Fort Cherry steals one as Burgettstown gets fouled up
BURGETTSTOWN – Somehow, Fort Cherry’s girls basketball team beat Burgettstown.
Despite Burgettstown playing at home, coming in 13-1 overall and 5-0 in section play. Despite the Blue Devils handling the Rangers 51-34 the first time the teams met this season – on Fort Cherry’s home court, no less. Despite Fort Cherry falling behind by 14 points in the second half, the Rangers pulled off a 49-43 win Monday night that most who saw it will agree that they had no business pulling off.
It seemed like Fort Cherry had as good a chance of coming back from down 14 as Truman did of defeating Dewey.
But the latter happened, and so did the former.
How did they do it?
“It’s the heart,” Fort Cherry coach Clarence Edwards said. “I told them before the game, I said play with the heart, and we’ll win this game. And that’s exactly what they did.”
“You have to give Fort Cherry girls all the credit in the world. I just kind of guide them. They do all the work. So, hats off to them.”
After taking a 19-15 lead into halftime, it looked like Burgettstown was going to run away with things early in the second half when the Blue Devils jumped out to a 10-0 run to go up by 14. But Fort Cherry punched back, cut the deficit all the way down to two and started the fourth quarter down just 35-30.
The Rangers got a boost early in the fourth quarter, when Blue Devils forward Kaitlyn Nease, who tied for the team lead with six points in the first half, fouled out.
“It definitely makes a big difference,” Burgettstown coach Megan Zitner said. “They have to guard her inside, which opens up the shooters more. Without her, it’s definitely difficult. It hurts to lose her that quick.”
What really hurt Burgettstown was an intentional foul called on Eden Rush with 1:03 left and the Blue Devils leading 43-41.
Here’s how Zitner saw the play:
“I think that my player was going for the ball, and she wasn’t intentionally fouling the girl,” Zitner said. “I thought it was ridiculous that it was an intentional foul call. I mean, the kid was going for a ball. She wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.
“To be honest, it’s surprising that that happened at our home court. But I can’t change the officials. That’s not something we can control, so we have to play through that kind of stuff.”
The call was made, and Fort Cherry’s Ava Menzies made one of two shots to cut the deficit to one.
For Edwards, staying aggressive on the ensuing possession was key.
“We didn’t want to let up, even though we knew we were getting the ball back,” he said. “We still wanted to be attacking. So that was a big difference. We just kept attacking.”
They kept attacking, and scored four points seconds apart to turn a one-point deficit into a three point lead.
Fort Cherry didn’t allow another basket the rest of the night to complete an improbable win.
For the Rangers, Dana Sinatra led the team with 14 points- and did it her way – before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Burgettstown’s Addie Cairns led all scorers with 17 points.
The Blue Devils will look to bounce back Thursday night at Chartiers-Houston, and Fort Cherry will look to keep it going Thursday against Carlynton. Both games are at 7:30.
Edwards gave credit to Burgettstown, but it ended up being Fort Cherry’s night.
“They’re a heck of a team,” Edwards said. “They’re big, they’re strong. They can shoot. But, hey, like I said, we just wanted it more than they did.”