South Park Wins First PIAA Girls Basketball Gold

By: Bruce Markey
Saturday, March 23, 2013 | 9:35 PM

The South Park Eagles controlled the game from the start in taking home their first PIAA Class AAA Girls Basketball championship with a 53-38 victory over the Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks. Senior Shelby Lindsay closed out her career with a 20 point performance, besting her season average of 18 points per game.

The Eagles closed the first quarter with an 8-0 run, helped by threes from Lindsay and Halie Torris. South Park extended the lead to 14 as Lindsay exploded with 9 points in the quarter. South Park did it defensively as well in the opening half, forcing 9 turnovers and held Bethlehem Catholic to 7 of 27 from the field.

Bethlehem Catholic made a run to start the third quarter, cutting the South Park lead to eight, when Kalista Walters scored and was fouled. But South Park pulled away again, finishing the period, scoring 10 consecutive points, including a right wing three by Lindsey Noss.

Leading 43-26 at the start of the fourth, South Park put it in cruise control the rest of the way, the Eagles winning their 15th straight game. The Eagles got 10 points from Allison McGrath and 7 points and 9 rebounds both from Breanna Raymond and Torris. Raymond had 8 offensive rebounds. Lindsay added six rebounds. South Park shot 21 of 54 for the game at 38 percent, they were 7 of 10 from the foul line.

Walters led the Golden Hawks with 22 points, the sophomore has already gone over one thousand points for her career, she added 6 rebounds. Bridget Smith only scored 5 points but she added 14 rebounds, 8 on the offensive glass. Bethlehem Catholic turned the ball over 17 times, the Golden Hawks shot 4 of 23 in the second half from the floor, 11 of 50 for the game, including 0 of 10 from behind the arc. Bethlehem Catholic was 16 of 20 from the foul line, they won the board battle 39 to 36.

Score By Quarter:
South Park Eagles   14 – 12 – 17 – 10 = 53
Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks 6 – 10 – 10 – 12 = 36