Central Catholic Makes Statement In Victory Over North Catholic, Burns Crosses 1,600 for Point Park
Saturday afternoon saw a packed Alumni Hall for the battle between Central Catholic and North Catholic. The contest did not disappoint the sold out gym, which included numerous college coaches and scouts in attendance.
The first quarter was fast paced and saw punches get traded between both teams with Central leading thanks in large part to Debaba Tshiebwe, who had 6 in short order. Dante DePante, the Vikings electric junior guard, led the pace with 9, setting Central up with a 19-11 lead.
In the second, The Debaba and Dante show continued, proving to be simply too dangerous of an inside-outside threat to be stopped. Central also got a big bucket at the buzzer from junior guard Tommy Kristian.
Central created the breathing room they needed in the third after a DePante 3, Debaba layup and DePante and 1, giving them a 44-30 lead midway through the quarter.
While North Catholic kept firing away, for every salvo they had, Dante DePante had the equal response, powering Central to a 74-59 victory.
The dynamic junior led all scorers with 27. Debaba added 18. and Vernon Settles 10 for Central. Junior guard Andrew Maddalon and Max Hurray split 23 apiece for North Catholic.
Central moves on from this test to a road trip to a very difficult matchup against high flying Fox Chapel(11-1) on Tuesday evening, a game which will have major implications in the divisional title race. North Catholic will face another tough contest as they host Deer Lakes(9-2) in a sectional contest on Tuesday.
In the college ranks, Point Park's womens team defeated Alice Lloyd 79-72 at CCBC on Saturday afternoon. Senior Michelle Burns crossed 1,600 career points in the contest, continuing what has been an absolutely incredible run as one of the greatest WBB players in Point Park University history.
As we called for yesterday, it is proper and just for PPU to reward Burns for her incredible time as a student athlete by playing their final game at the Rec Center and hanging her jersey on the wall, never to be worn again.
The greatest PPU women's basketball player ever deserves that honor.
Point Park will be home for two contests next week at sites TBD. Thursday they will host IU-Kokomo at 5:30 and Saturday they will play St. Mary of the Woods at 3PM.
Follow us @3rbroadcasting and Point Park U WBB @pointparkwbb on Twitter for updates on the venues.
Michelle Burns Image Credit: Point Park University