By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
TAYLOR – The same misfortunes that have altered the starting lineups that Dunmore has sent out throughout Carrie Toomey’s first season as head coach have created an uncommon bench strength that the Lady Bucks put on display Monday night while handling second-place Riverside, 53-27, and moving a step closer to a 10th straight Lackawanna League Division 3 girls basketball title.
Dunmore’s bench combination posted statistical advantage of 17-0 in points, 13-4 in rebounds, 5-0 in assists and 5-1 in steals over its Riverside counterparts.
Toomey has gotten less than one full game of playing time out of her daughter, three-time all-stater and North Carolina commit Ciera Toomey, who continues to show progress in the return from reconstructive knee surgery. The Lady Bucks went through the middle of the league season without leading scorer and defensive pest Sophia Talutto.
Those forced adjustments, along with the task of blending the usual Dunmore assortment of talented freshmen into the lineup, have meant some changes along the way to a 9-0 league and 16-3 overall record.
The good news for coach Toomey is the Lady Bucks now feature nine players who have started in significant games. Eight of those players have scored in double figures at one time or another.
“The team chemistry is better with our top six or seven players,” coach Toomey said. “I luckily sometimes have a hard time deciding who those top seven are, depending on the size of the (opponent).
“I’ve been very happy with my bench. I feel like they’ve definitely improved and grown through the seaso. Because of Sophia getting hurt and other people being sick, different people have stepped up, which will only help us gain confidence for the playoffs.”
As Dunmore traded leads with Riverside for all of 2½ minutes to begin Monday’s game, coach Toomey’s bench options included her daughter; Sophia Summa, who turned a spot start into a 17-point game; Allie Dempsey, who had 12 points in that same win over Old Forge; and Ana Pacewicz, who started a state playoff victory after taking over for the injured Ciera Toomey in the second half of a tense district championship game win last season.
While Amanda Dempsey was leading a balanced offense with 11 points and contributing defensively with 3 steals Monday, the Dunmore subs were blending in, providing sparks when necessary.
Ciera Toomey played 8:14, her longest stretch of the season, and produced season-highs of eight points, seven rebounds and four assists.
“She said to me that she felt the best this week,” her mother/coach said.
Summa shared the steals lead of three with Dempsey.
Pacewicz maneuvered past taller players to lead Dunmore in offensive rebounds with three. She combined with Tristan Canavan’s game-high 10 rebounds and Ciera Toomey’s 27-rebound pace to lead the Lady Bucks to a 41-26 advantage on the boards.
Most importantly, Dunmore was able to still keep the starters involved and hit Riverside with a variety of weapons.
Talutto had nine points and two steals.
Cadie Lewis scored seven points and handled a key defensive assignment. She made Riverside scoring leader Lillie Pon work for her 14 points and despite that matchup sending Pon to the post at times to use her significant height advantage, Lewis kept Pon from getting a single offensive rebound.
Pon made a 3-pointer and set up Lexi Kostoff for Riverside’s only two leads, 3-2 and 5-4.
Dunmore then got five points each from Lewis and Talutto in a 14-1 run to an 18-6 lead on Talutto’s 3-pointer to open the second quarter.
Pon hit the second of her two 3-points and made a shot over the 6-foot-4 Toomey to get the Lady Vikes back within nine points twice in the first 1:31 of the second quarter. With Lewis doing much of the work to hold Pon to 2-for-9 shooting and six points the rest of the way, Dunmore kept its lead in double figures for the last 6:17 of the second quarter and the entire second half.
“She didn’t let her cut to the basket,” Carrie Toomey said of Lewis. “She made everything difficult.
“And, of course, they wanted to post her, but Tristan helped; everybody kind of helped when that happened. Cadie always steps up and wants to take their best player.”
Dempsey began and ended an 8-0 run to a 28-11 lead late in the half.
Ciera Toomey re-entered the game with three minutes left in the third quarter and did all the scoring, along with grabbing five of her rebounds and making a steal, during an 8-3 finish for a 43-20 lead.
Allie Dempsey had four points, Summa three and Lucy Monahan two as part of the bench production.
Alex Williams had seven rebounds and two blocked shots for Riverside. Pon had six defensive rebounds and Kostoff had four steals.
