Senior guard Gabby DeVita is the lone returning starter from last season’s historic Emmaus squad.
Despite the roster shakeup, her stardom, as well as the development of the rotation around her, is proving to be more than enough to keep the Green Hornets among the EPC’s top contenders.
In their biggest league matchup to date, they proved it against their archrival with a 51-45 victory over Parkland on Saturday afternoon at Emmaus High School. DeVita led all scorers with 19 points and spearheaded the late surge with a personal 8-0 run that was part of a third quarter where she scored 12 of her team’s 14 points.
“We work on this at practice for this reason – to play good games like Parkland,” DeVita said. “It wasn’t an easy week for us.”
That brutal week had a fitting end as DeVita shined just two days after she became the first Emmaus girls basketball player since 2007 to reach 1,000 career points with a 13-point effort in a 63-44 win over Dieruff.
“I mean, it was definitely a rush,” DeVita said on the moment her 3-pointer splashed through the net. “Getting 1,000 points is a big mark in your high school career, and being able to get that … it was a rush.”
Beyond high-level scoring, DeVita’s defense has been a staple of her productive career, but what makes her unstoppable is when the latter sets leads to the former. That was the case on Saturday as a handful of steals led to easy buckets for the senior phenom while leaking out in transition became just as essential.
Even with three early foul calls, DeVita maintained her aggression on the defensive end with a strategy that not only kept her out of foul trouble, but also frustrated a Parkland offense that struggled to generate momentum after an outstanding first quarter.
“Gabby just does what she does. She’s tremendous at playing the passing lanes without fouling,” Emmaus coach Avon Mack said. “I kind of think that worked in our favor because now she’s playing those passing lanes even tougher now because she can’t get too close to somebody.”
Gracie Ervin, a sophomore whose first varsity minutes came in last year’s EPC championship game, is one of those new starters who continued to step up with 12 points and suffocating defense that rivals even DeVita. Her emergence as the team’s second-leading scorer, complementing her elite defense, is a big reason why the Green Hornets still appear to be the team to beat in the EPC.
“I saw it in her from when I first took over in our first summer league game. That kid plays defense, and if you play defense, you can play for me,” Mack said. “Now she’s stepping into a role, which at one point, I didn’t know whether it was going to be sixth man or a starter. She jumped into the starting role, and I won’t look backwards.”
While Mack won’t look back, he also won’t look past the next game on the schedule, and this 1-0 mentality looks to be working once again for the reigning all-area coach of the year who has his team playing at an elite level with continuity only beginning to grow.
“We respect [Parkland], but we fear no one,” Mack said. “And that’s been the motto. We respect this team that comes out here – Parkland is a staple and always will be – but in order for us to get our respect, we’ve got to beat the best. We knew this was the stage we had to step up in.”
Standout players
Gabby Wismer, Easton: The Red Rovers were looking for a premier scorer to step up this season after the departure of Kourin Carew, and Wismer appears to be up to the challenge for coach Dave Lutz. The senior guard led Easton in scoring in all three wins this week against Dieruff, Pocono Mountain East and Nazareth to raise her average north of 11 points to lead Easton’s balanced attack so far.
Natalie Conner, Northwestern Lehigh: Conner earns standout player honors for the second straight week as an incredible start to her sophomore season continued this week. She’s scored no fewer than 17 points in a game this season and enjoys a comfortable lead at the top of the Colonial League scoring leaderboard after a pair of 25-point performances this week against Moravian Academy and Saucon Valley.
Courtney Connell, Palmerton: The senior forward responded to a season-low output of two points against Lehighton with three consecutive double-digit performances to close the week and bring Palmerton to 7-1 in the opening third of the season. A season-high 26 points against Catasauqua was the highlight of the sensational stretch for Connell who is starring as a top-five scorer in the Colonial League this season.
Player of the Week
Gabby DeVita, Emmaus: The week that DeVita just enjoyed is the week that many players dream of. Another rivalry win, 1,000 career points and a seventh straight win to open league play has DeVita and the Green Hornets in an excellent position to defend their respective titles as reigning MVP and league champions.
She climbed into the top-five of the EPC scoring leaderboard in the win and notched her first player of the week honor of the season along the way as well. There aren’t many better players in this area, if any, and the senior continues to show why in her final season with the green and yellow.
