Waynesburg teams rally to sweep doubleheader
WAYNESBURG — Both of the Waynesburg Central basketball teams faced early deficits at the end of the first quarter, but both squads rallied around their go-to players for a Section 4-AA sweep of Carmichaels Thursday night.
The playoff-bound boys squad from Waynesburg won, 47-44, while the Lady Raiders kept their postseason hopes alive with a 42-34 victory.
Trailing 11-9 at the end of the opening eight minutes, the Raiders (11-7, 7-4) regrouped around their top scorers, Darton McIntire and Mitch Warman.
“We were able to hold on and it was an ugly win,” Waynesburg coach Kirk King said. “We didn’t play with intensity and with focus. Give a lot of credit to Carmichaels, they are a scrappy bunch. It was our defense that kept us in the game.”
McIntire had 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, while Warman collected 13 of his 15 points in the opening 16 minutes.
Liam Shea and Cody Brown were in double figures for the Mikes (9-12, 2-10) with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Alex Hoy chipped in with eight points.
Waynesburg opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run. Sandwiched around six points from the home team, Carmichaels hit three shots from beyond the arc, two of which came from Hoy. The Mikes trailed 27-22 at halftime.
In the third period, the Raiders held a 15-13 scoring advantage and McIntire scored the final seven points for Waynesburg.
“We got into foul trouble in the second quarter and went to a zone defense,” King said. “That surprised them a little and it worked for us. We went back to our man-to-man defense in the final four minutes of the game and our defense got stops. We know it’s going to be tight in the playoffs, and we have learned how to win those tight games.”
Trailing 42-35 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Mikes scored six straight points from Brown to trim the deficit to 42-41.
The Raiders had five free throws from the Mikes in the final minutes of the game. Shea added a free throw to bring the lead down to 47-44 with 17 seconds left, but Carmichaels came up empty on its final two possessions.
“We stuck to our game plan and our defense was able to keep their main scorers in check,” Carmichaels coach Don Williams said. “We wanted to make their other players beat us. We had some open looks late, but our shots just didn’t bounced in for us.”
Waynesburg will end their regular season at Charleroi on Saturday.
In the girls contest, Waynesburg was shut out 7-0 in the first quarter and trailed 13-6 midway through the second before the Lady Raiders (9-11, 5-7) turned up the intensity.
Celine Monica scored a game-high 22 points and scored 11 of Waynesburg’s 13 points in the second quarter to bring the contest to a 13-13 deadlock at intermission.
Taylor Staley added nine points, while Kirsten Garber scored out eight for Waynesburg.
“We have been through a lot this season with injuries and, of course, when Morgan McDowell suffered a stroke a couple of weeks ago,” Waynesburg coach John Garber said. “In all my years of coaching, this has been one of the most unique years. It was a fitting end for us and our seniors were huge in the second half.”
The Lady Mikes (4-17, 1-11) were led by 10 points from Kaitlyn Wilson and a solid overall performance from Kristina Aeschbacher (9 points, 13 rebounds).
“We are a young team and I liked how we didn’t back down tonight,” Carmichaels coach Dan Happe said. “We had nothing to play for, but our girls fought the whole game. We have improved so much since game one and now we are looking for consistency.”
After the Lady Raiders scored five of the opening seven points in the third quarter, the Lady Mikes retook the lead at 18-17 after an old-fashioned three-point play by Aeschbacher.
Waynesburg responded with 12 unanswered points to close out the third and increased its lead to 47-37 midway through the fourth period with an inside hoop by Staley.
Carmichaels’ Wilson hit a pair of late threes to give the Lady Mikes a chance, but the Lady Raiders showed their resolve with five points from the foul line to secure the win on their Senior Night.
The Lady Raiders only hope of getting into the playoffs is having Bentworth upset Beth-Center tonight. If that would happen, both Waynesburg and B-C would have the same identical records and tie for fourth place in Section 4-AA.