SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — Abington Heights limited Scranton to three first quarter points and the Lady Comets cruised to a 49-26 victory over the Lady Knights in a Lackawanna League Division 1 girls basketball game on Monday, Jan. 18.
Hannah Kowalski and Nicole Getz each made a 3-pointer and Alessia Brunori scored four points in the first quarter to help Abington Heights jump out to a 12-3 lead.
Abington Heights’ Cassie Ksiazek, who scored a game-high 17 points, scored six during an 11-3 run by the Lady Comets to start the second quarter. Getz also scored five of her 12 points in the second as Abington Heights took a 27-9 halftime lead.
“I think we really found where we’re all comfortable (on the court) and we know where each other will be when we make passes,” Getz said. “Our defense has also been great and it sets us up for great offensive plays.”
Scranton (6-9, 1-3 Div. 1) converted just 3 of 27 shots in the first half and turned the ball over seven times.
“Abington Heights came out with great pressure tonight and hit some big shots early in the game,” Scranton head coach P.J. Hughes said. “It really changed what we could do offensively. They played hard, were very physical and took us out of our game.”
Ksiazek helped Abington Heights increase its lead to 24 points at the end of the third quarter, scoring 11 points on a variety of drives to the hoop and mid-range jumpers.
“I was really happy with my performance,” Ksiazek said. “My teammates got me open shots by giving me the passes I needed and they set screens to open up spaces for me to attack.”
Kowalski finished with 11 points to give the Comets three scorers in double figures.
“On our team, any one of eight or nine players can be the high scorer each night,” Abington Heights head coach Deanna Klingman said. “We were looking to share the basketball and take good, quality shots, and we did that today.”
The Lady Comets defense held Scranton’s top two scorers, Ciaira Loyd and Tahliah Dillon, to 11 points on 4 of 30 shooting.
“We focused on stopping them, but we also knew they kick the ball out to shooters so we had to watch everybody,” Getz said. “I thought we did a great on defense.”
Abington Heights (11-4, 3-1) had a big edge on the boards, out-rebounding Scranton 33-21. Getz and Brunori led the charge with six apiece.
“We tried to focus on our rebounding,” Klingman said. “The last time we played Scranton, they outrebounded us (36-31) and we really went to the boards hard tonight.”
Scranton made just 9 of 57 shot attempts, including 4 of 19 from 3-point range, and had 18 turnovers.
“Every day, we make a concerted effort to improve on the defensive end,” Klingman said. “Our effort has been great at practice and we’re pretty focused at this point of the season.”
Abington Heights will travel to play Delaware Valley in a Lackawanna League crossover game at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21 in Milford.