Other notes
Liberty senior Ava Kopetskie extended her streak of 20-point performances to five with a 27-point average in back-to-back wins over Pocono Mountain West and Freedom to end the week … Leah Ault tallied a season-high 20 points to carry a short-handed Becahi squad past ES South on Thursday … Cheryllana Cunningham buried five 3-pointers as part of a 19-point effort in a 66-47 win against ACCHS … Lehighton stayed unbeaten with another marquee win over Palmerton on Monday as 12 points by Olivia Serfass led the way. She added 17 points against Jim Thorpe on Friday to close a 3-0 week for the Indians … Stroudsburg’s Teagan Strunk scored a career-high 30 points in a 72-37 win for the Mounties over East Stroudsburg North on Tuesday … Freedom had four players – Sara Kokolus, Gabriella Sena, Saige Carter and Morgan Pavolko – all score 13 points in a convincing win over the Timberwolves on Thursday night … East Stroudsburg South’s Brianna Rasmussen exploded for 28 points to deliver the first win of the season for the Cavaliers against Pocono Mountain East … Brenna Hammerstone scored 20 points against Moravian Academy and 15 against Saucon Valley, which sparked a 3-0 week for the Crusaders who have won five games in a row to improve to 5-3.
Standings (through 12/21)
Eastern Pennsylvania Conference
(overall and division record)
Northampton Division
Becahi; 7-0; 2-0
Easton; 7-2; 3-0
Liberty; 5-3; 2-1
Nazareth; 5-4; 1-2
Northampton; 4-4; 0-2
Freedom; 3-5; 0-3
Lehigh Division
Emmaus; 7-1; 4-0
Parkland; 7-1; 3-1
Dieruff; 6-3; 2-1
ACCHS; 4-6; 2-2
Whitehall; 3-6; 1-3
William Allen; 0-9; 0-4
Monroe Division
Stroudsburg; 5-5; 4-0
PM West; 3-4; 3-0
ES South; 2-7; 2-2
PM East; 2-4; 1-2
Pleasant Valley; 1-7; 1-3
ES North; 0-7; 0-2
Colonial League
(overall and division record)
East Division
Pen Argyl; 5-1; 1-0
Notre Dame-GP; 5-3; 2-0
Wilson Area; 4-3; 2-0
Bangor; 0-8; 0-2
Moravian Academy; 0-8; 0-3
West Division
Lehighton; 7-0; 2-0
NW Lehigh; 7-1; 1-0
Palmerton; 7-1; 2-1
Northern Lehigh; 4-4; 1-2
Jim Thorpe; 0-7; 0-3
South Division
Catasauqua; 4-3; 2-0
Salisbury; 5-2; 1-0
Southern Lehigh; 2-5; 1-1
Palisades; 2-6; 0-1
Saucon Valley; 2-6; 0-2
Rankings
1. Becahi 7-0
2. Emmaus 7-1
3. Parkland 7-1
4. Easton 6-2
5. Nazareth 5-4
6. NW Lehigh 7-1
7. Lehighton 7-0
8. Palmerton 7-1
9. ACCHS 4-6
10. Notre Dame-GP 5-3
Just missed: Dieruff (6-3), Executive Education (4-1), Liberty (5-3)
Top scorers (through 12/21)
(Name, school, average)
Ava Kopetskie; Liberty; 23.6
Natalie Conner; NW Lehigh; 21.9
Kamryn Gallis; Becahi; 19.3
Juliana Bonham; Wilson Area; 19.2
Hailey Jenkins; Catasauqua; 18.7
Jayla Rosario; Dieruff; 17.3
Kendra Morgan; Salisbury; 16.3
Alexa Davis; Nazareth; 16.0
Courtney Connell; Palmerton; 14.9
Gabby DeVita; Emmaus; 14.1
Kaylin Stewart; Catasauqua; 13.5
Karly Leszcynski; Nazareth; 13.5
Teagan Strunk; Stroudsburg; 13.3
Aliyah Brame; Becahi; 13.1
Tegan Simms; Northern Lehigh; 12.4
Leah Ault; Becahi; 12.4
Gracie Ervin; Emmaus; 11.9
Ryleigh Trotman; Lehighton; 11.5
Olivia Serfass; Lehighton; 11.5
Adriana Borzio; Stroudsburg; 11.5
