Saucon Valley junior Shannon Williams led the Panthers with her nine points.
The Saucon Valley High School girls basketball team dropped their home opener against a very talented bunch of Jim Thorpe Olympians 73-20.
Jim Thorpe was led by junior Kayley Kovac and her 32 points. Kovac, who stands 5’10” and averages 24 points per game throughout her young career, was a 3rd team All-State player as a freshman and 1st team All-State last year. She proved to the Saucon Valley crowd Friday night that she can hit jump shots from the outside as well as drive hard to the hoop and finish. Kovac also sinks her free throws and shares the ball to the open player when double teamed. She can do it all.
Saucon Valley started slow giving up a 7-0 lead in the 1st Quarter. The Panthers battled back to close the gap to 10-6. But Kovac rarely missed and led the Olympians to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. Kovac was responsible for 17 of those 19 points.
Throughout the 2nd quarter the Panthers moved the ball well and created good looks at the hoop, but the shots just didn’t fall. Unfortunately for Saucon Valley, Kovac and the Olympians were red hot and capitalized with 20-0 run. Saucon Valley did not get on the 2nd quarter scoreboard until Kat Naiburg threaded a pinpoint pass to Brooke Riefenstahl, who hit a 3-pointer with only 0.5 seconds remaining in the half. The deficit grew to 39-12 with Kovac accounting for 28 of her team’s first half points.
It was more of the same in the 3rd and 4th quarters, as Kovac’s talented supporting cast stepped up to hit their shots as the Panthers struggled to score.
Saucon Valley junior Shannon Williams led the Panthers with 9 points, while sophomore Katherine Naiburg added 6.
Panther coach Jerry Calabrese kept the game in perspective and was able to take a lot of good from the experience his young team received.
Coach Calabrese said, “If you look at the video of our first game last year and compare (it) to tonight’s game, you will see a world of difference. We had good ball movement and made good passes. There was a lot of good to take from this.”
The Saucon Valley Panthers, who start two juniors and three sophomores, put forth great effort against an experienced Jim Thorpe squad who made it to the PIAA District XI quarterfinals last season. The Olympians return with all but one member of that team for this 2016-2017 season; a team that includes a very impressive Kayley Kovac.
There’s no rest for the weary as the Saucon Valley Panthers take their show on the road for a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday at Pocono Mountain East. Good luck ladies, the Source is with you!
