Lions smother Lakers
SHARON – When the tallest player on your roster is only 5-10, such as Mercyhurst Prep’s girls basketball team, then players like South Fayette’s Emily Anderson can be annoying. Very annoying.
Anderson is the Lions’ 6-4 senior center who specializes in blocking and altering shots by smaller opponents. And if that opponent tries to find a way around Anderson, South Fayette’s ball-hawking guards and forwards keep the pressure on along the perimeter and don’t allow uncontested shots.
In other words, playing South Fayette is an uncomfortable experience. It takes time to figure out the Lions’ zone trapping zone defense.
For Mercyhurst Prep, that took eight minutes too long Wednesday night and the Lakers never did found a comfort zone.
South Fayette held Mercyhurst Prep scoreless in the first quarter and cruised to a 58-38 victory in the second round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs at Sharon High School.
The win sends South Fayette (24-3), the WPIAL champion, to the quarterfinals Saturday against District 10 champion Villa Maria (27-0), which routed Hampton, 51-30.
South Fayette throttled a smaller Mercyhurst Prep lineup in the first quarter, building a 10-0 lead as the Lakers tried to figure out where they could find shots against the Lions’ sticky zone defense. Anderson kept the basketball out of the middle of the zone and the Lions’ attacked on the perimeter.
“We haven’t seen anyone, with the exception of Villa Maria, with Anderson’s size,” Mercyhurst Prep coach Dan Perfetto said. “She can disrupt a lot of things. Then South Fayette’s guards apply a lot of pressure in the zone. They run that defense well and forced us into a lot of turnovers.”
In first quarter, Mercyhurst Prep (19-8) had 17 possessions. They resulted in nine missed shots and eight turnovers.
“We try to use Emily’s height in our defense and allow her to seal off the lane,” South Fayette coach Matt Bacco explained. “Her size is hard to simulate. It’s hard to shoot over 6-4.”
Anderson was a force on both ends of the court. She had game highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds, blocked five shots and altered numerous others.
“We said with Anderson’s size, we might have to settle for midrange shots,” Perfetto said. “She’s 6-4, but with her arms, she’s like 6-8.”
Anderson’s presence in the low post caused Mercyhurst Prep to cheat with its defense to her side, which opened up some huge driving lanes for South Fayette sophomore forward Sam Kosmacki, who played a solid all-around game. Kosmacki consistently drove through the Lakers’ defense and finished with 16 points.
Anderson and Kosmacki each scored five points in the second quarter as the Lions extended their lead to 24-13 at halftime. South Fayette, however, could have been leading by a larger margin had it not been for nine troublesome turnovers. They had 16 in the game.
“After the first quarter, I thought our defense was really good and our offense was only OK,” Bacco said. “I thought we should have been up by 20.”
Mercyhurst Prep had a better idea of how to attack South Fayette’s defense in the second half but still couldn’t generate enough offense to fuel a comeback. The Lakers were held to only 11 field goals, including just six in the second half.
The Lakers, which need a half-court shot at the end of regulation to force overtime in a first-round win over Mars, cut South Fayette’s lead to nine points twice in the third quarter, the second time at 32-23. But Anderson put in a layup off a nifty pass by Carlee Kilgus and Kosmacki converted a free throw to make it 35-23 after three quarters.
Mercyhurst Prep never drew closer than 11 in the fourth quarter as Anderson scored six points and the Lions made seven of nine free throws in a very business-like performance.
“Sometimes it helps us to play somebody we haven’t played before,” Anderson said. “It probably takes some time to make adjustments against us.”
Senior guard Mikayla Fetchet scored 10 points for South Fayette. Mercyhurst Prep, which made 13 of 14 free throws, did not have a player score in double figures. Renee Stoicovy scored eight, including two three-pointers, to lead the Lakers.
“We knew they could shoot the three,” Bacco said. “We wanted to take that away. It’s an aggressive defense we play. We like to take away time and space. We have a veteran group and smart kids. We can give you different looks.”