The Herald, Sharon,
PA Published Sunday, March 16, 1997

WINTER SPORTS Girls basketball

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS PIAA BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Eagles 34
Huskies 29

What's good for the goose ...

action photo
Clem Marion/Herald
Kennedy Christian's Tara Stevens, exhibiting her team's never-say-die attitute, hits the deck hustling to get a loose ball.



* * *
Kennedy girls join KC boys in state semis
* * *
LATE RALLY LIFTS LADY EAGLES PAST BISHOP CARROLL

By Brad Isles
Herald Sports Writer

BUTLER _ Kennedy Christian girls basketball coach Father Rick Tomasone hung an article on the wall for his team to read the other day.

In the article, University of Kentucky coach Rick Pitino talks about what it takes to win in the postseason. According to Pitino, it takes defense and luck.

Father Tomasone couldn't agree more.

After scoring just four points in both the second and third quarters, the Lady Golden Eagles outscored Bishop Carroll 15-4 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 34- 29 victory in the PIAA Class A girls quarterfinals Saturday at Butler High School.

It was the second consecutive game the Lady Golden Eagles came from behind for a victory. In the last game, Kennedy overcame a four-point deficit with three minutes remaining to win 50-41 over Vincentian.

``In many ways the Vincentian game prepared us for this,'' Father Tomasone said. ``Because the last three minutes of the game there wasn't any panic on anybody's face. They were pretty sure they knew what they could do and they could execute and win.

``The nice thing about it is they could have packed it up when they were down six because we are basically a young team. But rather than going in reverse and packing it up, they came out and attacked more.''

Kennedy Christian will now play No. 1-ranked Williamsburg (30-0), a 53-39 winner Saturday over Southern Huntingdon, in the PIAA Class A semifinals Wednesday. The site and time haven't been determined.

``I don't care if Williamsburg is undefeated or not, we're coming for them,'' Father Tomasone said.

And as for the location, rumored to be either at Altoona or Indiana University of Pennsylvania: ``I don't care if they put us out in the middle of I-79, we'd be there suited up and ready to play,'' he said.

It will be Father Tomasone's second trip to the state semifinals in his 12 years as Kennedy's coach. In 1987-88, the Lady Golden Eagles lost to Ferndale, 63-55.
fr. tomasone

``The nice thing about it is they could have packed it up when they were down six because we are basically a young team. But rather than going in reverse and packing it up, they came out and attacked more.''
KC coach Father Rick Tomasone on his Lady Eagles' comeback


The Lady Eagles are keeping pace with the boys contingent, since the team headed by coach Joe Votino also qualified for the state semifinals with a win Friday night. It is believed to be a first for a Mercer County school.

``It sure is (nice),'' Father Tomasone said of matching the Kennedy's boys success, before adding with a laugh, ``I've been in Joe's shadow for so long.''

The Lady Huskies' guards used their height advantage early in the game, driving the lane and either dishing off or shooting. Jill Knapic, a 5-8 sophomore guard, scored nine of her 13 points in the first half. Nicolette Sherwin, a 5-6 senior guard, scored all of her seven points in the first half as well, as Bishop Carroll (25-6) built a 21-15 lead by halftime.

But in the second half, it wasKennedy's shorter backcourt that made the difference.

The trio of seniors, Melanie Giordano and Colleen Hough, 5-0 and 5-2, respectively, and 5-6 junior Mary Rachel Pearce off the bench, pestered the Lady Huskies' backcourt with a physical style of man-to-man defense the Carroll guards couldn't handle.

The result was 13 turnovers, 13 shots taken and only four made. The Lady Huskies were 2- for-9 from the field in the fourth quarter and finished the game shooting 38 percent (13-for-34).

``When you get two teams who play defense as tenaciously as we play and as well as Bishop Carroll plays, every basket is so important,'' Father Tomasone said. ``We didn't get many early on but in the fourth we got enough of them to pull it out.''

Taking a 25-19 lead into the fourth quarter after both teams scored four points apiece in the third, Knapic drove the lane for a hoop with 5:05 remaining to give the Lady Huskies a 27-21 lead.

Jamie Cicuto, relatively quiet the first three quarters with just three points, scored inside and forced Knapic into her third foul. Cicuto converted the free throw to pull the Lady Eagles within three, the closest they had been since the 6:30 mark of the second quarter.

After a Knapic miss, Hough hit her only hoop of the game, a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the game at 27.

``She struggled a little bit earlier in the year, she came through it and now I think she's tough as nails out there,'' Father Tomasone said of Hough.

Cicuto followed two straight Knapic turnovers on passes out of bounds, with a hoop to give Kennedy its first lead of the game with 3:15 left, 29-27.

``We had the game controlled for 3 1/2 quarters and we threw an inbound away that we shouldn't have thrown away and from that point it just turned the game around,'' said Bishop Carroll coach Bob Gongloff.

With their first lead, the Lady Eagles' defense picked up their intensity even more, forcing Carroll into a five-second violation. Kennedy turned the ball back over on a travelling call, but Pearce countered with a steal on the inbounds and went in for a layup to make it 31-27.

``I thought she just D'd (Knapic) up,'' Father Tomasone said of Pearce. ``Our kids play pretty good defense, but when the other girl's 5-8 and can pull up and shoot over you, no matter how good you play when you're 5-2, the ball's probably going to go in. Mary Rachel gave us what we needed off the bench tonight.''

Knapic, Carroll's top 3-point threat, fouled out with 1:11 remaining. Cicuto went to the line for a one-and-one and had a chance to put the game away. However, she missed her first shot and the Lady Huskies still had a chance.

Natalie Dumm scored inside for the Lady Huskies' first points in four minutes to pull Carroll within two with 50 seconds left. But Tara Stevens quashed any hope of a comeback, scoring off a Hough missed foul shot to make it 33- 29 with 30 seconds left. Cicuto capped the game with a late foul shot and finished with a team-high nine points.

``Certainly we played pretty good defense, but I think we were lucky tonight as well,'' Father Tomasone said. ``We were lucky that the things we did late in the game worked and Mary Rachel came off the bench and played superbly.''

Early on, the game looked as though it would be an up and down affair as both teams came out of the gate running.

Giordano, who finished with seven points, scored five in the first. Knapic scored seven points in the first and Carroll hit six of its first 12 shots to hold a 13-11 lead after one.

The tempo of the game quickly turned in the second quarter, as both teams clamped down defensively.

Carroll switched into a 1-1-3 collapsing zone and forced Kennedy, which committed just one turnover in the first quarter, into three each of the ensuing frames. The Lady Eagles made one of their nine field goal attempts in the second quarter and finished shooting 29 percent (13-for-45) from the field.

PIAA Class A Quarterfinals

KENNEDY CHRISTIAN
_ Meier 0-3-4-3; Pearce 2-0-0-4; Hough 1-0-1-3; Giordano 3-1-2-7; Laslow 1-0-0-2; Koscinksi 0-0-0-0; Fill 0-0-0-0; Cicuto 3- 3-6-9; Stevens 3-0-0-6. 3-pt. goals: Hough 1.
Totals: 13-7-13-34.

BISHOP CARROLL
_ Sherwin 3-0-0-7; Knapic 6-0-0-13; Dumm 2-0-0-4; Smithmyer 1-1-1-3; Tremel 0-0-0-0; Eckenrode 1-0-0-2; Toth 0-0-0-0; Switzer 0-0-0-0; Slavik 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Sherwin 1, Knapic 1.
Totals: 13-1-1-29.

KENNEDY....11 15 19 34
CARROLL....13 21 25 29


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