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Despite win, BC coach wants improvement

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

SIDMAN — There’s a school of thought that holds that, in playoff competition, a win need not be a work of art, and the bottom-line objective is simply to survive and advance.

Don’t try to sell that theory to Bishop Carroll High School girls basketball coach Bob Gongloff.

Especially late Saturday afternoon, when Gongloff was rendered annoyed and angry despite watching his team post a 21-point, 56-35 PIAA Class 1A first-round playoff victory over an undermanned Shanksville-Stonycreek team at Forest Hills High School.

“A win is a win, but I’m not happy with how we played,” Gongloff said after watching Carroll (23-2) gain some second-half separation following a first half in which the Lady Huskies led just 27-20. “They have to want it, and if they don’t want it, I’ll put people in the game who do want it.”

Gongloff was especially peeved by what he perceived was his team’s lackluster defensive effort.

“We haven’t played good defense in the last three or four games, and there is no excuse for it,” Gongloff said. “We’re getting beaten off the dribble. We’re not doing our jobs. We’re not playing good basketball right now. This is the state tournament — not a summer basketball league. I’m not a happy camper.”

Gongloff will be looking for his team to improve when it faces District 7 champion Winchester Thurston, a 51-31 first-round winner over Elk County Catholic Saturday, in the second round on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

Carroll led only 31-25 midway through the third quarter, before a 10-point run gave the Lady Huskies a 41-25 lead.

Senior guard Alyssa Martinazzi, who scored a game-high 16 points for Carroll, scored two of her four third-quarter field goals during the spurt.

Martinazzi scored on a driving shot to give Carroll a 33-25 lead, then deposited an inbounds feed to put the Lady Huskies ahead, 35-25.

Junior forward Anna Haigh, who scored 14 points and collected 10 rebounds, finished off a break with another field goal, and the rally wrapped up with buckets by sophomore Mara Yahner and freshman Maria McConnell.

“We have to work on our consistency,” Martinazzi said. “After the halftime talk, we knew we had to pick it up, and we started to play Huskie basketball in the third quarter. Overall, we were still inconsistent today, but we had spurts.”

Carroll, which led only 11-9 after one quarter, held a 41-27 advantage after three periods. In the fourth quarter, after Shanksville had drawn to within 10 points, 41-31, Carroll staged a 13-point run to salt the game away. Five different players scored field goals during the run, with junior Kate Yahner scoring a pair of buckets.

“Today, we definitely struggled in a lot of aspects of our game, but I thought it was good that we were able to put it together in the second half,” Haigh said. “We weren’t able to do it the whole game, though. We just have to move on from here and get better.”

Shanksville, which used only six players after starting guard Sidney Stutzman left the game for good in the second quarter with a knee injury, was led by sophomore forward Hannah Platt’s 15 points.

Shanksville coach Cory Crognale was pleased with the effort put forth by his team, which finished the season with a 17-9 record.

“Carroll is a great program,” Crognale said. “They’re athletic, long, and tough to play against. It was a hard-fought game on both ends. When our best ballhandler Stutzman went out with the injury, I thought we’d lose a lot of steam, but we didn’t.

“I was very impressed,” Crognale added. “Our team has a big heart, and our effort was remarkable.”

Gongloff, on the other hand, was left wanting much more from his team, despite the fact that Carroll will live to fight another day.

“We’ve got to get our act together,” Gongloff said.

BISHOP CARROLL (56): Borlie 2 0-0 4, Martinazzi 7 2-2 16, Davido 1 0-0 2, Haigh 5 4-5 14, Kutskel 1 0-0 2, M. Yahner 2 1-2 5, K. Yahner 3 0-0 6, McConnell 3 0-0 7, Gittings 0 0-0 0, Rosenberger 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 7-9 56.

SHANKSVILLE-STONYCREEK (35): Stutzman 1 0-0 2, K. Platt 0 2-2 2, Rullo 3 0-0 6, H. Platt 6 1-2 15, Wilt 3 0-2 7, Brewer 1 0-0 3, Lohr 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 3-6 35.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Carroll 11 16 14 15 — 56

Shanksville-Stonycreek 9 11 7 8 — 35

3-point goals: Bishop Carroll 1 (McConnell); Shanksville-Stonycreek 4 (H. Platt 2, Wilt, Brewer).

Records: Bishop Carroll (23-2); Shanksville-Stonycreek (17-9).

Officials: Joe Scialabba, Denny Detwiler, Brian Jaymes.

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