Trending
By Rick Weaver
For the Mirror
NANTY GLO -- Bishop Carroll overcame 31 turnovers and a pesky pace by Blacklick Valley en route to a 64-42 victory in a District 6 Class 1A girls basketball playoff game at Blacklick Valley High School on Monday night.
The Lady Huskies eliminated Blacklick Valley for the third consecutive postseason. Fifth-seeded Bishop Carroll will visit top-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Lady Marauders knocked off Purchase Line, 69-14.
"We're going to have to play very effective defense against them. We're going to have to handle their pressure the way that they play it. And I really think we're going to have to win the turnover battle if we're going to come out on top at BG," Bishop Carroll coach Erika Strittmatter said.
The Lady Huskies have won nine of their last 12 games. The Western Pennsylvania Athletic Conference champion Lady Vikings saw their winning streak end at 13 games.
Strittmatter said her team knew Blacklick Valley would pose a stiff challenge.
"Blacklick Valley's a great team. They were not a team that we were looking forward to facing," she said. "We knew we had to take them out of their comfort zone. So, we tried to do some things to take them out of that comfort zone. And then we rebounded the ball effectively, and looked to run in transition."
Bishop Carroll senior Tatum Laughard led all scorers with 22 points. Classmate Alicia Heinrich added 16 points, followed by freshman Ava Pablic (13).
Fourth-seeded Blacklick Valley unapologetically attempted to play a fast pace.
"We try to play the game pace as fast as we can. And offensively, we need to be a little more patient," Blacklick Valley coach Rich Price said. "But that's the type of pace that we want. We want to make the team out of control offensively.
"We took a couple of bad shots when we were in the middle of a run. But as far as the pace (is concerned), that's what we do. We're going to get up the court as fast we can and put pressure on our opponent."
Strittmatter had the same game plan as did Price, so things turned out well.
"We talked all week that when you get in moments like this, when you get in this type of playoff environment, that you never will rise to the occasion; that you will always drop to your level of training," she said.
"And we have really trained for that: the pace, the pressure, constantly using your teammates and trusting your teammates. And I thought that's what really helped us tonight."
Junior Kristin Szymusiak led Blacklick Valley with 19 points. Senior Kaydence Killinger added 16 points.
"We were in this game into the fourth quarter," Price said. "The bottom line with today's game -- and I'll give credit to Bishop Carroll -- they made more shots than us. They didn't play better defense than us. They didn't play better offense than us. They didn't give more effort than us. They made more shots than us."
BISHOP CARROLL (64): Delauter 1 2-2 4, Heinrich 5 0-1 10, Laughard 10 0-0 22, Golden 0 0-0 0, Pablic 6 0-0 13, Adelyn Myers 4 0-0 9, L.Myers 1 2-2 4, Avery Myers 1 0-0 2, Lieb 0 0 0-0 0, Gregg 0 0-0 0, Sirsikar 0 0-0 0, Olienyk 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 28 4-5 64.
BLACKLICK VALLEY (42): Fatula 0 0-0 0, Nedrich 0 2-4 2, Bardell 1 0-0 3, Killinger 6 4-6 16, Szymusiak 9 0-2 19, Kelley 0 0-0 0, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Mowrey 0 0-0 0, Yewcic 0 0-0 0, Gailey 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 17 6-12 42.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Carroll 15 20 15 14 -- 64
Blacklick Valley 11 15 8 8 -- 42
3-point field goals: Bishop Carroll 4 (Laughard 2, Pablic, Adelyn Myers); Blacklick Valley 2 (Bardell, Szymusiak).
Records: Bishop Carroll (11-11), Blacklick Valley (22-2).
Officials: Vicki Markiewicz, Patrick Hall, Bill Holtz.