Charleroi gets past Freedom
Charleroi’s Adrianna Gottheld (center) celebrates with teammates after beating Freedom in a WPIAL playoff game Friday at Peters Township High School.
Charleroi’s Kyra Watkins dribbles past Freedom’s defense during Friday’s game at Peters Township High School. Charleroi won 43-36.
Charleroi’s Maria Claybaugh and Kaitlyn Riley try to grab a rebound but lose possession of the ball during first-half action against Freedom Friday night.
McMURRAY – It might have felt like a trip to the dentist for Charleroi head coach Kevin Lee, but he’ll take.
And you can hold the novacaine.
Charleroi outlasted Freedom Friday night in a WPIAL Class AA high school girls basketball preliminary playoff game for the program’s first playoff win in more than 20 years.
“I feel like I just got my teeth pulled,” said Lee, whose team advances into the first round where it will play No. 5 seed Neshannock Tuesday night at Canon-McMillan. “We made things that way though. We made a lot of mistakes and didn’t close the game out the way we needed to. We should have been up 15-20 points in the fourth quarter.”
Lee’s frustration came mostly from the fact the Cougars couldn’t put the game away from the free-throw line.
Charleroi had a huge advantage from the foul line, getting there 28 times, compared to just five attempts for Freedom. But the Cougars struggled, making just 14.
“We’ve struggled to make free throws the past couple of weeks,” said Lee. “It’s not like we don’t shoot them. We are in the gym all the time shooting. We are just not making them in the games.”
Things went well for the Cougars early as they built up an 11-7 first-quarter lead.
That lead got as big as seven in the second quarter as Charleroi led 17-10, mostly on the back of Kaitlyn Riley, who scored 12 of her game-high 15 points in the first half.
But the Cougars got sloppy defensively as Freedom put together a 12-2 run to close the half to take a 24-22 lead into the locker room.
The Bulldogs had success getting behind the Cougars in transition, converting plenty of open layups.
Charleroi dug in at the defensive end in the second half though, allowing just 12 points, including just four in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs didn’t make a field goal in the until Deanna Drobka hit a three-point shot with just 23 seconds remaining.
Drobka led Freedom in scoring with 13 points.
“Our defensive effort in the second half was one thing I was pleased with,” Lee said. “Our press was good and we forced them into turnovers.”
Charleroi got a nice second-half lift from Maria Claybaugh, who made three big field goals in the third quarter to give the Cougars the lead.
Claybaugh, who finished with 10 points, gave the Cougars the lead with a jumper midway through the third and extended the Charleroi advantage to 35-32 with a buzzer beater to end the third quarter.
Riley began the fourth quarter with a three-pointer that gave Charleroi a 38-32 lead and the Bulldogs never closed to within less than five points the remainder of the game.
“We fought to the end,” said Freedom head coach John Kaercher. “We are young and we just made some mistakes in the second half. But we have done that all season. Sometimes we look really good but just as quickly we show our youth. I am very proud of our effort though. We have a bright future.”