Bethlehem Catholic’s girls’ basketball team is usually a third quarter team, but last Tuesday night, the Hawks lit up the second with 12 straight points in their 59-38 EPC semifinal victory over Freedom at the PPL Center in Allentown.

“Coach told us to stay in the game and don’t let them come back,” said Becahi forward Kourtney Wilson, who scored 18 game-high points. “Watching film, we see the open spots on the floor, so when we come into the game, we just have to execute.”

The second quarter proved troublesome for the Patriots with more unforced turnovers than usual, and that’s when Becahi took advantage.

“I feel like we capitalized off their turnovers and our press,” said Becahi guard Jaleesa Lanier.

Consecutive baskets by Corrin Gill and Brenna Ortwein cut the Patriots’ deficit to nine points early in the fourth quarter when Coach Dean Reiman called a timeout, but the game resumed only to see consecutive threes by Becahi center Abby Brown.

“It felt like they were tired so we pumped up the game a little bit, and we knew they only play, like, six girls,” said Lanier. “They didn’t have anyone the size of our bigs, so we normally pumped it into them, and if they were closing on them, we would try to work the ball outside.”

Lanier and Wilson took care of the rest of the Hawks’ scoring to end the game, securing a spot in the EPC final against Nazareth.

“We were kind of used to this from Hershey so we didn’t let the lights and the big crowd get to us,” Wilson said.