things, things were addressed, some kids were addressed and they woke up the second half and it showed,” Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker said. “I thought our second-half performance was night and day.”
Rebecca Prociak chipped in four points, a block and a steal to the run, while Meghan Corridoni and Sara Flannelly each added a bucket. North Schuylkill’s nine-point, second-quarter lead was turned into a 36-26 Royals’ lead in a matter of minutes.
Lapotsky hit a 3 and Waverly Snyder managed four points before the end of the third quarter to keep within 10 (43-33), but a Lewis basket and a Corridoni 3 pulled Holy Redeemer ahead 48-33 and put the Spartans out of reach.
Gregas, who had 12 points in the first half, was closed down for much of the final two quarters. She sank a 3 similar to the one she made in the District 11 semifinal victory over Salisbury in the final minutes Tuesday to finish with a team-high 15 points.
“The thing that really killed us was their full-court zone,” Gregas said. “We really fell apart with that. But I think we played hard and the outcome just wasn’t in our favor.”
The loss ends a North Schuylkill season that saw the Spartans recapture the Schuylkill League title for the first time since 2007 and reach the District 11 championship for the first time since 2008.
“We’re really proud of ourselves. Our main goal was to make it as far as we could,” Gregas said. “We couldn’t even imagine making it to the state playoffs, especially the second round. This is everything we’ve worked for in the summer and offseason. Every day that we go into the gym, we worked for this.”
The trophies and the state playoff berths, Rizzo believes, did more than add to a glass case.
“These kids are champions, not only because of the Schuylkill League, they’re champions on and off the court,” Rizzo said. “I’m more upset now that my seniors (Gregas, Nina Marone, Chase Stokes and Leanne Long) are graduating. That’s the hardest part for me. These four seniors, from my first year coaching at North Schuylkill, they’ve done things the right way.
“This is a special team. This is a team I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” Rizzo added. “This is a team that put North Schuylkill back to where it belongs and did things the Lady Spartan way consistently.”
Game Summary
PIAA Class AA Second Round
At Hazleton Area H.S.
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (48) — Marone 0 0-0 0, Lapotsky 6 0-0 13, C. Gregas 7 0-5 15, Snyder 3 3-4 11, Jordan 3 1-2 9, Shinkus 0 0-0 0, Stokes 0 0-0 0, Bell 0 0-0 0, Long 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 4-11 48.
HOLY REDEEMER (61) — Hons 1 0-0 2, Lawson 0 3-4 3, Corridoni 6 1-2 14, Prociak 4 0-0 8, Lewis 10 9-11 30, Flannelly 2 0-0 4, Rajza 0 0-0 0, Hebda 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 13-17 61.
N. Sch. (25-4) 16 10 7 15 — 48 HR (25-2) 14 8 21 18 — 61
3-point FGs: Lapotsky, C. Gregas, Snyder 2, Jordan 2, Corridoni, Lewis