Riverside shot 80 percent from 3-point range in the second half Dec. 28 when the Lady Vikes pulled away to defeat Abington Heights, 57-40, in a Taylor Lions Tournament final that matched defending District 2 champions against each other.
TAYLOR — Riverside shot 80 percent from 3-point range in the second half Dec. 28 when the Lady Vikes pulled away to defeat Abington Heights, 57-40, in a Taylor Lions Tournament final that matched defending District 2 champions against each other.
Allison Dammer and Anna Scoblick represented Abington Heights on the all-tournament team, but the Lady Comets were unable to contain both Riverside tournament award-winners after moving in front, 30-29, midway through the third quarter on three Caroline Murray 3-pointers in less than three minutes.
“I thought we did a great job defensively for three quarters and we didn’t shoot the ball exceptionally well,” Abington Heights coach Deanna Klingman said. “We had excellent looks and hopefully we’ll have better games putting the ball in the basket.”
Drexel University commit Kylie Lavelle had 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots on the way to tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
While Abington Heights focused much of its attention on Lavelle, Katie Slaboda went 5-for-5 on second-half 3-pointers to finish with 19 points and make the all-tournament team.
“We had some lapses on defense,” Klingman said. “We knew Slaboda could shoot the ball and that hurt us.”
Dammer had 13 points, 17 rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots.
“She does a lot of things for us,” Klingman said. “She rebounds, she scores, she plays defense.
“Her assignment was a little different because she had to step out onto the perimeter, but she hustles. She played her heart out. I think all the kids played their hearts out.”
Scoblick handled the difficult defensive assignment of matching up with Lavelle and still contributed 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Abington Heights reached the final with a 52-15 victory over Lackawanna Trail, which then finished fourth with a 41-37 consolation loss to West Scranton.
In the semifinal, Abington Heights opened leads of 19-2 after one quarter and 35-9 at halftime, then shut out the Lady Lions while scoring eight more in the third quarter.
Dammer had 14 points, including eight in the first quarter.
Amaralis Thiel and Ella Axtell had four points each for Lackawanna Trail.
Gretcher Rejrat represented Lackawanna Trail on the all-tournament team.
Rejrat and Schirg each had 10 points in the third-place game.