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By Jim Lane
For the Mirror
Leah Homan is the only returning starter from Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic's state championship squad of 2021 and she's doing her best to see that the Lady Marauders make another run at the post-season playoffs.
Homan poured in 27 points Wednesday night as BG held off a scrappy Richland team, 53-49, at the Pleasant Valley gym.
Night in and night out, Homan is the go-to person for BG, but she doesn't mind the pressure of being the top scorer every outing.
"Physically, it's tiring, but mentally it's not because my team is there," Homan said after BG improved to 5-3 with the Laurel Highlands Conference victory.
"We have a lot of athletes and I trust that they'll back me up," Homan continued. "They're all working hard."
BG never trailed, although Richland closed to within three (27-24) at the half and stayed within a couple points of the lead for most of the second half.
"We're starting to mesh well," BG coach Kristi Kaack said of her young squad. "We won it on the defensive end of the floor."
BG jumped out to 7-2 lead and held a 15-2 advantage after one quarter. Homan scored seven points in the first quarter while Claire Cammarata, Sarah Geishauser and Jaden Quinn also contributed field goals.
The Marauders led 23-7 early in the second and threatened to make it a runaway when Richland's Julianna Stem got hot and nailed three 3-pointers to bring the Lady Rams to 23-21.
However, Tessa Klock's steal and bucket and Homan's jumper made it 27-21 before Jordan Kinsey's conventional 3-point play pulled the Lady Rams to within 27-24 at the half.
Homan scored seven points in the third, including the final five, to give BG a nine-point spread (39-30) with one quarter left. Richland got as close as two a couple times in the fourth, but never got the lead.
Klock, a senior, and Eva Bagley, a freshman, each nailed treys in the fourth period and Homan capped her night with six points as the Marauders survived.
BG used seven players and six scored. Homan showed balance, scoring seven, seven, seven and six for her game-high 27 points. Sarah Geishauser also scored in each quarter and finished with 10 points.
Kinsey led Richland with 20 points and Stem added 12 as the Rams fell to 5-5 on the season.
"That fast start (15-2 first quarter) gave them confidence," said Richland coach Greg Burke, who is in his second season as the coach of the girls team after guiding the boys squad 10 seasons.
"We had to work so hard to get back in the game after the first quarter and that put us in a very tough position," Burke noted.
Kaack also thought BG's fast start was a key.
"I'm proud that we got that lead early," Kaack said. "We lost to them last year, but we had excellent help defense tonight."
The Lady Marauders travel to Bedford on Friday.
RICHLAND (49): Kinsey 8 4-6 20, A. Marshall 2 1-2 5, Stem 4 0-0 12, Matejovich 1 0-0 3, Burke 2 0-0 6, Marshall 1 1-2 3.. Totals -- 18 6-10 49.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (53): Homan 10 4-6 27, Cammarata 1 1-2 3, Geishauser 4 2-3 10, Quinn 2 1-3 5, Klock 2 0-0 5, Bagley 1 0-0 3, Steinbugl 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 20 8-14 53.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Richland 2 22 6 19 -- 49
Bishop Guilfoyle 15 12 12 14 -- 53
3-point goals: Richland 7 (Stem 4, Burke 2, Matejovich); Bishop Guilfoyle 5 (Homan 3, Klock, Bagley).
Records: Richland (5-5); Bishop Guilfoyle (5-3).
JV: No game