Berks Catholic downs Twin Valley to reach Berks girls basketball final [updated]

Brian Rippey, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·2 min read

Feb. 25—Unable to get into an offensive flow, Berks Catholic turned to its defense to reach the Berks girls basketball championship game.

Berks Catholic held Twin Valley scoreless in the third quarter Wednesday night en route to a 27-25 BCIAA semifinal victory at Wolf Gymnasium.

Mackenzie Gordos hit a 3-pointer — the only 3-pointer for the Saints — with 5:22 left in the third quarter to give Berks Catholic a 14-12 lead. The second-seeded Saints (17-3) held the lead the rest of the way to defeat the third-seeded Raiders (16-7) for the second time this season.

Berks Catholic will host fourth-seeded Wyomissing Friday in the championship game. Wyomissing defeated top-seeded Gov. Mifflin 50-48 in overtime in the other semifinal.

Berks Catholic, which averages 48.3 points per game, was limited to 11 points in the first half but trailed just 12-11.

"We both play good man-to-man defense and good help defense," said Berks Catholic coach Bob Birmingham. "The same thing happened the first time we played them."

Berks Catholic defeated Twin Valley 33-22 in their regular season matchup on Jan. 14.

Caroline Reedy scored 11 points to lead Berks Catholic Wednesday. Ava Morrow scored 11 points for Twin Valley.

"I think Caroline Reedy played a great all-around game tonight," Birmingham said. "She did a nice job helping on defense and knocked down some big shots when we needed her to."

Morrow scored Twin Valley's first seven points in the first quarter to give the Raiders a 7-2 lead. But the Raiders, who ran a deliberate offense, were limited to three points on a 3-pointer by Natali Foster in the second quarter and still led 12-11 at the half.

Gordos' 3-pointer put Berks Catholic ahead and baskets by Caraline Herb and Reedy padded Berks Catholic's lead to 18-12 after three quarters. It was the only basket of the game for Herb, who averages a team-high 12.3 points per game.

Berks Catholic built the lead to eight before Twin Valley made a late run. Morgan Lennon scored a basket with nine seconds left and Morrow hit two free throws with 0.8 seconds left as Twin Valley fell two points short.

"I was happy with the effort," Birmingham said. "The first half they were getting a lot of loose balls. We talked about that at halftime. I think in the second half we got about every loose ball. That's what we need to do."