ALLENTOWN: Basketball teams drop state openers

Girls enjoyed 20-win season; boys had big turnaround

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   The Allentown High School girls basketball team had envisioned a special season, and they delivered during a memorable 20-win season.
   The Redbirds would have liked to add a few more wins, but fifth-seeded Allentown finished 20-5 after falling to 12th-seeded Middletown North, 47-34, in the Central Jersey Group III state tournament opener Tuesday.
   ”I’m proud of the girls and what they accomplished,” said Redbirds head coach Linda Weise. “A 20-win season doesn’t come along very often. I’m not sure when the last one was at Allentown. I’ve been coaching 20 years and this is the third 20-win season I’ve had.”
   The Redbirds had been building in recent years toward this season, and all the pieces were in place for a big run. But on the heels of the loss of their point guard and leading scorer Kali Hartshorn to a school issue, Allentown fell to Notre Dame in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals, then had to regroup for the state tournament.
   ”We were on a nine-game winning streak before lost to Notre Dame,” Weise said. “I thought we were peaking at the right time. You want to be heading into county tournament and state tournament at the right time. I truly thought we were peaking.”
   Allentown didn’t get to finish the way they would have liked, but they can look back on a tremendous body of work over the season. They won the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division, something that had been a major hurdle in the last decade, and they earned the No. 3 seed for the MCT and No. 5 seed for the sectional.
   ”It takes a lot of hard work,” Weise said. “The kids bought into the team concept. They had an amazing year. It’s a bit bittersweet the way things ended. The last eight or nine days have been tough on them.”
   The Redbirds defended well, but could not score as consistently as they had at full strength. Bianca Santos had nine points to lead the Redbirds, and out of the rest of the team, only Alissa Lebers scored more than three points.
   ”Playing without your point guard,” Weise said, “everyone has to take on more of a role and play a spot they’re not used to playing or be a role they’re not used to being in. It was a tough week for the girls, but they responded as best they could have.”
   The AHS boys team also lost its driving force, Tristan Millett, to a school issue, and they too lost in the first round of sectionals. The 13th-seeded Redbirds lost, 70-52, to fourth-seeded Hamilton on Tuesday.
   ”We played hard,” said Redbirds boys coach Jay Graber. “We fought. We battled. It’s a tough game.”
   Hunter Gerling had 16 points to lead Allentown, which finished its season 9-15 after losing its first eight games.
   ”I think it opened our guys eyes a little bit,” Graber said. “We saw we had to work harder and concentrate on the little things and the details. We did that, as coaches too. We did that over the second half. Everything started to come together.”
   The Redbirds will return all but senior Dave Palmieri from a team that figured out how to get the most of itself.
   ”The kid that we lose, Dave Palmieri, he was a great kid,” Graber said. “He’s a hard worker and a great leader. Even though it’s only one kid, he’s tough to replace. His work ethic is tough to replace.
   ”We do have a young group that works hard and is dedicated to the game. Hopefully we can build on that.”
   Right from the outset, it was clear that the Allentown girls had some incredible potential this year. They lived up to it with win after win.
   ”I anticipated that we could be this good,” Weise said. “I thought we were deep enough. I can’t say I’m really surprised. At the same time, I give the kids a lot of credit. It took a lot of hard work and buying into the ‘we is greater than me’ concept that was our motto throughout the year.”
   Leading the way in adopting that mentality were four senior girls. They kept the other 11 pushing forward to new heights. Brianna Gurdon, Mandy Hornyak, Kathleen Kyle and Kirsten Romano were vital to the Redbirds’ success. They set the tone for the season.
   ”The four of them have been amazing over the last four years,” Weise said. “They just brought such great leadership and they’re such great teammates and role models. They bought into the concept of team first. That says a lot for them.
   ”Each of them have played different roles throughout this year and past years. They all accepted their roles and bought into that concept of team first. That spoke volumes for our season this year.”
   The quartet led the Redbirds through a phase of progress. They were better each successive season.
   ”They’re irreplaceable,” Weise said. “We’ve spent four awesome years together. Each brings a different thing, whether it’s toughness or the glue, or their unselfishness and all those different qualities. Those intangible things are what you miss. They don’t show up in the scorebook, but that’s what you miss.
   ”We won the Patriot Division crown, and we hope to put up that banner next December and bring them back and honor them, and that’ll be a great memory of all they did for our basketball team.”
   They will look back on the growth of the team with fondness. For those that will be returning, including three starters, this year generates new goals for the future and the hope that they can be back in the big games and winning them.
   ”I attended the Mercer County Tournament championship game for the boys,” Weise said. “It was such a great atmosphere and even the semifinal we played in at the college was a great atmosphere.
   ”We can definitely be back. Our JV was 17-1. Even though varsity is graduating four seniors, we’re 20-5 and I think we can have similar success. We’re bringing in a good group of freshmen and our JV team was 17-1.”
   There won’t be any shortage of motivation for those that will be back. They did not win a pair of big games that they wanted badly.
   ”You have to remember how you feel,” Weise said. “When you lose the last two games, that has to fuel your off-season workouts. That’s what I told them.”
   It wasn’t her only message to an Allentown girls basketball team that had met so many expectations through the season before falling in the state tournament.
   Said Weise: “I told them after the game that we had to focus on all the good they’ve done for our basketball program.”