Slow start ends West Greene’s postseason run
West Greene’s Brianna Goodwin fights for the rebound against Kennedy Catholic’s Andrea Suhar, left, and Bellah DiNardo in the first round of the PIAA Class A basketball playoffs at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 9, 2019.
West Greene’s Jersey Wise takes a three-pointer over the Kennedy Catholic defense in the first round of the PIAA Class A basketball playoffs at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 9, 2019.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe beats Kennedy Catholic’s Leah Lombardi to a loose ball during Saturday’s PIAA first round playoff game at Canon-McMillan High School.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
West Greene’s Kaitlyn Rizor shoots a three-pointer over Kennedy Catholic’s Addie Flanders during Saturday’s PIAA Class A first round playoff game at Canon-McMillan High School.
West Greene’s McaKenna Lampe dribbles past Kennedy Catholic’s Leah Lombardi in the first round of the PIAA Class A basketball playoffs at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 9, 2019.
CANONSBURG – The West Greene girls basketball squad had their worst quarter of the season in the opening eight minutes of their PIAA Class A first-round contest.
Despite a valiant comeback effort, and making it a two-possession game twice late in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers saw their season and sensational run end with a 63-56 loss to District 10 champion Kennedy Catholic Saturday afternoon at Canon-McMillan High School.
The Golden Eagles (18-6) tallied the opening nine points of the game and led 16-3 at the end of the first period.
“It was our worst quarter of the year by far,” West Greene coach Jordan Watson said. “We never shoot that bad and nothing was going in for us. We were stagnant on offense and settled for outside shots. I thought we defended well in the opening quarter, but our offense struggled.”
Malia Magestro was everything as advertised for Kennedy Catholic and scored a game-high 34 points.
Coming into the game, the Youngstown State recruit averaged 28.8 points per game and she did most of her damage in the first quarter (11 points) and in the final frame (15).
“She’s just a great player,” Watson said. “She can handle the ball well and she does a good job of moving without the ball. Once she’s past that half-court line, she is able to shoot it. She’s probably the best player we faced all year. We tried to front her as much as we could and limit her touches, but she was able to get open and find her shots.”
Both teams scored 15 points in the second quarter as the Pioneers (22-4) trailed 31-18 at half.
Kennedy Catholic opened the third quarter with a 13-7 spurt to push its lead to the largest all day at 44-25, but West Greene responded in a big way in the late stages of the quarter.
Kaitlyn Rizor and Brooke Barner each made three-pointers, and Rizor added another basket in the final seconds to cut the deficit to 44-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
Elizabeth Brudnock added a basket sandwiched between a pair of foul shots by Magestro to start the final quarter, but then West Greene rattled off a 7-3 run that was capped by a three-pointer from McKenna Lampe that made the score 49-42.
The Golden Eagles countered by scoring eight of the next 11 points before a three-pointer by Madison Lampe and a jumper by Rizor made things close again.
After a free throw by Leah Lombardi, who finished with 13 points, stretched Kennedy Catholic’s lead to 58-50, Madison Lampe hit a shot from behind the arc to make it a two-possession game with 1:09 remaining.
The Golden Eagles made three of four free throws before Brudnock fired in another three and West Greene called a timeout trailing 61-56 with 11 seconds left.
“I just love the fight of our girls in the second half,” Watson said. “We could have easily packed it in and put our heads down. They fought their way back into the game and showed so much effort in those final three quarters. They never gave up.”
McKenna Lampe scored 18 points for the Pioneers and Rizor chipped in with 12.
Kennedy Catholic went 13-for-24 at the free-throw line in the final eight minutes, and Magestro made 11 of 16 in the fourth quarter.
The loss ends a historic, four-year run for West Greene. The Pioneers’ five seniors – the Lampe twins, Rizor, Brianna Goodwin and Savannah Pettit – compiled a school-record 79 wins, three section titles, two trips to the WPIAL finals and three PIAA playoff berths.
“I could never have imagine this type of run by those seniors four years ago,” Watson said. “They have done a lot of on the court and they have all the talent in the world, but overall they are just good people. They have meant so much to this program and to this community.”
Despite losing those seniors, the future is bright for the Pioneers.
“We have no juniors, but a lot of our sophomores and freshmen this year saw playing time,” Watson said. “The cupboard is not bare by any stretch, and we have to work harder in the offseason. I like what we have coming back with our top four, we just have to work on our depth.”