Jays’ drive to five still alive
SUNBURY — Central Columbia's drive to No. 5 remains alive after a 46-43 victory over Selinsgrove in the District 4 Class 4A girls basketball semifinals Tuesday night.
However, the Blue Jays (23-3) needed to overcome growing pains to set up a championship bout with Jersey Shore at a date, time, and location to be announced.
An early run that stretched from late in the first into the second quarters gave the Blue Jays, winners of 13 of their last 14 games, enough padding to overcome some uncharacteristic blemishes throughout the contest.
With neither team getting good looks or shots to drop in the opening minutes — as the Jays had a 2-0 lead hold up for the first 4 minutes of the contest — Haley Bull chipped in with five early points via a 3-pointer and a lob over two defenders. Quinlan Blake added two while Abby Welkom finished the first quarter spree with a 3-pointer of her own. They stretched the run to 13-0 to open the second on an And-1 from Jude Flick.
That's something coach Ryan Novak hopes to see in the championship game.
"Offensively, we need to take care of the basketball and convert in transition, he said. "I thought we left them off the hook when we had some 2-on-1 and some fast breaks and either turned over and just didn't finish. ... Basketball is a game of momentum, but I felt we just did enough to win the game, but we have to do better."
Before that run, Bull was signaling to her teammates, 11 of which are freshmen or sophomores, to settle down. It was Bull who got the Jays out of their funks all night. Just as the second half opened, the Jays again looked out of sync. The senior had enough and drained consecutive 3-pointers to extend their lead to 36-23.
"When things get tough, I lean on Haley Bull and Erin Prezioso," Novak said. "Erin is very quiet and she can be the glue out there for us. Haley has four years under her belt doing this, so it's up to her. There were moments in the huddle of her trying to take charge. She consoled and took charge. She's the first one to call herself out and say we have to fix things or change this."
Her production slowed down in the fourth, but Bull often distributed the ball to other playmakers. That included Blake, who drained a 3-pointer to help finish off the Seals, who went 0-for-6 from behind the arc in the final frame in an attempt to close the gap.
Bull finished with a game-high 15 points, while Blake posted 10. Welkom also finished with 10, all coming before halftime.
Those numbers look good on paper, but Novak knows they could look even better if the young team doesn't think about the district title but instead about playing their style of basketball.
"We weren't satisfied with how we played there tonight. We have a lot to clean up if we want to win the next game," he said. I have to give [Selinsgrove] credit. They really make your life miserable — they run really good sets, they're physical, and they made it difficult for us. We actually, for the first time in a few weeks, were rattled."
Madi Merrell's 13 points led the Seals, while Lissa Kurskie added 10. They had 15 combined points before halftime.
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