CRESSON - When the Mount Aloysius women's basketball team took the court Tuesday night, it was a historic event. The Lady Mounties made the playoffs for the second consecutive year, but for the first time ever they hosted an NCAA playoff game.
The fourth-seeded Lady Mounties charged up the crowd with a 14-5 run to start the second half that broke open a close game. They withstood a small run by Pitt-Bradford and made their free throws down the stretch to earn a 64-50 victory in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
"It was awesome," Mount Aloysius coach Kristi Kaack said. "Being that it's our first playoff game we have hosted in NCAA history for the school, we got a great crowd and a great student section. I think they really helped us get the 'W' tonight."
Sophomores Ali Maruca and Lindsy Sammarco ignited the second-half run. Maruca scored the first seven points of the second half for the Lady Mounties, with the last three coming on a step-back 3-pointer. Sammarco followed up Maruca's trey with one of her own, pushing the lead to 43-32 and forcing the Lady Panthers to take a timeout just five minutes into the second half.
Mount Aloysius pushed the lead to 16 (50-34) on a Kaylee Keagy free throw with 8:51 left. However, the Lady Panthers responded with a quick 6-0 run. Hollie Rapp started the run with a basket at the 8:25 mark. Rapp's basket was the Lady Panthers' first points in almost three minutes. Back-to-back buckets by Maria Costanza cut the lead to 50-40 and led to a Lady Mounties timeout.
"We talk every day at practice about when they go on little runs, that then it starts with a stop, a score and a stop," Kaack said. "Tonight we called the timeout, and I said to them, 'It's just like in practice,' and they came out and executed perfectly. We locked up on defense, and we did well with it."
Rapp made two free throws after the timeout to trim the lead to 50-42, but they could get no closer. A Spring Krepps layup stopped the 8-0 run and sparked an 8-1 Mount Aloysius run that put the game out of reach.
Sammarco led all scorers with 21 points. Maruca added 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
"I continue to say all year that they are sophomores who play like seniors," said Kaack said. "Even Teddi Burkett, our other sophomore who came off the bench, is an animal on boards."
Burkett had seven rebounds, four of them on the offense end.
With the win, the Lady Mounties will travel to La Roche College to take on the top-seeded team at 6 p.m. Friday. Mount lost both games against La Roche this season.
"We have seen them twice," Kaack said. "They are actually coming off a loss to the No. 2 team, so we hope that we are catching them at a good time. I told them that we could be the Cinderella team. Anything can happen in the playoffs."
PITT-BRADFORD (11-14): Seidenstricker 5-11 2-2 12, Costanza 7-20 2-2 18, Dalton 1-9 0-0 2, Kimmel 1-4 0-1 2, Rapp 1-5 5-6 7, Yanetsko 2-6 1-3 7, Heale 0-0 0-0 0, Domaracki 1-5 0-2 2, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-61 10-14 50.
MOUNT ALOYSIUS (14-11): Maruca 5-10 3-4 14, Krepps 3-8 4-4 11, Keagy 5-11 4-5 14, Matko 0-5 0-0 0, Sammarco 8-18 3-4 21, Rhoades 0-4 0-0 0, Restori 0-0 0-0 0, Tellish 0-0 0-1 0, Burkett 1-4 2-2 4, Rupp 0-2 0-0 0, Colmer 0-0 0-0 0, Brosnihan 0-0 0-0 0, Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Kaza 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 16-19 64.
Halftime-Mt. Aloysius 33-27. 3-Point Goals-Pitt-Bradford 4-20 (Costanzo 2-8, Yanetsko 2-4, Dalton 0-4, Seidenstricker 0-3, Domaracki 0-2), Mt. Aloysius 4-17 (Sammarco 2-5, Maruca 1-2, Krepps 1-2, Matko 0-4, Rhoades 0-2, Tellish 0-1, Burkett 0-1). Fouled Out-none. Rebounds-Pitt-Bradford 35 (Costanza 12), Mt. Aloysius 43 (Maruca 10). Assists-Pitt-Bradford 7 (Seidenstricker, Costanzo, Yanetsko 2), Mt. Aloysius 12 (Maruca 6). Total Fouls-Pitt-Bradford 15, Mt. Aloysius 15. A-125.
