Point Boro Defeats Middletown South 53-33, Advances to SCT Quarterfinals

The Point Pleasant Borough Girls Basketball team advanced to the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals after a 53-33 victory over Middletown South High School.

For the Panthers, it was very much a tale of two halves.

Heading into their Shore Conference Tournament round of 16 matchup against Middletown South High School, Point Borough Girls Basketball Head Coach Dave Drew was pleased with the way his team has been playing, but was worried about 10th seeded Eagles.

“They are always a tough draw,” said Drew. “Year in and year out, they are very well-coached, hard-nosed and you know no matter what you’re going to be in for a fight.”

With a little over two minutes left in the first half, Coach Drew’s pre-game premonition was very much a reality.

The Panthers had jumped out to a 19-12 lead, but that lead suddenly shrunk to one point. After the 6-0 Middletown South run, Drew decided to call a timeout.

“I wanted to call a timeout before we gave up the lead,” said Drew. “I told the girls to stay the course, relax, and keep doing what we’ve been doing and we will be fine.”

The coaches’ message was received rather well as Kelly Hughes netted four straight points to close out the half, which stretched the Panthers lead to five points heading into the locker room.

“We were lucky to have a five-point lead at half-time,” said Drew. “They were killing us in the corner all half long, but we said to the girls that sooner or later they are going to stop hitting that corner three and when they do, it’s going to lead to fast break opportunities and layups on the other end.”

Following the halftime intermission, Point Borough’s stifling defense finally was able to close out on the Middletown South three point shooters, and held the Tigers to only six points in the quarter.

The stifling pressure defense also led to some easy opportunities on the offensive end for the Panthers.

The Panthers closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run, which stretched their lead to 14 points, which was insurmountable for the 10th seeded Tigers.

Kelly Hughes was instrumental on both ends of the floor for Point Borough. The junior standout netted a game high 16 points, but also grabbed 10 rebounds and 7 steals.

Freshman Lindsay Havens was the other Panthers player in double figures, with 14 points.

“You can never overlook an opponent, that’s why we always as a team take things one game at a time,” said Hughes. “We knew St. Rose was waiting, and we wanted to get another shot at them, so it was important to take care of business first here today.”

Up next for Point Borough in the Shore Conference Quarterfinals will be St. Rose at Brookdale Community College on Saturday. The 2nd seeded Purple Roses defeated the Panthers by eight points earlier in the season.

“We are definitely going to need to be more crisp on the offensive end,” said Hughes. “Last time we played them, we shot less than 20 percent from the field, so we’ll have to shoot the ball like we did tonight, and if we do, I think we’ll be fine.”