Published Thursday, Feb. 27, 1997
DISTRICT 10 AAA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bisons 56
Rockets 36
LeBoeuf rolls past Rockets
By Jeff Greenburg
Herald Assistant Sports Editor
ERIE _ The Slippery Rock-Ft. LeBoeuf District 10 Class AAA semifinal could probably be summarized in three words: defense and Brooke Freeburg.
Fort LeBoeuf utilized a stifling defense and the sparkling play of Freeburg to collect a 56-36 victory Wednesday evening over the Lady Rockets at the Hammermill Center on the campus of Gannon University.
The win moved LeBoeuf (24-2), the defending District 10 champions and the state's 10th-ranked team, into the finals where it will face 3rd-ranked Oil City (25-2), a 51-24 winner over Harbor Creek Wednesday in the other semifinal.
Slippery Rock's Crystal Geraci, left, and Misty Wadowsky sandwich an opponent. (David E. Dale/Herald)
Slippery Rock (20-5) will need a win over Harbor Creek (19-8) in the consolation finals to earn a berth in the state playoffs. The sites, dates and times of both games were to be determined by the District 10 Committee today.
The Lady Bison defense swarmed all over the Lady Rockets for much of the game, coercing Slippery Rock shooters into a paltry 15-of-59 (.254) shooting night from the field, including 4-of-18 (.222) behind the arc.
``That's something we've done all year,'' said Fort LeBoeuf coach Rick Freeburg. ``We've played good defense 99 percent of the season and that has to be something we always talk about first. Our offense is second; our defense is first. And I think if we play really good defense the offense takes care of itself, as it did tonight.''
That defense was so stingy that Slippery Rock's top two scorers, Jamie Dick and Erica Youngman, who entered the game averaging a combined 29 points per game, were limited to only 10.
Dick scored 7, less than half her average of 14.5, while Youngman tallied only 3, more than 10 under her average. Youngman, in fact, didn't even get a shot off in the first half. She attempted only one shot the first three quarters before making 1-of-6 three-point attempts in the final frame for her only points.
``It looked like they came out a little bit in triangle-on-2,'' said Slippery Rock coach John Tabisz.
``They had scouted us, they knew who scored for us and they took them right out of the game.
``And we had a hard time matching up with them offensively, also.''
Particularly with Freeburg, the coach's daughter.
Freeburg, a 5-10 sophomore who can play outside as well as inside, pumped in a game-high 24 points, including 13 straight during one stretch of the first and second quarters that capped a 23-4 run and pushed her team's lead to 28-8 with 4 minutes remaining in the first half.
Freeburg, who proved to be a great ballhandler and shooter, simply dominated the games on both ends of the floor. She scored 14 points in the second quarter and finished the half with 18, helping her team grab a 33-16 edge at the intermission.
``I really wasn't expecting that, I really was not,'' coach Freeburg said of his daughter's performance. ``But they played behind her. And if you're going to play behind her, we're going to get the ball to her. And if we get the ball to her within six or seven feet of the basket, it's very difficult to stop her.''
As the Lady Rockets soon discovered.
``She's great,'' Tabisz said. ``She's been around the game for a long time, she plays hard, she plays clean and she's a tribute to the game. She plays with a lot of heart, a lot of heart.''
Showing a little heart for Slippery Rock in the second half was Marisa Taylor, who banged home all of her team-high eight points, including a pair of treys, during the first 3:30 of the third quarter, but the Lady Rockets could get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
``They're a very good team,'' Tabisz said of Fort LeBoeuf. ``They were prepared and fundamentally sound. I take my hat off to them.''
The Lady Bison, who also benefitted from a dozen Sarah Papesch markers, led 48-26 by the end of the third frame and coasted to victory.
``We can't feel sorry for ourselves now,'' Tabisz said. ``It hurts now, but we've got to get ready for (the consolation game), because there's no lock to the state tournament.''
Notes: After hitting 14-of-23 (.609) first-half shots, the Lady Bison finished 24-of-48 (.500), including 3-of-8 behind the arc. ... Slippery Rock nailed only 8-of-35 (.229) field goal attempts in the second half.
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Updated Feb. 27, 1997
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