Mar. 6—FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Play like there’s no tomorrow.
There are no second chances.
That’s what North Schuylkill head coach Rich Wetzel has drilled into his team, particularly during this postseason when only district champions will move on to the state playoffs. The message is getting through loud and clear.
Friday night, the Spartans, led by a 23-point performance from sophomore Kamryn Mengel, raced past Lehighton 71-32 in a District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal at the Cesari-Hope Gymnasium.
The victory sets up a Monday semifinal at home against third-seeded Allentown Central Catholic, a 55-39 winner over No. 6 Tamaqua in another quarterfinal Friday evening.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 seed Northwestern Lehigh topped No. 8 Pen Argyl 47-30 in one quarterfinal and will tangle in the semis with No. 4 Jim Thorpe, a 71-38 winner over No. 5 Wilson.
“Listen, these kids have one goal in mind and that’s to win the district championship,” Wetzel said after the No. 2 seed Spartans dispatched No. 7 Lehighton. “To get there, you have to go through the steps and this was just one of the steps.
“It’s a mentality. I tell them, if you want to accomplish things, there’s no tomorrow. If we come out today and we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do, they’re not that bad a team and we lose. Now, it’s about you have to take care of business every single day or you go home. That’s the attitude we play with and hopefully it keeps going on.”
The Spartans wasted little time. They were sharp from the opening tap with Katelynn Himes knocking down a triple just 10 seconds in, giving North Schuylkill the early edge and a lead it would never relinquish.
In all, during a 22-7 first quarter, it was one of five treys overall by North Schuylkill, including three from Mengel and one from Mya Wetzel. That performance was part of an overall 18-of-35 first-half shooting performance that had the Spartans up 45-18 at the break.
The fast start was something Rich Wetzel wanted to see against an Indians team that had given his squad trouble during the first quarter of both of their Schuylkill League Division I regular-season meetings.
“I was a little bit worried,” Wetzel said. “The first couple times we played them, we came out sluggish.
“Both times in the first quarter, they hung around with us. I believe up there it was 16-13. Today we came out right from the beginning.”
As it usually does, North Schuylkill’s offensive success began with the way it plays defense.
By the end of the first quarter, the Spartans forced 10 turnovers. By the end of the half, when they were in total control, that number was up to 18. Less than three minutes into the first quarter, Lehighton had already used a pair of timeouts because of that pressure defense.
“The pressure was where we needed it to be,” Wetzel said. “We turned them over, got transition points and built the lead.”
That pressure, combined with the strong shooting night, had the game in the mercy rule with a running clock very early in the third period.
“We shot a bunch (threes) on the year,” Wetzel said. “I don’t know if there’s anybody that shot more than us, and we made a bunch of them.
“But we weren’t hitting them at that great a percentage. Over the last two and a half weeks, our kids now are shooting in the flow of the game.”
Mengel and Mya Wetzel, who finished with 12 points, were the only two Spartans in double figures. Hailey Miller was Lehighton’s offensive leader with 14 points.
Contact the writer: ; 570-628-6025
