C-H plays Berry good PIAA opener
Chartiers-Houston’s Jala Walker makes the pass to teammate Jasmine Haynesworth as Cranberry’s Erin Merryman closes in during an PIAA basketball playoff game at Peters Township High School on Friday March 10, 2017.
Chartiers-Houston’s Jala Walker gets passed CranberryþÄôs Nicole Hutchinson and Emily Duncan during an PIAA basketball playoff game at Peters Township High School on Friday March 10, 2017.
Chartiers-Houstonþ’s Keaira Walker goes around Cranberry’s Hannah Duncan during an PIAA basketball playoff game at Peters Township High School on Friday March 10, 2017.
Chartiers-Houstonþ’s Alexa Williamson gets passed CranberryþÄôs Andrean Altman and Malliah Schreck during an PIAA basketball playoff game at Peters Township High School on Friday March 10, 2017.
McMURRAY – From flipping tires to P90X squats, Chartiers-Houston girls basketball coach Laura Montecalvo witnesses the effort put in every day by her team.
She also sees that hard work paying off when the Bucs walk onto many courts not only as the bigger but the stronger team.
C-H effectively used its size by nearly tripling the rebounding totals of District 9 opponent Cranberry en route to a convincing 56-18 victory in the first-round of the PIAA Class AA high school girls playoffs Friday night at Peters Township High School.
C-H (24-2) moves on to the second round to face high-scoring Bellwood Antis (23-4), which defeated Northern Bedford 82-37, Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
“Just having size can only do so much for you,” Montecalvo said of the Bucs’ 42-15 advantage on the boards. “When your players are willing to give all-out effort and do the little things that we’re willing to do, it doubles the worth of having size against opponents. Tonight, we showed great effort well beyond being bigger than them. We outhustled them.”
The domination from the WPIAL girls champions started from the opening tip as the Bucs opened the game on a 9-0 run before Cranberry shook off the cobwebs of a a two-plus hour drive with a Malliah Schreck three-pointer more than five minutes in.
That opening stretch, along with a seven-point run to start the second quarter, eventually led to C-H breaking taking a 30-13 lead into halftime.
Jala Walker connected on a step-back jumper with 6:17 left in the third quarter to begin a 22-0 run that extended until 5:10 remained in the fourth quarter, when Emily Duncan finally scored for the Berries to end their misery.
“They are big,” said Cranberry head coach Carrie Melat. “We knew they were big and strong. We just couldn’t execute. They exposed our weaknesses tonight, which is lack of height and lack of strength. We’re not there yet. Give them credit; they are a good team.”
Jala Walker led the Bucs with a game-high 23 points, 11 coming fduring the run in the third quarter.
“I was working on my step-back jump shot, my jump shots in general, this week at practice,” Walker said. “I was just reading their defense.”
Teammate Alexa Williamson added another double-double effort with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Keaira Walker finished with seven points while grabbing 13 rebounds.
“Keaira is the glue for this team,” Montecalvo said. “When we need a big play or need somebody to get a tough rebound or shut down somebody’s best player, all the intangible things that don’t get written about or draw a lot of attention, she is willing to do those things. She is not worried about her points. She is not worried about headlines. She does whatever she has to do to make sure we win. Without a kid like that, we look a lot different.”
The success C-H had on the offense stemmed directly from a defensive effort that forced 25 turnovers and only allowed the Berries to score on consecutive possessions once in the game.
“We always focus a lot on defense and we are reaping the benefits of that now,” Monecalvo said. “We do have a good transition game and we know that if we play good defense then we’re going to get opportunities in transition, which is where we excel.”
The mostly stagnant offense for Cranberry (18-7) was led by Schreck’s seven points.
“Only one team wins the state championship,” Melat said. “We don’t see that kind of athleticism from the teams we play in our district. That really stood out. Their size and athleticism just overpowered us tonight.”