High school basketball: Fort Cherry girls clinch state playoff berth
Balanced scoring for four quarters and lockdown defense during the third quarter sent Fort Cherry to a 58-33 victory over Laurel in a Class 2A girls basketball consolation round game Monday night on the Rangers’ home court.
The win clinches a berth in the PIAA tournament for Fort Cherry (19-4). The state playoffs begin Friday, March 7, but the Rangers will have a chance to improve their seeding when they play in the WPIAL’s fifth-place game, against Rochester, on Wednesday night at a site and time to be determined.
Against Laurel, Fort Cherry was locked in a tight contest for two quarters. The game was deadlocked, 10-10, at the end of one quarter and the Rangers moved out to a 23-20 advantage at halftime.
The third quarter was pivotal as Fort Cherry outscored Laurel 14-3 to open a 37-23 lead. The Rangers sealed the win by scoring 22 points over the final eight minutes of the game.
Olivia Kemp paced the balanced attack by scoring 12 points. Brooke Cornali was right behind with 11.
Laurel (10-15) received 12 points from Shyan Tindall.
St. Joseph 54, West Greene 38
St. Joseph broke open a close game by scoring the first 16 points of the second half and went on to a 54-38 victory over visiting West Greene in a WPIAL Class A girls basketball consolation round game.
The win clinches a berth in the PIAA tournament for St. Joseph (17-8). West Greene (16-9) has its season end, falling one win shy of the state playoffs.
St. Joseph led 19-18 at halftime before embarking on the pivotal 16-0 run to open the third quarter. Outside of that spurt by the Spartans, the game was almost a stalemate. St. Joe’s led 9-8 after one quarter, 19-18 at halftime and both teams scored 15 points in the fourth quarter.
Kasey Cienik led the Spartans in scoring with 16 points. Senior guard Gia Richter had a full stat line, scoring 14 points to go with 15 rebounds, six assists, seven steals and two blocked shots. Belle Bartolovic added 10 points.
West Greene was led in scoring by Kendra Tharp, who scored 10 points. Marissa Tharp came close to a double-double, finishing with eight points and eight rebounds.