That Sunday, the Lady Rangers lost assistant coach Mike “Cork” Crisafulli, who died suddenly at 71.

Bishop Carroll Catholic honored Crisafulli before its game against Forest Hills on Thursday, and the Lady Rangers played with their assistant coach on their mind as they handed the Lady Huskies just their second loss in 21 games this year with a 48-44 triumph.

“We keep saying that Mike is whispering in all of our ears now instead of just one on one like before,” Forest Hills coach Carol Cecere said. “We got Eva Myers back, and the whole team is healthy. We’re fresh in February, and we want to be monsters in March. That’s our thing this year.”

Forest Hills has won five straight since Crisafulli’s death — including impressive wins over Bishop McCort, Johnstown, Central Cambria and now Bishop Carroll.

Crisafulli

“The girls had to attend a funeral last week,” Cecere said. “Then we played four games in five days, and we won some games against some really good Laurel Highlands teams. We keep saying the Laurel Highlands is unbelievably hard, but when you’re going to a funeral and dealing with all that comes from that, you put things in perspective. You don’t worry about a missed shot here and there and you are able to be resilient.”

Forest Hills demonstrated that Thursday after Bishop Carroll took control of the game in the third quarter.

The Lady Huskies quickly erased a two-point halftime deficit on an Ava Pablic 3-pointer and an Adelyn Myers layup. Morgan Gdula tied the game with a 3-pointer, but Carroll scored the final seven points of the quarter including a putback by Pablic as time expired.

Pablic led all scorers with 17 points and added 12 rebounds.

“The third quarter we took control,” Bishop Carroll coach Nick Smith said. “We talked at halftime about working the ball around and getting good shots. In the fourth quarter, we got away from that a little bit. Credit Forest Hills’ defense. They switched things up on us and made us turn the ball over.”

Bishop Carroll took its final lead on a free throw by Myers with two minutes to play, but Gdula responded with a layup and then stole a pass and made another to put Forest Hills up by three.

With less than a minute to play, Bishop Carroll missed a foul line jumper but got the rebound. A pass back outside to attempt a game-tying 3-pointer was intercepted by Aivah Maul, who took it all the way for a layup to seal the game.

“She’s a soccer player, she’s a softball player and she’s a basketball player,” Cecere said. “She reads things well and has good athletic instincts. She was frustrated with her shot, so we sat her some in the third quarter and told her to relax and that she was doing a million other things well. She does non-statistical things that don’t show up that help us win.”

Myers and Emily Lucko each scored nine points for Bishop Carroll. No one else, other than Pablic, had more than four points.

“These games are the ones we have to try and learn to close out,” Smith said. “Forest Hills did a tremendous job tonight. They outplayed us in the fourth quarter, and it was a great game. I would rather have those than (lopsided) games we have played in the past.”

Gdula led Forest Hills with 15 points, and Maul scored 10.

Bishop Carroll will be the No. 2 seed behind Bishop Guilfoyle Academy in the District 6 Class 1A playoffs. The Lady Marauders beat the Lady Huskies in both the district championship game and the PIAA semifinals a year ago. Before that, both teams will participate in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference playoffs.

“We’ll learn from this going into Laurel Highlands and districts,” Smith said. “Districts will be the same as last year — maybe the same four teams. The outlook is the same as last year with goals to win a district title and win a state title. We have already played Saint Joes, and they have been playing great. Williamsburg has been playing great, and BG is always playing great. It’s going to be a tough road to districts and states.”

FOREST HILLS (48): Gdula 6 2-4 15, Maul 3 3-6 10, E. Myers 2 0-0 4, Pcola 3 0-0 9, Lashinsky 3 0-0 8, Carpenter 0 0-0 0, Baumgartner 0 2-2 2, Faith 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 7-12 48.

BISHOP CARROLL (44): Delauter 2 0-0 4, Lucko 2 5-6 9, Miller 1 0-0 3, Ad. Myers 4 1-2 9, Pablic 7 0-0 17, Av. Myers 1 0-0 2, Olienyk 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 6-8 44.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Forest Hills 12 12 4 20 — 48

Bishop Carroll 11 11 13 9 — 44

3-point goals: Forest Hills 7 (Pcola 3, Lashinsky 2, Maul, Gdula); Bishop Carroll 4 (Pablic 3, Miller).

Records: Forest Hills (14-7); Bishop Carroll (19-2).

Officials: George Figura, Matt Gueguen, Dr. Bill Holtz.

JV: Forest Hills, 44-29. High scorers–Strait, BC, 8; Papcunik, FH, 11.