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 My Site News: BG, North Catholic display similar strengths |
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Monday, March 26
BG, North Catholic display similar strengths
By Philip Cmor, pcmor@altoonamirror.com
Bishop Guilfoyle matches up well with North Catholic, its PIAA Class A championship opponent, says a coach who has faced both teams this season.
“North Catholic makes a lot of hay off its press,’’ said Lewistown coach Kevin Kodish. “BG’s well suited to handle that. It’s going to be a great matchup. Of course, Bishop Guilfoyle does a lot with its defense, too. It will be an interesting chess match.’’
The District 6 champion Lady Marauders, ranked second in Class A by the Harrisburg Patriot-News state rankings, take on top-ranked North Catholic, champion of District 7, Saturday at noon at the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State. Guilfoyle is 30-1. North Catholic is 28-4.
Both teams have lived up to their lofty rankings in the postseason. They’ve combined to win 13 out of their 14 playoff games by double digits.
Kodish is in a rare position to compare the games. His Lady Panthers were one of two teams — Penns Manor being the other — that played Bishop Guilfoyle and North Catholic this season. Guilfoyle defeated Lewistown twice in Mountain Athletic Conference Division II play, 65-34 and 65-50. North Catholic beat the Lady Panthers, 70-42, in the championship game of Lewistown’s Christmas tournament.
Kodish felt the teams had similar strengths which could cancel each other out.
“Both use defense quite a bit to create their offense, but both take very good care of the ball,’’ Kodish said. “We might see a game with a score in the mid- to upper- 30s.’’
Guilfoyle and North Catholic also both posted wins over Penns Manor in the interdistrict playoffs, BG by 10 and the Trojanettes by 18.
“Aside from the fact that they’re ranked No. 1 in the state and they’re good, it’s something that you can have the teams ranked one and two in the state and they both move along and meet for the championship,’’ Lady Marauder coach Mark Moschella said. “North Catholic has such great tradition. They have two outstanding guards (April Austin and Erika Cottle) that can put the ball on the floor and an outstanding post player (Amy Longo) to go along with them. We understand we’re going to have to do everything we worked on all year defensively to slow them down.’’
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