The only thing keeping the attention span focused at scorer’s table during Tamaqua’s girls basketball game on Friday was the sugar high scorekeeper Joan Nowak was suppling with her candy stash.

That’s because the Blue Raiders had taken the drama out of the contest very early on their way to a 61-10 rout over of Catasauqua.

The victory in the nightcap of the Lady Blue Raiders Tip-Off Tournament doubleheader, put Tamaqua in today’s championship game against East Stroudsburg South. The Raiders will be looking to maintain the title they have owned since the tourney’s inception three years ago.

Riding the crest of five veteran juniors, Tamaqua was never challenged, galloping off to a 17-5 first-quarter lead. A second quarter shutout increased the margin to 35-5 at halftime..

It was a dress rehearsal of sorts for the Raiders, who have some big goals this season. Tamaqua’s head coach Erika Davis felt her team needed to be defensively better this season after getting knocked out of the District 11 Class 3A playoffs in the semifinal round a year ago..

“We needed to refocus on our defense, that’s something we’ve stressed in the off-season,” said Davis. “I loved our aggressiveness throughout the game. I know we have kids that can score, but we wanted to push the tempo defensively and we did that, especially out at the top with Jamie (Zuber) and Sophia (Boyle). We also got big play from Jen Frederickson, and I loved Rebekah Hromyak’s defense, too.”

Surely the spotlight zoomed in on Emma Kuczynski and Emily Titus when it came to pouring in points. They combined for 28 with Kuczynski knocking home 15 and Titus adding 13. Fredrickson also contributed offensively with 12 points.

Where the Raiders excelled was moving the ball and finding the open player. After the Rough Riders closed to within 6-5 to start the game, Tamaqua kicked it into high gear when Boyle converted a turnover off a steal for a basket, then watched her teammates take control. Fredrickson buried a pair of fielders, and Kuczynski scored four points en route to what turned out to be a run of 29 straight points to close the half.

“I liked the way finished there in the first (quarter),” said Davis. “Too many times last year we didn’t do that. We also converted a lot of turnovers into points and that’s very important if we want to be a great team down the road.”

Certainly Tamaqua’s play wasn’t lost on Catty’s first-year coach Mark Sermula.

“We want to get better and playing a great team like Tamaqua is going to only help us,” said Sermula. “They’re so fundamentally sound. They run the floor, they play defense and they have awareness.”

MOVING CLOSER … Zuber moved into 14th place on the all-time Tamaqua scoring list, surpassing Becky Yacobenas who had 868 career points. Kuczynski now has 874 points.

HITTING NUMBERS … Tamaqua pulled in 38 rebounds. Kuczynski was leader with nine. She also had seven assists. The Raiders shot 23-for-50 from the floor.

UNSUNG … Zuber and Boyle were stifling in pressuring Catty in the frontcourt. That pressure forced the visitors into 20 first-half turnovers.

TITLE GAME … The Raiders meet ES South at 1:30 this afternoon for the title. South unloaded on Lincoln Leadership 65-22 in the opener.

CATASAUQUA

Rushatz 2-0-0-5, Lacey 2-0-0-5, Hawk 0-0-0-0, Huber 0-0-1-0, Roberts 0-0-0-0, Pacchiolli 0-0-0-0, Emery 0-0-0-0, Hicks 0-0-0-0, Gerhard 0-0-0-0, Barna 0-0-2-0, Richards 0-0-2-0, George 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 4-0-7-10.

TAMAQUA

Kuczynski 7-1-1-15, Titus 5-3-3-13, Frederickson, 4-4-4-12, Hromyak 2-0-0-6, Hope 1-3-4-5, Boyle 2-0-0-4, Jones 1-1-1-3, Kane 1-0-1-2, Reinhardt 0-1-2-1, Zuber 0-0-0-0, Frederick 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-13-16-61.

Catasauqua 5 0 2 3 - 10

Tamaqua 17 18 14 12 - 61

Three-pointers: Catasauqua - C. Rushatz 1, Lacey 1; Tamaqua - Hromyak 2.