York Catholic, Central have room to improve in semis
York Catholic and Central York will look to fine-tune their respective performances in a YAIAA girls' basketball semifinal at Dallastown High School on Tuesday.
The Irish are coming off a 68-54 win against Eastern York in a game that featured 45 fouls. While York Catholic took a 10-1 lead right off the bat and a 27-15 halftime lead, it let Eastern hang around and led just 46-40 entering the final quarter. The Irish put away the Golden Knights with a 22-14 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, however.
“You hope it gets better," Irish head coach Kevin Bankos said. "But we are who we are, and we’re OK with that as long as the W is on the right side.”
Bankos added: “We came out flat in the third quarter. We gave up (25) points in the third quarter, that’s not like us. But we do emphasize that we needed to get off to a good start against them. ... We knew that it wasn’t going to be a pushover game at all and it was going to be physical, and it was.”
As for the top-seeded Panthers, they trailed Dover 20-16 at halftime before speeding up the tempo and running away with things in a 56-40 quarterfinals victory.
Central York head coach Scott Wisner recognizes his team will need to get off to a better start against the Irish.
"We talk about it all the time. In the locker room, before the game. We can never get a handle on it," Wisner said. "We just never know which team is going to come out here to start the game."
With that being said, both coaches will take moving on in the tournament bracket and now get to square off in Tuesday's semifinal at Dallastown. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
Each team provides a unique set of challenges to prepare for.
In the case of Central York, the Panthers have a shot at making a deep run in the District 3 Class 6A tournament. The team is headlined by do-it-all wing player Emma Saxton and physical frontcourt players Teirra Preston and Nikson Valencik.
"They’re so deep," Bankos said. "And when you have that, when you have three or four scorers, that’s the hardest team to compete against. On top of that, they’re very good at defense. They take pride in defense."
On the other side of the court, Central York will prepare for elite scoring guard Kate Bauhof. She finished with 30 points against Eastern York despite fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.
“We played them in the first round last year (in the YAIAA tournament ) and she scored 27. So we’re familiar with it," Wisner said. "We were able to overcome it because our balance was a little better. Obviously that’s the focus.”
Wisner also pointed to the play of York Catholic sophomore Jania Wright, who finished with 16 points and four 3-pointers against the Golden Knights.
If you go
Who: York Catholic vs. Central York
What: YAIAA girls' basketball tournament semifinals
Where: Dallastown High School
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday