The Herald, Sharon, Pa: Winter sports '97-'98

Published Sunday, March 1, 1998

DISTRICT 10 GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS
Eagles 43 , Indians 33
KC cops `A' crown

By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer

GROVE CITY _ The Kennedy Christian High School girls basketball team took a collective peak through the looking glass and ended up in Wonderland.

Rallying from a 23-17 halftime deficit, the Lady Golden Eagles strapped some serious second-half defensive pressure on Conneaut Lake, and Kennedy captured its second straight District 10 Class A crown via a 43-33 win Saturday afternoon.

Kennedy's 13-7 first-quarter lead dissipated into a 6-point deficit, owing to 2-for-9 shooting and a half-dozen turnovers, so head coach Father Rick Tomasone turned to the chapter of his coaches' manual devoted to psychology.

``In the lockerroom at halftime, people were hanging their head a little bit,'' Father Tomasone related. ``So the first thing I did was, I got 'em to look and then _ there's a mirror in the (Grove City College Arena) lockerroom _ and I got them to look in the mirror and I said, `Now look, girls, is this the team that beat McDowell? Are you the team that beat Grove City? Are you the team that beat Slippery Rock?' And I think that, as they started to look at themselves in the mirror, that started to sink in a little bit and they came out and played a little better.''

In fact, Kennedy coerced seven Conneaut Lake turnovers and pitched a shutout until Becky Kosnac's baseline jumper with four seconds left in the third period, by which time the Lady Golden Eagles had fashioned a 32-25 margin.

``I thought that we were back on our heels,'' Father Tomasone said of the sluggish second stanza that saw the club go scoreless for the final 2:42 of the half. ``We were walking the ball down the court; we were not aggressively moving toward the basket. And so we came out with a half-court trap, with an attempt to start moving forward and get us back into the flow and get us back running, and get some energy and life back into us, because you can fall asleep out on the basketball court if you just walk the ball up, walk the ball up, walk the ball up. And I think that's what happened to us in the second quarter.''

Returning Herald Fab 5 selection Jamie Cicuto posted a 9-point, 6-rebound performance to fuel the 15-2 third-period surge, and finished with a 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Conneaut Lake, a perennial French Creek Valley Conference power, eventually rallied to draw even at 32 with 4:17 remaining in the final frame when Nikki Guthrie converted both ends of a 1-and-1.

But Katie Christiansen's pair of jumpers from the corner and wing, respectively, during the ensuing 2-plus minutes, coupled with three of Conneaut Lake's 8 fourth-quarter turnovers, secured Kennedy's 14th consecutive conquest.

Complementing Christiansen was the free-throw marksmanship of Katie Meier and Mary Rachel Pearce. Meier turned in 4-for-6 shooting in the game's final 71 seconds, while Pearce drained a pair with 31 seconds left, providing Kennedy with an insurmountable 43-32 margin.

``Bad third quarter,'' lamented veteran Conneaut Lake mentor Mark Ruttenberg. ``We were there, came out and we talked at half about how any team has to have a good third quarter. And their press gave us problems we normally don't have during the year. We broke, pretty much, everybody else's press. We got a little rattled. It might've been because it was a championship game, or whatever. And they got those turnovers and got ahead, then we threw some bad passes. We, kind of, got out of our sync.''

With Tara Stevens tallying a handful of points and Meier and Cicuto evenly dividing an additional eight, Kennedy assumed a 6-point first-quarter lead.

However, Ruttenberg inserted 5-foot-11 frosh Lori Lyman into his lineup at the outset of the second stanza, and she responded with 7 points and a pair of rebounds, complemented by Kosnac's 4 points as Conneaut Lake scored the last 8 points of the period.

Father Tomasone said he liked his club's ``energy'' exhibited in the first, third and fourth quarters, and noted, ``I'm happy we have that to take into the next level.''

Kennedy will meet WPIAL fifth-place finisher Farrell, which was ousted from the WPIAL playoffs by eventual titlist Mount Alvernia, next weekend at a site and time to be announced.

Notes: The D-10 title was the sixth for Kennedy during Father Tomasone's tenure. ... Kennedy (23-3) connected on 17 of 49 (34.7 percent) floor shots and 9 of 20 free throws, compared with respective totals of 11 for 31 (35.5) and 10 of 15 for Conneaut Lake (21-6). ... Cicuto and Stevens, who hauled in 9 caroms, led KC to a 31-30 edge on the boards. Lyman led 'Lake with 8 rebounds. ... Kennedy committed 8 turnovers, but only two after intermission, while Conneaut Lake was guilty of two-dozen miscues, including 15 in the second half.

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Updated March 1, 1998
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