BAL girls basketball championship: Christopher Dock 41, Morrisville 32 Swintosky helps Dock upset Morrisville for title
Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 6:12 am, Sun Feb 19, 2012.
PHILADELPHIA — After the trophy had been presented and her teammates had gathered for a few photographs, Laura Swintosky was still fighting the urge to break down.
“These are the best tears I’ve ever cried,” said the senior forward from Christopher Dock. “It is awesome. This was one of our postseason goals, so this was really big for us.”
Nobody would have blamed her. Because in a game between two top seeds in the District One Class AA and A playoffs, it was the Class AA Pioneers who made a gigantic statement on Saturday night with a 41-32 win over Class A top seed Morrisville in the Bicentennial Athletic League championship game at Holy Family University.
Christopher Dock (19-5) stopped Morrisville’s 22-game winning streak and avenged a 29-26 loss to the Bulldogs back on Jan. 11.
“We knew after that game that we were going to have to find a way to cut back on turnovers,” Swintosky said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”
For the Bulldogs, the loss was a result of some timid offense early on and some great Dock defense against Morrisville standout Kievanna Lacey. Lacey scored 12 points to lead the Morrisville attack, but most of those points fell during the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs were in catch-up mode.
“This proved to us that we really have to work on our set offense,” Morrisville coach Dave Howell said. “We didn’t get enough out of our set offense all season long, and this drives the point home.
“We’ll be working on that all week (before the Class A playoffs begin).”
Dock came out early on and seemed to have more of a jump in its offensive step. Swintosky was one of the major reasons behind that, scoring nine of her game-high 13 points in the first half to help the Pioneers leap out to a 20-13 lead at intermission.
“When we looked back at our last game, we saw that it was stuff that we did that hurt us,” Swintosky said. “We had to correct that stuff, and we did a good job at that.”
“Swintosky has always been a tough matchup for us,” Howell said. “She’s a really good player.”
Olivia Bradford turned into a big force on the offensive end in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of her 11 points in the session, thanks in large part to going 5-of-6 from the foul line.
“I thought Olivia did a great job for us tonight,” Christopher Dock coach Tim Ehst said. “And I thought Laura was outstanding. Really, they gave us a big lift tonight.”
“These are the best tears I’ve ever cried,” said the senior forward from Christopher Dock. “It is awesome. This was one of our postseason goals, so this was really big for us.”
Christopher Dock (19-5) stopped Morrisville’s 22-game winning streak and avenged a 29-26 loss to the Bulldogs back on Jan. 11.
“We knew after that game that we were going to have to find a way to cut back on turnovers,” Swintosky said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”
For the Bulldogs, the loss was a result of some timid offense early on and some great Dock defense against Morrisville standout Kievanna Lacey. Lacey scored 12 points to lead the Morrisville attack, but most of those points fell during the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs were in catch-up mode.
“This proved to us that we really have to work on our set offense,” Morrisville coach Dave Howell said. “We didn’t get enough out of our set offense all season long, and this drives the point home.
“We’ll be working on that all week (before the Class A playoffs begin).”
Dock came out early on and seemed to have more of a jump in its offensive step. Swintosky was one of the major reasons behind that, scoring nine of her game-high 13 points in the first half to help the Pioneers leap out to a 20-13 lead at intermission.
“When we looked back at our last game, we saw that it was stuff that we did that hurt us,” Swintosky said. “We had to correct that stuff, and we did a good job at that.”
“Swintosky has always been a tough matchup for us,” Howell said. “She’s a really good player.”
Olivia Bradford turned into a big force on the offensive end in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of her 11 points in the session, thanks in large part to going 5-of-6 from the foul line.
“I thought Olivia did a great job for us tonight,” Christopher Dock coach Tim Ehst said. “And I thought Laura was outstanding. Really, they gave us a big lift tonight.”
