On Tuesday night, Cement Belt rivals Northampton and Whitehall locked horns in the final regular season game for both girls teams. For the K-Kids, it was a celebration for Senior Night. For the Zephyrs, it was an opportunity to even their EPC record at 8-8 and qualify for districts on the basis of a .500 league record.

Although the Zephyrs led 12-9 after the first quarter and it was only a 19-18 Northampton lead at the half, the Kids pulled away in the third period to take a 34-23 lead going into the fourth. They led by as many as 18 in the final stanza before the final horn sounded with the score at 50-39.

On Senior Day, it was a pair of juniors that led the way for Northampton. Grace Lesko and Nicole Yellen co-led the K-Kids with 13 points. Lesko’s scoring prowess is no secret as she will likely make her second EPC All-Star team this season and score her 1,000th point midway through her senior year.

Yellen’s calling card is her hustle, but her buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the third quarter and threes on back-to-back possessions in the fourth effectively put the game on ice. Northampton coach Jeff Jacksits praised the first-year starter.

“She was a spark there,” he said, “knocked down a couple shots. Her best two games have been against Whitehall. Over at Whitehall she made four threes.”

Rounding out the scoring for the K-Kids was Taylor Kranzley with 12, Kylie Gilliard with 8, and Devyn Demchak with 4.

Ella Laky led the Zephs with 13 points. Olivia Hines scored 7. Isabella Fonzone had 6. Jade Alvarez notched 5. Ciara Rogers and Morgan Dunbar both had 4.

Whitehall’s season ends with a 7-15 overall record, 7-9 in the EPC. Whitehall coach Will Robertson spoke about his team’s season.

“I’m incredibly proud that although we started 0-7,” he said, “we only needed 1 more win to qualify for districts. They could easily have hung things up, but as you saw tonight, no matter how much time was left on the clock, they fight through everything to the final buzzer. I’m very proud of the way they played.”

Northampton heads to the EPC tournament as either the second or third seed. The brackets and official seeding were not available at the time of writing this article. Either way, the K-Kids will host a quarterfinal game on Friday against either Nazareth or Parkland. The winner will advance to the EPC semifinals which will be played Tuesday night at the PPL Center.