Pressure points: West Greene presses, stops Monessen
Holly Tonini/For the Observer-Reporter
West Greene’s Katie Lampe makes a pass around Monessen’s Kinsey Wilson during Thursday’s Class A Section 2 game. West Greene won its 48th consecutive section game.
Holly Tonini/For the Observer-Reporter
Monessen’s MyAsia Majors (24), Sydney Caaterino (2) and Mercedes Majors (3) put the stop on West Greene’s Jersey Wise.
Holly Tonini/For the Observer-Reporter
Monessen’s Sydney Caterino drives around West Greene’s Kaytlynn Walls (24).
West Greene’s Brooke Barner makes a pass through the defense of Monessen’s Kinsey Wilson (23) and Hailey Johnson (5).
MONESSEN – West Greene won its 48th consecutive girls basketball section game Thursday night, a 71-41 Section 2-A victory over Monessen.
“We shot pretty well, and our defensive intensity was better in the second half,” said West Greene coach Jordan Watson. “We are starting to get our legs back under us and get into a rhythm.”
Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik knew what to expect from West Greene (3-0, 4-2) but still came away impressed.
“There is a reason they have played for WPIAL championships in recent seasons,” she said. “They were on tonight and are a talented team.”
Jersey Wise made six three-pointers and led West Greene with 27 points.
“We want to get 40-plus combined every night from Jersey, Elizabeth (Brudnock) and Anna (Durbin),” said Watson. “They had 47 tonight. We had three in double figures and two with eight.”
Durbin finished with 12, Brooke Barner had 10, and Brudnock and Kaytlynn Walls each scored eight.
When Monessen’s Mercedes Majors made a shot to give Monessen (3-1, 3-1) a 5-4 lead with 6:10 to go in the first quarter, Watson called a timeout to light a fire under his flat team.
“We came out not ready to play,” he said. “We talked about the whole year, it isn’t going to change with the pandemic and there won’t be fans, so we have to create our own energy.”
It took a few more minutes but the talk worked.
With the game tied 8-8, West Greene went on 11-2 run to build a 19-10 lead.
However, Monessen closed on a 5-0 run to trim the West Greene lead to 19-15 heading into the second quarter.
After making three three-pointers in the first quarter, West Greene stayed hot from long distance as it hit four more in the second period and continued to use its full-court pressure to distance itself from Monessen.
Wise scored 12 points in the second quarter to lead the Pioneers to a 22-10 advantage in the period. West Greene led 41-25 at halftime.
West Greene pulled away in the second half as it used its patented press – the Pioneers are referred to as Press Greene – to force Monessen into 15 of its 31 turnovers.
“We have seven different versions (of the press) and we used four, maybe five tonight,” Watson said while wearing a “Press Greene” pullover after the game.
“We wanted to give them different looks, but the common denominator is ball pressure, and we don’t want them walking the ball up or being comfortable.”
Vertacnik shared her disappointment in her upperclassmen but said the Greyhounds will learn from playing against such a talented team.
“Our veterans didn’t come through,” she said. “Instead of being leaders they panicked.
“But overall, we did not quit, and our younger girls picked up valuable minutes. We aren’t going to win every game, but we will keep working to get better.”
Majors, Sydney Caterino and Hayley Johnson each scored 11 points for Monessen with Caterino adding four steals and four assists.
West Greene, with its tough non-section schedule and losses to highly touted Mohawk and Sewickley Academy, is scheduled to be back in action tonight in a non-league game at McGuffey while Monessen hosts Beth-Center.