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

Published Sunday, March 1, 1998

DISTRICT 10 PLAYOFFS
Victors 48, Tigers 41
Sharon eliminated in AAA

By Brad Isles
Herald Sports Writer

GROVE CITY _ Even after a 48-41 loss to Villa Maria in the District 10 Class AAA consolation game finished her Lady Tigers' season, Sharon coach Mary Jo Staunch's thoughts started drifting to next year.

``Right now, they determine where we go from here,'' Staunch said. ``We have no seniors. This is a good group. There's a lot of potential here. They've got a lot of good experience from these playoffs.''

Sharon, led by its solid corps of juniors and sophomores, made a valiant comeback against a senior-laden Villa Maria (19-7) team, but fell just short Saturday afternoon at Grove City College Arena.

A minute into the fourth quarter, Katie Weigold pushed Villa Maria's lead to 33-23 on a 3-pointer from the left wing. The hoop seemed to awaken the Lady Tigers (18-9) from a lackluster shooting performance and Sharon posted a 10-4 run to pull within four.

Sharon kept the pressure on and got the game down to two, 40-38, on a layup by Tricia Sinkuc at the 1:20 mark. After a layup by Erica Potter, Jenny Bell connected on a long 3-pointer to make it a 42-41 game with 48 seconds left.

But the Lady Tigers could get no closer as the Victors closed the game by making 4 straight foul shots and getting another basket as time ran out.

``I knew they were a strong club,'' said Villa Maria coach John Cavanagh. ``When they made a run, they have a couple of talented players, I was getting very worried. But we have eight seniors on the team. I think their leadership stuck out when we needed it.''

Sharon finished the game shooting 30 percent (17 of 56) from the field and hit just 2 of 17 3-pointers. Muhsinah Saleem led the way with 19 points and 8 rebounds, and Bell had 10 points after a pair of fourth-quarter treys.

``I don't know whether it was nerves or trying to force things,'' Staunch said. ``All through the season we were shooting well and then we got into the playoffs and started shooting like 20 or 30 percent. You can't win a ballgame like that.''

Villa Maria, on the other hand, countered a poor first-half from the field to make 11 of 19 shots the final two frames to finish at 43 percent.

Leading the Victors, who will play District 7's No. 2 team in the first round of the state playoffs, were seniors Katie Weigold and Potter, who had 17 and 16, respectively.

``We tend to come out very slow on the road,'' Cavanagh said. ``Once we get warmed up and get going we're a good shooting team, generally. But it took us a while to get started.''

It certainly did as the Lady Tigers controlled the pace of play by pushing the ball up the floor and scoring on fast breaks.

Then with the game tied at 9 after the first quarter, Cavanagh implored his team to take control of the game during the break. And they listened, at least for a little bit.

Two hoops by Weigold and another by Brenda Gaczkowski gave Villa a 6-point lead a minute into the quarter, but the Victors failed to hit from the floor the final 6:55 of the quarter. Sharon went on an 8-1 run that Mary Odem capped with a layup to make it 17-16 at halftime.

Despite outrebounding the Victors, 26-14, Sharon hit just 28 percent of its attempts in the first half. And that poor shooting carried over into the third quarter, while Villa opened it with a hot hand. After a pair of free throws by Potter, Lesley Fogel hit the Victors' first field goal in over nine minutes on a driving layup.

The Lady Tigers were mired in their own scoring drought until Katie Suvoy 31C 2made the second of two foul shots, making it 22-18 at the 3:48 mark. But consecutive buckets by Potter gave the Victors the biggest lead by either team up to that point, 26-18.

Saleem ended Sharon's 8:40 field goal drought by grabbing one of her six steals and racing for a layup. She followed that with another quick hoop to pull Sharon within four, but the Lady Tigers trailed 28-22 after three.

``Offensively, we had a bad third quarter,'' Staunch said. ``We only had five points. That's a key right there. We have to be more patient on offense. If it's not hitting from the outside, you have to learn to work inside and make something happen. We just didn't do that.''

But it's something for Sharon to keep in mind for next year.

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Updated March 1, 1998
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