Marion, Dammer propel Abington Heights to title
Mar. 14—WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Clair Marion turned the game around.
Allison Dammer made sure it stayed that way.
Marion scored 12 of her 22 points in a third-quarter surge that snapped Abington Heights out of an offensive funk, and Dammer's blocked shot with two minutes remaining held Dallas at bay as the Lady Comets won their fifth District 2 championship in six years, 63-58, in Saturday night's Class 5A title game at Mohegan Sun Arena.
"I knew I had to come out and change the score," Marion said of the 28-all tie at halftime. "In order for us to win the game, I had to come out and score and keep the game in our hands.
"I knew we had to drive to the basket. If I didn't get fouled, I would have to look to kick to my shooters. I think we did that pretty well and it was working for us and we were scoring."
Abington Heights coach Deanna Klingman made that clear to her 1,000-point scorer in the halftime break.
"I said Clair, we need the ball in your hands," Klingman said. "Credit to some of our kids making some big plays."
Marion drilled a baseline rainbow for 3 and then went 90 feet with a defensive rebound to open a 35-30 lead. Dallas never pulled even again.
"Those girls can shoot the lights out of the basket," Dallas coach Kelly Martin-Johnson said. "We were a little concerned about Marion's penetration.
"We knew (Rachel) McDonald could shoot the lights out of the basket, so our goal as a team was to not let them get a lot of looks at the basket and contain the penetration, and we fell a little short."
McDonald's fourth 3-pointer bumped the lead to 42-36, but there were other plays, each of them huge, from the senior guard.
She had an offensive rebound that led to a basket, made a steal that set up Marion's 3 to stretch it to 47-38, and had all three of her assists in the quarter.
"It's usually tough to shoot down here so I really had to focus even more every time I got it," said McDonald, who was 4 of 8 from 3-point range. "But it was my teammates who drove and kicked and I was wide open, so I had plenty of time to focus on my shot."
Dallas (9-6), led by Bella Hill's 20 points, kept pecking away, and Hill's two free throws sliced it to 49-44 after three, with Deanna Wallace's 23-footer making it 51-47 with 6:15 left.
Abington Heights (13-2) didn't wilt, with Anna Scoblick, Dammer, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, and Marion, who also had five steals and nine rebounds, scoring the next five.
Four straight free throws by Nadia Evanosky trimmed it to 56-51, but that's when Dammer made her biggest contribution, gliding across the lane to reject Victoria Spaciano's wide-open layup with 2:06 to play.
"All week we've been working on our help defense, how to help each other on the court," said Dammer, who had four blocks. "We knew what Dallas was going to bring to the table and I'm proud of how we all stepped up. Every single person, it took all of us to get here and I'm glad we could finish in the arena tonight."
McDonald, who scored 15 and had six boards, hit two free throws, as did Allsion Murray and Scoblick, who contributed nine points, in the final 1:32 to finally seal the victory, which seemed well in hand early in the second quarter with a 25-12 lead.
That's when Evanosky made her mark with six of her seven steals, and Dallas scored 16 of the last 19 points of the half to knot the game on Hill's layup at the buzzer.
"We lost our composure out on the top," Klingman said. "Our other guard was hiding behind the defense, and then we panic and we have stretches like that in basketball.
"But at halftime we recovered."
Marion made sure of that, and Abington Heights took control of the tempo, getting points inside and out, and at the foul line, where they went 12 for 18 in the final quarter to lock up the win and a berth in the state quarterfinals on Saturday.
"I'm so happy we finished strong," Dammer said. "This year's been full of so many challenges and I think we did a great job of staying positive through it all and I'm very glad we ended up with the gold."
The Lady Comets will travel to District 1 on Saturday to play at either Springfield-Delco or Harriton, that winner to be decided Wednesday.
Abington Heights 63, Dallas 58
Dallas (9-6) — B. Hill 8 2-2 20, J. Kocher 4 1-2 11, V. Spaciano 4 3-4 11, N. Evanosky 1 6-8 8, D. Wallace 2 0-0 5, C. Charlton 1 0-0 2, A. DelGaudio 0 1-2 1, E. Viglone 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 13-18 58.
Abington Heights (13-2) — C. Marion 7 6-12 22, R. McDonald 4 3-4 15, A. Dammer 5 2-4 12, A. Scoblick 2 5-7 9, A. Murray 1 2-2 5, L. Lombardo 0 0-0 0, L. Notari 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 18-29 63.
Dallas 10 18 16 14—58
Abington Heights 19 9 21 14—63
3-point shooting: DAL 5-20 (Hill 2-7, Kocher 2-9, Wallace 1-3, Evansky 0-1), AH 7-19 (McDonald 4-8, Marion 2-7, Murray 1-3, Lombardo 0-1). Rebounds: DAL 27 (Spaciano 6), AH 47 (Dammer 8). Assists: DAL 12 (Evanosky 3), AH 10 (McDonald 3). Steals: DAL 12 (Evanosky 7), AH 10 (Marion 5). Turnovers: DAL 13, AH 14. Blocks: DAL 2 (Charlton, Evanosky), AH 5 (Dammer 4).
Turning point
TURNING POINT
After watching a 13-point, second-quarter lead whittled to nothing, Clair Marion caught fire, scoring 12 of her 22 as her team stretched the lead to as many as nine.
HIGHLIGHT
Rachel McDonald didn't have huge numbers, just big plays in the third quarter, hitting a 3, dishing three assists, grabbing two rebounds and making a steal, all with a heavily taped right thumb.
NUMBER
6
District 2 championship appearances for Abington Heights in Deanna Klingman's six years as head coach, four of those games decided by 6 points or less.
Class 5A glance
Quarterfinals
Crestwood 46, Wyoming Valley West 41
Dallas 59, Wallenpaupack 24
North Pocono 53, Pittston Area 31
Semifinals
Abington Heights 61, Crestwood 31
Dallas 46, North Pocono 43
Final
Abington Heights 63, Dallas 58
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