Dallastown girls' basketball handles Northeastern to open district playoffs – York Dispatch

MANCHESTER — The one thing that Northeastern girls’ basketball coach Moe Coleman really wanted his team to avoid happened Monday in the Bobcats’ District 3 Class 6A first-round contest.
Facing the newly-minted York-Adams League champs from Dallastown on their home court, Coleman emphasized and game-planned with one key goal in mind — forcing the Wildcats to play Northeastern’s game. To do that, Coleman needed his team to take control early so his side could set the tone. It didn’t happen, though, as the visitors clawed out to an 8-2 lead in the first quarter, forcing the hosts to play catch-up.
While there were runs and spurts that saw the Division II champs draw close in the first half, the Dallastown girls controlled the second half, holding Northeastern to a mere nine points in total. That combined with a big game from Praise Matthews, who scored a game-high 16 points, was a recipe for a 46-26 thumping that ended the Manchester girls’ season.
“Our kids did a heck of a job tonight,” Dallastown coach Jay Rexroth said. “They just believe in each other. And it all goes back to our defense. I think we rebounded well defensively.”
Rexroth and his team, which improved to 18-8, will move on to the quarterfinal round at Lebanon (24-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Bobcats (17-7) rallied back from their early deficit to forge an 8-all deadlock when a Dallastown inbounds pass went directly to Nylah Davis, who raced down the court for an uncontested layup. Needing more of the same, however, the Northeastern girls surrendered a 6-0 run on back-to-back 3-pointers, the latter of which came from Matthews.
The Wildcats’ lead was cut to four on two more occasions (19-15 and 24-20) before Dallastown went on a 19-3 run that put the contest away midway through the final stanza.
“That’s a good team,” Coleman said. “They took away the paint and when we passed it around the perimeter, they closed out and they closed out well. Just a very good team.”
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Taking away the paint was something Coleman hoped to prevent the Wildcats from doing. By getting ahead, Dallastown could play a zone, which has been Northeastern’s kryptonite of sorts this year.
“They made us play their style, which is what we wanted to avoid,” Coleman said.
Rexroth knew that and planned for his team to take away the strengths that carried the Bobcats to a Division II title and the No. 6 seed in the district draw.
“They live off of 3s, drives and turnovers,” Rexroth said. “They like to score off of transition and, for the most part, we handled their traps well.”
The other big difference was the presence of Matthews. The Bobcats really don’t have anyone like the 6-foot-1 forward, who plays tough and aggressive both in and out of the paint.
“I thought that Praise was phenomenal,” Rexroth said. “She was just (dialed in). She kind of led the parade and she’s so good in transition when we get the ball in her hands and she’s just so good at finding teammates and rebounding. I also think she did a good job of guarding in the post. Just really pleased.”
Matthews, who had a game-high 12 points Friday in Dallastown’s 36-33 league championship victory over Central York, never allowed her emotions to get the best of her on the court. The sophomore played with a degree of discipline and focus that Rexroth and his fellow coaches have been seeing with more consistency over the past month or so.
“I’m just focused on winning,” Matthews said. “We just came back after winning the championship (Friday), but we knew we had to keep our head on straight and try to advance as far as we can.”
Maggie Groh, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted Dallastown over Central York for the league title, added nine points in the winning effort.
With Monday’s victory, the Wildcats are assured of at least two more games this season. The top six teams from Class 6A earn berths into the PIAA draw next month. A victory over Lebanon, the Section I champs of the Lancaster-Lebanon League this year, would clinch a top-four seed as well as a berth into the district semifinals.
“They’re very good,” Rexroth said of the Cedars. “Anybody that beats Lancaster Catholic is pretty darn good. They lost to Columbia (in the L-L playoffs), but Columbia shot the ball really well against them and that’s what we’re going to need to do as well, because they can score.”
Mikayla Coleman led Northeastern with 15 points, while Davis finished with eight for the Bobcats.

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