With the conclusion of the A-town Throwdown last weekend at Cedar Beach, the Whitehall girls have finished their summer tournament schedule.

First year coach Josh Madas said that it was a tough weekend for the Zephyrs who finished 0-3. Still, he said that each game was really close, and was encouraged by how well they improved in their second meeting against Nazareth this summer. Madas said they were leading at the half, but couldn’t sustain their first half momentum.

“I think we just ran out of juice in the second half,” said Madas.

Nazareth won the Cedar Beach Showcase in the beginning of July, and finished 34-4 this summer. The Blue Eagles advanced to the semifinals and were one of two teams in Whitehall’s pool to advance to the semis. Northwestern Lehigh also made it to the semifinals. Their other loss came at the hands of Central Dauphin East. Madas said that both of those games came down to the final minutes as well.

The field featured 16 teams, and was won by Northampton, which rode the sharpshooting of Victoria Keenan to take the title against the Bethlehem Catholic Orange Hawks team.

Madas said that there were a lot of positives they can take from the tournament. He said their focus since they began their summer schedule is how they play defense. He said they don’t want to be good in stretches, but consistently good throughout the entire game. He said that all three games exhibited the kind of effort that he wants them to have each time they take the court. He said they did a good job defending on the ball, fighting through screens, and just playing tough, hard-nosed defense.

“I was really pleased with that,” said Madas.

As for the offense, he said that’s still a work in progress. Some of that stems from the short time they’ve been together, noting that they haven’t really put in their full offense.

While the weekend didn’t yield a win, he said they came out of the tourney with the knowledge that they can hold their own among good competition. In fact, he wants them to welcome the opportunity to play strong teams so they can build up their confidence. That was something they experienced after the A-town Throwdown.

“We walked away from it feeling confident,” said Madas. “We walked away with confidence that we can compete.”

That tourney marked the end of their summer playing schedule, and now it’s back in the gym to work on their fundamentals in preparation for the upcoming season.