Bethlehem Catholic finally put to bed their eight-game losing streak last week with a 50-45 win over city rival Freedom. It was the Hawks (3-9) first win in nearly a month and one that certainly was a sense of relief for everyone.

“Always great to see the boys get rewarded with a win for all of the efforts they have been putting in,” said head coach Scott McClary. “They were very excited indeed. We are all competitors and we are all working our tails off, so losing never feels good. If you invest both emotionally and physically into the team and the season, then it is going to hurt when you lose and it is going to feel great when you win. It certainly helps with their confidence to get some positive results for sure.”

Jackson Wickenhieser led the Hawks with 16 points and Josh Benka-Coker followed in double digits, posting 10 points in the win.

It was only the third time this season the Hawks scored 50 or more points and McClary hopes the win can be the start of some momentum for the team.

“Feel like we improved on reducing our turnovers, and simple execution of our offense,” said McClary of the progress the team has made over the past month. “It helped that we made some shots early and got off to a fast start in our last game. In the end, these guys have just continued to show up and give everything they have. That is all I can ask and I am glad they are seeing some results now.”

Becahi made it two wins in a row on Monday night with a 59-45 win over Dieruff (5-6).

The Hawks close out the week with Easton (4-8) and Ridley (4-5) with a chance to climb back into the playoff race. McClary hopes their process of being prepared for every opponent starts to pay dividends.

“We are playing a few more guys in the rotation and even the guys who didn’t get into the game have truly helped us get better,” he said. “As an example in the Freedom game, they have been playing a tough 1-3-1 zone 90% of their season. It is a bit unique so we spent considerable time preparing for it. We had guys that did not play on game night that were critical in preparing us. EW did very well against it in the beginning and it forced Freedom to adjust to us on our terms and play us man to man. Those guys had a big impact on that and that set the tone for us in winning that game.”