When I first saw the Easton girls team play in an early summer league game, I was this close (imagine my fingers about an inch apart) to saying that they were unequivocally the “team to beat” for the upcoming scholastic season–only to see them lose to Nazareth the next day.
Since then I’ve seen the Blue Eagles play a few times, including capturing their second “Allentown Throwdown” Championship in the last three years. This is a very special team. This year’s Nazareth squad seems even deeper than some of the previously successful Blue Eagles teams that brought home various titles. They run their offense through multiple people, and have several different options and players who can score at different spots on the floor. They have people who demand the basketball at appropriate times and the team plays as aggressive a defense (usually a 2-3 zone) as I’ve seen any summer basketball team play.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, they have the area’s best basketball player in Tessa Brugler, who recently committed to Division-I Bucknell?
This is going to be a fun girls basketball winter season, if the summertime play is any indication. Forget Batman V. Superman, Black Widow against Scarlet Witch, or any other “metahuman” analogy you can tie in with this summer’s box office options. Nazareth versus Easton is going to be a war. But as I overhead one Nazareth player astutely mention as she walked off the court after being named champions: “Now there’s REALLY a big target on our backs!”
This is very much true, given that Easton will not be the Eagles’ only formidable foe with their own Division I caliber athletes and an outstanding supporting cast.
Among the challengers include Parkland, Northampton, Liberty, Bethlehem Catholic, Whitehall and others.
Among the key performances this summer was a strong showing by the Freedom girls basketball team. The Lady Pats made their debut in the Holy Family Tournament—which also featured annual powerhouse Central Catholic. The Patriots won six of its 10 tourney games, beating several teams that have had state playoff successes. The Patriots were the last Lehigh Valley team standing in this year’s competition, not to mention holding its own in other tournament action this summer against strong programs.
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As far as Colonial League girls teams I’ve seen this summer, the one that impressed me the most was Northwestern, followed closely by Notre Dame.
I didn’t get a chance to see the league’s and defending District XI 3A Champion Southern Lehigh, but judging by some of the scores I’ve seen, they must be without some of their key players as they sometimes sustained more losses in one day than they did all of last year–and they’re returning nearly everyone! If any team does have a chance during the winter to upset the Spartans, I’d look for the Tigers and Crusaders to be among the best bets.
One other note: The Catasauqua girls basketball team had an interesting summer schedule. Despite still being one of the smallest schools in the PIAA’s new classifications (2A), the up and coming Rough Riders were frequently matched against teams from the 4A, 5A and even 6 A (the largest) classifications.
Still, Catty fared well and showed that they continue to make improvements and could challenge for a playoff spot this winter.
We’ll have more summertime basketball action coming your way on RCN-TV next week, as we broadcast the annual Catasauqua “Tournament of Champions.” Check back to the RCN-TV website for our broadcast schedule.
