FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Averi Jordan played her first varsity game as a forward Monday night, but no one would’ve guessed it by the sophomore’s performance.
Jordan scored a game-high 24 points and came up with eight big fourth-quarter points to lead the Spartans to a 56-47 non-league victory over rival Mount Carmel at Cesari-Hope Gymnasium.
Due to losses North Schuylkill suffered through graduation, Jordan moved from her wing position to the low post this year. In the first quarter Monday, she showed she was still a threat outside as well, hitting a 3-pointer and scoring the Spartans’ first eight points.
“I hit that 3, so that got me going,” Jordan said. “I just got the momentum and kept going from there.”
North Schuylkill (1-0) watched the Red Tornadoes cut its 10-point lead to just three early in the fourth quarter on a 9-2 Mount Carmel run. Amanda Arellano started the stretch with a 3 and Nicole Varano tallied six straight points before Maura Fiamoncini scored after a backcourt steal, hacking the Spartans’ lead to 46-43 and forcing a North Schuylkill timeout.
Tiff Lapotsky sank a floater to get North Schuylkill back up by five. A minute later, she penetrated the lane, drew three defenders to her and dished the ball to Jordan for an easy lay-in. Sam Shinkus made a similar play to Jordan seconds later to give the Spartans a 53-45 lead with two minutes to play.
“I just tried to get into good position and I have to give credit to Tiff and Sammi for being great players and looking inside and feeding me the ball,” said Jordan, who had eight points and three steals in the final frame. “I know when they need me the most and I just gotta step up my game and do my best.”
As a freshman, Jordan averaged 5.9 points a game on a balanced team with Lapotsky and Waverly
Snyder up top and Carly Gregas and Nina Marone inside. Gregas and Marone graduated in the spring, leaving Jordan as the natural choice to replace them.
“We lost some really good bigs last year,” North Schuylkill coach John Rizzo said. “So to have a kid like Averi, who predominantly played wing for us last year — and played very well at the wing as a freshman — she’s going to be asked a lot more to play inside. I thought she answered that tonight. She came out, was a physical force and, without her, I don’t know if we win tonight.”
Lapotsky added 19 points for the Spartans, which got supplemental scoring from five other players. Fiamoncini’s 22 points led Mount Carmel, followed by Varano’s 18. But the rest of the Red Tornadoes only accounted for seven points.
Mount Carmel (1-1) struggled stringing points together until its fourth-quarter run. The Tornadoes pulled within three points of the Spartans at 21-18 with three minutes to play until halftime. A 9-0 North Schuylkill run quickly pulled the Spartans away for a 30-18 halftime lead.
“We struggled a little bit offensively, we couldn’t really get into our offense. So that kind of didn’t help,” Mount Carmel coach Lisa Varano said. “We were getting one shot, no second chances and dug a little bit of a hole that was too hard to get out of.”
The win is North Schuylkill’s fourth straight against its neighboring rival. Last year, the Spartans knocked the Red Tornadoes from the Patriot-News Class AA state rankings with a 60-48 win in Mount Carmel. North Schuylkill starts Schuylkill League play Thursday when it welcomes Blue Mountain.
“(Mount Carmel) is a big rival. It was a good environment for a non-league home opener,” Rizzo said. “We’ve got a lot to learn from this game. I thought we did some good things and I thought we found some holes in what we need to improve. Before you know it, Blue Mountain comes in here and we need to get better in two days.”
Game Summary
MOUNT CARMEL (47) — Fiamoncini 8 3-3 22, Varano 8 2-4 18, Parker 0 0-4 0, Arellano 1 0-0 3, Wasilewski 1 2-6 4, Little 0 0-0 0, Miriello 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-17 47.
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (56) — Lapotsky 7 5-6 19, Shinkus 2 1-2 5, Bonomo 1 0-0 3, Damiter 1 0-0 2, Jordan 9 5-5 24, Bell 1 0-0 2, Gregas 0 1-2 1, Ossman 0 0-0 0, Peleschak 0 0-0 0, Green 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 12-15 56.
MC (1-1) 11 7 19 10 — 47 NS (1-0) 17 13 14 12 — 56
3-point FGs: Fiamoncini 3, Arellano, Bonomo, Jordan
JV score: North Schuylkill 54-39