Sophomore Grace Albano goes for a jump shot as Notre Dame-Green Pond defenders look on. (Photo by Chris Christian)
Saturday’s home openers for the Saucon Valley varsity and JV girls basketball teams didn’t exactly go the way the players and coaches wanted them to, but they were a start, and there is plenty of time left this season for the Panther girls to turn things around.
The varsity team lost to Notre Dame-Green Pond 59-12. The JV team’s game was more competitive, but the Panthers still came up short, losing to the Crusaders 36-29.
For the varsity team, Saucon’s high scorer was sophomore Ally Frace, who netted 6 points during the game. Notre Dame’s high scorers were Antonia Bates and Grace Hezel, each of whom landed 14 points for the Crusaders.
In away play on Monday, the Lady Panthers lost to Palmerton, 64-30.
The Saucon Valley team is coached by Head Coach Natalie Woodward along with assistant coaches Kathy Davidowich and Mike Petruny.
Its members include sophomore Madison Adler (#2), junior Colleen Williams (#3), Senior Katherine Naiburg (#5), sophomore Kelsey Cyphers (#10), senior Isabella Medei (#11), sophomore Leah Kramer (#12), junior Abbey Soltysiak (#13), sophmore Ayanna Nuttall (#14), senior Katie Kramer (#15), sophomore Ally Frace (#23), senior Kiele Riefenstahl (#24), senior Olivia Williams (#32), sophomore Grace Albano (#35), sophmore Keara Bradley (#42) and junior Haley Lebo (#45).
Saucon Valley next plays Wilson away on Wednesday, before returning home for a Friday night fight with the Bangor Slaters. All of the games are scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m.
Keith Riefenstahl contributed to this story. Photos below are by Chris Christian. About This Series: Andrew & Sonya Hughes of Hellertown are sponsoring girls basketball coverage on Saucon Source to help recognize the achievements of female high school athletes in Saucon Valley, and in tribute to their own daughters, who were both stand-out student-athletes at their high school, where they played softball, soccer, basketball and field hockey. Between the two of them they earned 14 high school varsity letters. “Female athletics was a big part of our family life for many years, but that journey ended at the high school level six years ago,” Andrew Hughes says. “Through those amazing experiences we also noticed that females don’t seem to have the same level of exposure and support as their male counterparts. So we are very sensitive to situations where we perceive an imbalance of exposure of female student athlete participation in competitive high school sports. We also like to encourage greater involvement of young people in athletics. We would like to help the girls gain more exposure at your news source by adopting some girls high school teams.” Saucon Source thanks Andrew & Sonya Hughes for their generous support of local girls high school athletics.
Photo by Chris Christian
