Stella Yeskey

Bishop Guilfoyle Academy girls basketball coach Kristi Kaack used the Lady Marauders’ first timeout of the game in the first two minutes.

“I didn’t think we were getting through screens very well. I just don’t think we came out with a lot of intensity, and there’s no excuse for that,” she said. “We want to make sure we always defend the right way from the start.”

By about the midway point of the first quarter, that message was received as the BG defense turned up the pressure and never looked back as it went on to pummel Richland, 57-21, at the Pleasant Valley gymnasium Friday night in Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference action.

Those efforts started with Anberlyn Petrecca as she scored on a turnaround jumper with a little more than 3½ minutes left in the opening frame. She later connected with Stella Yeskey for a bucket, which helped spark a 10-1 run to end the first quarter for a 15-6 lead.

Morgan Ruggery kept the scoring barrage going on a fastbreak off a turnover for two of her game-high 18 points to help spark a 20-7 second stanza.

“(Ruggery) gets out in passing lanes and she creates turnovers that way,” Kaack said. “She got a couple of easy transition buckets today that I think helped relax us a little bit.”

The Lady Marauders weren’t done as Yeskey drew an and-1 as she went on to score 11 points. Petrecca added a putback to build a 33-13 lead at the break.

“I thought with Anberlyn and Stella down there we had a significant advantage in the post,” Kaack said. “I think we settled for a lot of outside shots for that first half, in general. We just talked about getting the ball in the right areas of the floor to score.”

The Lady Marauders kept collecting turnovers during the early part of the second half as Petrecca and Ruggery added layups off a Lady Ram turnover to help activate the running clock.

“You see the queens of the hill, you have to attack,” Richland coach Paul Johnson said. “You play a team that is darn near flawless in their game, you get to measure your heart, you get to measure what you actually have. Our girls could’ve quit and I think they fought as hard as they possibly could.”

Bishop Guilfoyle enters the final five games with a chance to potentially run the regular season table, but it will face a difficult stretch, which includes two teams from the WPIAL along with Hollidaysburg. The stretch starts Saturday as the Lady Marauders travel to Latrobe to face Greensburg Central Catholic at Saint Vincent College.

RICHLAND (21): A. Amenti 1 0-0 2, Ladika 1 0-0 2, Roman 0 3-5 3, Fetchko 1 1-2 4, Macey 3 0-0 7, Jakubowski 0 2-2 2, K. Amenti 0 0-0 0, Sossong 0 1-2 1, Dabbs 0 0-0 0, Graham 0 0-0 0, Brock 0 0-0 0, Hall 0 0-0 0. Totals — 6 7-11 21.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (57): Ruggery 8 2-2 18, Haigh 1 2-2 4, Petrecca 4 1-4 9, Yeskey 4 1-1 11, Williams 2 0-0 5, Adams 0 0-0 0, Homan 2 0-0 5, Seidel 0 0-0 0, Geishauser 0 0-0 0, Steward 0 0-0 0, B. Bianconi 0 1-2 1, Seaman 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Hite 1 1-3 3. Totals — 21 8-14 57.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Richland 6 7 1 7 — 21

Bishop Guilfoyle 13 20 20 4 — 57

3-point goals: Richland 2 (Fetchko, Macey), Bishop Guilfoyle 2 (Williams, Homan)

Records: Richland (4-14), Bishop Guilfoyle (17-0).

Officials: Jim Campbell, Lynn Smith, Darren Elvey

JV: No game.