PIAA Tournament preview: Berks Catholic vs. Audenreid
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
What: PIAA Tournament first round
Classification: 4A
Who: Berks Catholic (20-6) vs. Audenreid (19-6)
When: Saturday, 3:00
Where: Bensalem High School
About the Saints: Chestnut Hill commit Caraline Herb scored 26 points as the Saints defeated Eastern York 49-39 in the District 3 Class third-place game. . . Herb leads the team with a 15.1 scoring average and has hit a Berks-leading 66 3’s. . . She has scored 1,113 points, third-most in program history, and hit 218 3’s in her career. . . Sophomore guard Madison Langdon averages 10.9 points, shares ballhandling duties, and is an above-average defender. . . Sophomore forward Molly McFadden averages 8.3 per game. . .Should have 5-10 sophomore forward Sydney Corado back in a limited role. . . Corado is BC’s fourth-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder and has been out with an illness since Feb. 14. . . Looking for first state playoff win since 2018 when they lost to Lancaster Catholic in the final. . . Head coach Bob Birmingham also took Holy Name to a state final in 1993. . . The only other Berks team to go to a state final is Boyertown, which won in 2017. . . Eliminated by Lake Lehman 39-37 in first round at Wolf Gymnasium last season.
What they’re saying: “I’ve heard their name before over the years. But I don’t know much about the program. I have a great eye for basketball so I could tell (Caraline Herb) has game.” — Audenreid coach Kevin Slaughter.
“Hopefully we’ll be ready to play. It’s tough taking off this much time, but hopefully Sydney (Corado) will be back for us so that’ll be a help.” – Berks Catholic coach Bob Birmingham.
About the Rockets: Sophomore 5-10 guard Shayla Smith had 32 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and one block in 85-55 loss to Lansdale Catholic in the District 12 championship game. . . That snapped a nine-game winning streak. . . Smith became the fastest player to reach 1,000 points in Public League history; she reached the milestone in 49 games. . . Smith is drawing Division 1 interest from Stanford, St. John’s, LaSalle, St. Joe’s, Monmouth, West Virginia, and Delaware State. . . She is averaging 25.1 points, 15.2 rebounds, 4.8 steals, and 2.9 assists. . . Junior 5-9 forward Aniyah Howard had 17 points and 13 rebounds in leading team to first Philadelphia Public League title in program history and MVP honors . . . The Rockets defeated Imhotep 56-48 for the Pub title. . . Howard averages 13.6 points and 13.4 rebounds. . . 5-8 forward ZayAhni Neurell (12.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists) and 5-10 forward Erionnah Shelly (5.4 points per game, 8.5 rebounds) provide senior leadership. . . Went to first PIAA playoff game in 2014, head coach Kevin Slaughter’s second season. . .Have never won a state playoff game.
What they’re saying: “(Shayla Smith is) the fastest Public League kid with 1,000 points in the history of the league. We’re talking about people like Dawn Staley who played in the league and some other WNBA players. She’s good. It’s going to be a matter of us handling their pressure and getting good shots, and not being intimidated by their pressure, which I don’t think we will be.” – Berks Catholic coach Bob Birmingham.
“I’ve had several Division 1 players, several talented players. But we just never had the complete team physically and mentally that we have now.” — Audenreid coach Kevin Slaughter.
Winner gets: (4-1) Central Columbia (23-2) or (3-5) Trinity (17-10), Wednesday, March 15.