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DISTRICT 1-A BOYS BASKETBALL
Dock tops Morrisville
BEN REESE
For The Reporter 02/22/12 TOWAMENCIN — Najee Miller took his coach’s halftime talk to heart. The Christopher Dock sophomore scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in the second half to lead the Pioneers to a 45-33 victory Tuesday night over Morrisville in the play-in game of the District One Class A playoffs. It could have been one of the more unusual games of the season. Morrisville had only five players due some disciplinary problems. More than five players would have been necessary to take care of Miller. The 6-4, 265-pound forward went to the basket, getting rebounds and layups in the second half, just the way coach Tony DaCosta told him at halftime. “He played like a beast in the second half,” DaCosta said of Miller, “which is how he always needs to play. I don’t know if I basically need to keep his meals from him or whatever but let me know whatever works and I’ll be sure to implement it for Friday.” The Pioneers meet top-seeded Church Farm School Friday night in the playoffs. Miller had his mission and he went after it. “I went out there and I grabbed every rebound I could and played my heart out,” he said. “I knew they were going to come here and play their heart out and we were going to do the same thing.” Miller’s heart infusion came in the third quarter. Holding only a 23-18 halftime lead, Dock jumped on the Bulldogs early and often. After Sharif Stewart hit a layup, Miller took over. He scored on a pair of free throws to up the lead to 27-18. Nick Castillo got two points back for Morrisville but then Miller got a rebound bucket and a layup to inflate the lead to 11 points. The Bulldogs got three points back on a jumper and a free throw. But Miller finished off his third-period scoring with a rebound basket and a foul shot before teammates Azariah Parmer and Sam Wilkins added the final three points for Dock in the quarter. That gave Miller nine of the 14 points the Pioneers put on the board. It also gave them a 37-28 lead after three. The fourth quarter almost looked like the Pioneers were just trying to prevent Morrisville from scoring and not really worrying about the final score. They did outscore the Bulldogs 8-5 in the period. The unusual portion of the game was the five players for Morrisville. They had no one on the bench except assistant coaches. “I think we’ve done that once or twice while I’ve been here,” DaCosta said of playing against a team of only five players. “But give credit to those kids. They battled, battled thick and thin. “I have nothing but credit for Orick (Smith, the Bulldogs’ coach) and what they have been able to do.” DaCosta was a bit surprised to be facing Morrisville, a team the Pioneers had beaten 48-26 back in early December. “I didn’t take them as a typical nine seed,” he said. “I don’t ever take my opponent for granted. You have to respect everyone because when you don’t, you’re going to find yourself on the short end of the stick.” Morrisville played Dock tough throughout the first half. The Bulldogs led the Pioneers 7-3 mid-way through the first quarter before Stewart made a 3-pointer and stole the ball for a layup and Tyler Denlinger hit a layup and the ensuing foul shot. A Morrisville basket put the score a 11-9 Dock after the first period. Miller nailed down the first three points of the second quarter on a free throw and a rebound basket. But Morrisville stayed close with a pair of buckets to trail only 14-13 with just under six minutes left before halftime. However, Jared Armstrong fired in a trey and Parmer hit a jumper and suddenly the lead was up to six at 19-13. The teams traded buckets for the rest of the half and the Pioneers led 23-18 after two periods. Then Miller took things into his own hands in the third.
And the Pioneers coasted to the win in the fourth. DaCosta was, for the most part, pleased with the play of his team. “I thought we did a nice job,” he said. “I thought we were pretty sound for most of the game. “The one thing I think we did a excellent job was, in the first half we had eight turnovers. I said that we cannot have more than three turnovers the rest of the game and, sure enough, we finished with three turnovers in the second half. “I always explained to the team that when your turnovers go up, your possessions go down. The difference is in high school basketball there is no shot clock so you don’t have possessions to waste. You’ve got to make each possession count. When the other team scores off your turnovers, you make your situation ten times worse.” The win is only the eighth of the season for Dock against 15 losses. Joining Miller as top scorers for Dock were Armstrong with nine points and Stewart and Parmer with eight each. Nick Castillo led Morrisville with 15. ———
District One Class A First Round Christopher Dock 45, Morrisville 33 Morrisville 9 9 10 5 – 33
Christopher Dock 11 12 14 8 – 45 Morrisville Dakarai Campbell 2 1-2 5; Anthony Bollard 2 0-1 6; Nick Castillo 6 3-4 15; Uriel Savage 2 0-2 5; Nelson Brangman 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 13 4-9 33. Christopher Dock: Jared Armstrong 4 0-0 9; Sharif Stewart 3 1-1 8; Azariah Parmer 3 1-2 8; Najee Miller 5 5-8 15; Tyler Denlinger 1 1-1 3; Sam Wilkins 1 0-0 2; Kyle Martin 0 0-0 0; Jermaine Clark 0 0-0 0; Alex Geistdorfer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 8-12 45. Three-pointers: M-Bollard 2, Savage 1. CD-Parmer, Stewart, Armstrong.
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