Third-quarter flip sends Lady Cougars past Crestwood

by Steve Stallone Sports Editor

When you’re facing Hazleton Area and its pressure defense, there’s never a point when you can breathe easy.Take Monday night’s WVC Division 1 girls’ basketball game, for example. Visiting Crestwood handled that all-out chaotic pressure fairly well through the game’s first 16 minutes and had a 29-25 lead in the early moments of the third quarter. Seven minutes later, the young Lady Comets were on the wrong side of an 18-2 run that put Hazleton Area in the driver’s seat and well on its way to a 58-48 victory.

The win pushed the Lady Cougars to 14-5 on the season and 7-4 in conference play, very much alive in the three-team chase for the second WVC playoff spot from Division 1. Hazleton Area’s win, combined with Wilkes-Barre Area’s loss to Pittston Area on Monday, pulled the Lady Cougars within a game of the Wolfpack (8-3) and Wyoming Valley West (8-3) for that final playoff berth behind Pittston (10-1).

It also was a big win in terms of the District 2 Class 6A playoff seedings, where the Lady Cougars kept ahead of number 3 Valley West and on the heels of the top-seeded Wolfpack. They play at Wilkes-Barre Area on Thursday.

“It was a great night. Great atmosphere, senior night,” said Lady Cougars coach Joe Gavio. “We’re going to make the game ugly, that’s what we do. Crestwood’s a good young team. I was nervous as hell. They’re quick, they’re young and good, but so are we.

“The bottom line is we won the game. We’re back in the playoff race.”

Hazleton Area was emotionally charged on its Senior Night, with injured senior standout Lacie Kringe and teammate Brianna Kennedy honored prior to the game. The Lady Comets met their intensity at tipoff.

Stoked by the heady play of freshman point guard Keira Dougherty (seven points) against the press and fellow freshman Jordan Andrews (eight points) off the bench, Crestwood set the pace for much of a nip-and-tuck first half.

Dougherty’s opening 3-pointer and end-to-end press break, two Andrews finishes on the break, and Kendall Petrosky’s layup in the closing seconds had the Lady Comets (5-11, 4-7) in front 15-10 at quarter’s end.

Hazleton Area stormed back in the second period, when Sophia Shults scored six of her team’s next seven points to pull the Lady Cougars even (17-17) three minutes in, the first of five ties in the period.

The Lady Cougars had their first lead since 4-3 when Alexis Reimold scored inside off a feed from Olivia Williams that made it 25-23, with 40 seconds left in the half. But Dougherty once again broke the pressure, drove the lane and scored in the closing seconds to knot the game at 25 heading to intermission.

“We knew that we had to pick up the intensity on the defense and the press,” Shults explained. “We knew they were getting a lot of layups and easy baskets, so we knew we had to talk and communicate better.”

When Dougherty knocked down a 3-pointer and Kate Gallagher added a free throw to start the second half, Crestwood was in front 29-25 and Hazleton Area was looking for a spark. The home team got it in the form of key reservists Lynzee Buglio and Kayla Lagowy. Their hustling play lit a fire under the frenzied Lady Cougar defense and transitioned to easy baskets and second-chance points.

Kennedy, who was saddled with three first-half fouls, started the game’s decisive run with an inside conversion courtesy of Shults. A minute later, Reimold buried two free throws to give the Lady Cougars a 31-29 lead they would not relinquish.

Buglio recycled one miss, Shults scored on a drive and two free throws, and Buglio turned a steal into another layup as the onslaught continued. Shults followed with a steal and layup, fed Buglio for a layup, and finished the 18-2 blitz with a drop step and inside deuce to make it 45-31 through three.

“It became heart,” offered Gavio. “The hustle that Buglio and Lagowy gave us, it was that type of game. I know it looks ugly, but it’s beautiful to my eyes. It’s the will to win.”

Crestwood never recovered from that flurry, in which it missed seven straight shots, got no second-chance opportunities, and committed eight turnovers over the final six minutes of the quarter. Yet the Lady Comets kept battling, opening the fourth with a Dougherty foul-line swish and a 3-pointer from the corner. After Cadence Hiller’s spin move and two Dougherty free throws, Andrews stepped up with a steal and layup that had Crestwood back within six (48-42) with 4:35 still to play.

The Lady Cougars would let them no closer. Kennedy hit the front end of a 2-shot foul, passed to Lagowy on the break for two, and added two more free throws to push the lead to 10 (53-43). Shults finished out her 20-point night with a basket and two more free throws in the final minute to seal the deal, finishing 8-of-9 from the line.

“They were controlling the game. But we just did what