Lady Pioneers’ resiliency pays off with 55-45 win
West Greene蘑菇视频 Elizabeth Brudnock reacts to the Pioneers鈥� win as Avella蘑菇视频 Colleen Kinney (14) and Katie Dryer (3) walk up the court. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
West Greene蘑菇视频 Jersey Wise (3) knocks the ball away from Avella蘑菇视频 Brianna Jenkins in the first quarter of Friday蘑菇视频 WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Peters Township High School. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
Players from West Greene and Avella scramble for control of the basketball during Friday蘑菇视频 WPIAL Class A quarterfinal game at Peters Township High School. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
West Greene蘑菇视频 Jersey Wise and the Avella bench react to a foul called on Wise during Friday蘑菇视频 WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Peters Township High School. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
McMURRAY 鈥� Playing against the West Greene girls basketball team is like handling a lit firecracker 鈥� you know that at any second the Lady Pioneers can explode on offense and the result will be devastating.
Undefeated West Greene used two offensive eruptions 鈥� at the start of the first quarter and during the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter 鈥� to fend off Section 2 rival Avella, 55-45, in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals at Peters Township High School.
West Greene advanced to Tuesday蘑菇视频 semifinals. The Lady Pioneers were scheduled to play Sewickley Academy. That result was not known at press time. A win meant a spot in today蘑菇视频 WPIAL final at 3 p.m.
The second-seeded Lady Pioneers (23-0) squandered a 19-point lead in the second quarter and fell behind briefly in the third quarter before outscoring Avella, 16-7, in the pivotal fourth quarter. The 23 wins are a school record and believed to be the most by a Greene County girls basketball team.
West Greene defeated Avella (17-7) for the third time. The Lady Pioneers had a 17-point win at Avella in January and a 38-point victory in the regular-season finale, 15 days earlier, which was the last time West Greene played a game.
The Lady Pioneers didn鈥檛 show any signs of rust as they made their first five shots and jumped out to a 13-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Anna Durbin, Elizabeth Brudnock and Jersey Wise made consecutive 3-pointers to make it 9-0 before Durbin drove the length of the court for a basket and added another layup.
鈥淲e鈥檙e capable of going on big spurts,鈥� West Greene coach Jordan Watson said. 鈥淲e can score quickly. When we played Avella the last time, we scored 30 points in the third quarter.鈥�
But this game wasn鈥檛 like the last one. Though West Greene led 18-5 after one quarter and 28-9 midway through the second quarter, Avella refused to fold. The Lady Eagles chipped away at the deficit, scoring six of the final eight points of the quarter and closed to within 32-20 at halftime.
鈥淎t halftime, I told the girls we won the first minute and 20 seconds,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淎fter that, it was a tie because (Avella) played harder than we did. They got to every 50-50 ball.鈥�
Avella coach Mike Drazich said his team, though trailing by a dozen points, felt it had momentum.
鈥淭he girls really believed they could win and it showed in their play,鈥� said Drazich, whose team needs a West Greene victory in the semifinals to gain a spot in the state tournament. 鈥淭hey practiced hard, we devised a good game plan and they executed it nearly to perfection. At halftime, they said it蘑菇视频 only 12 points, let蘑菇视频 do this.鈥�
Avella opened the second half by scoring the first seven points, including a driving three-point play by Bess Lengauer, to close to within 32-27. After a basket by West Greene蘑菇视频 Brooke Barner, who had a game-high 12 rebounds, Avella scored six more points, including a three by Allie Brownlee, to pull to within 34-33 as the Lady Pioneers called a timeout.
Brudnock, who made four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points, made one from behind the arc, but a basket by Katie Dryer, free throw by Brianna Lloyd and layup by Jordan Rush gave the Lady Eagles the lead at 38-37.
West Greene regained the lead with seven seconds left in the quarter as Kaytlynn Walls put in an offensive rebound.
Then, the Lady Pioneers took control with a defensive change to start the fourth quarter.
鈥淲e switched presses to give them a different look,鈥� Watson explained.
The change gave Avella fits. Four turnovers against the press early in the quarter led to an 11-0 West Greene run and a 50-38 lead. Brudnock started the run with a corner 3-pointer and ended it with a pair of free throws.
Avella battled foul trouble throughout and had three players foul out. West Greene attempted 34 free throws, making only 16.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 shoot well,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淵ou have to think that we can鈥檛 shoot worse than we did, both from the field and at the free-throw line. But it蘑菇视频 hard to beat a good team three times. Avella has 17 wins for a reason. It蘑菇视频 a possession-type game in the playoffs and we have to play harder Tuesday.鈥�
Avella, which played a tricky triangle-and-two on defense, beat West Greene handily on the boards but couldn鈥檛 convert enough of their offensive rebounds into points. Lloyd led a balanced Avella attack with nine points. Brianna Jenkins had eight.
Durbin scored 14 points for West Greene, including nine during the two key stretches.