By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
In a game of runs, Dana Sensi helped to make sure that the Allentown High School girls basketball team finished strong.
The Redbirds senior guard scored 12 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter as sixth-seeded AHS pulled away from 11th-seeded Robbinsville for a 63-56 win in the Mercer County Tournament opening round Monday.
”It’s the first round of the tournament,” said Allentown head coach Linda Weise after her team improved to 11-9 going into Wednesday’s scheduled second-round game at No. 3 seed Trenton. “You have to win to advance. You don’t want to go in the losers’ bracket. Every game, it’s coming down to the end, so they want to leave it on the floor.”
Sensi and Leah Ogrodnik each had 18 points and both hit four three-pointers apiece. Karlee Corvasce, the hero of Saturday’s 45-43 win over Ewing on her buzzer beater, scored 14 points. Kirsten Romano added nine points on three three-pointers and Mandy Hornyak added four points.
”I think our seniors really stepped up,” Weise said. “Like I’ve told them all along, our team will go as far as they take us. We had some rough patches, but other than Friday, this last week we’ve been playing pretty well.”
After falling to Solebury (Pa.) last Friday in a game when Sensi was slowed by illness, the Redbirds showed some resolve when they came back the next night without Sensi to top Ewing. Ewing had won the first meeting of the teams this season handily.
”We lost to Ewing back in December,” Weise said. “It was a nice win and gave us a little momentum going into today.”
The Redbirds also got a boost with the return of Kathleen Kyle. The forward returned to the court just in time for the MCT.
”Kathleen Kyle, she’s finally able to play,” Weise said. “She’s finally cleared and ready to play. She’ll help us. It’s another forward inside. We can go bigger if we need to. With the Mercer County Tournament and the states ahead of us, it’ll add a little more depth to our roster and allow us to go big if we need to.”
Kyle did not score in the MCT opener, but her presence is important for the Redbirds. A much improved Robbinsville team got 15 points from Taylor Mayweather and 14 points from Kaitlyn Herbert, who made four three-pointers. Mayweather had three three-pointers of her own, but Allentown’s distance shooting was remarkable.
”We hit 11 3s in the game,” Weise said. “It may be a record. I told my AD, Brian (Irwin), you have to check that out. We really shot the ball very well. We did what we had to do in that last quarter to get shots. In the last quarter, we were 10-for-11 from the foul line. We’ve been shooting well from the foul line. In these last few close games that we’ve been able to win, a lot of it is how we shot at the foul line down the stretch.”
It wasn’t an easy game, but Allentown made the plays over the final eight minutes to pull away.
”It was a game of runs,” Weise said. “We’d go up four or five, and then they would hit a few shots. It was kind of back and forth the whole way. Every time we would get a five-, six- or seven-point lead, they would somehow come back and tie it or go up by one.”
Sensi was one of the difference makers for the Redbirds. She tied her season high with the 18.
”In the fourth quarter, Dana had 12 of her 18,” Weise said. “She hit two 3s and was 6-for-6 from the line. Her 3s were big. And Leah hit a 3 as well in that quarter. We had a three or four-point lead, and once we had that lead, we kind of just held on. We were up three, and then when they missed they were forced to foul.”
Sensi and the seniors are coming on strong just in time for the tournaments. Robbinsville will be the No. 5 seed and host No. 12 seed Jackson Liberty on Feb. 27 in the Central Jersey Group III tournament.
”Dana, she struggled in the beginning of this year,” Weise said. “Lately, her shot has really come back. When she’s knocking down shots, it takes the pressure off everybody else on our team. It makes it so much easier. We have more options. She’s been battling the flu. She didn’t play in the Ewing game and other kids stepped up.
”When she’s knocking down shots, our team is so much better,” she added. “We have more weapons. Today, for example, with Leah and her knocking down shots, we were able to get it inside when they were knocking down shots. And when they took that away, we went back outside.”
The Redbirds are happy to have earned a home state tournament game, and they are hoping to continue their strong play down the stretch. Their fourth-quarter effort was the sort of thing Allentown wants to duplicate in every quarter of its remaining games.
”I’ve been all over the girls about giving us a consistent effort out on the floor,” Weise said. “We have to play hard and not turn the ball over. We have to defend andrthe offense and that stuff will come. Offensively, we’re OK. We have to do a better job of defending and not turning the ball over.”

