Greyhounds click on all cylinders in playoff win
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By Bill Hughes
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
MONESSEN – Monessen hit the accelerator early and never let off the gas in the first half as the fifth-seeded Greyhounds downed 12th-seeded Leechburg 63-15 in the first round of the WPIAL Class A girls playoffs Monday night.
“We wanted to start strong,” said Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik. “It was our best shooting performance of the season and a good time to peak. The rebounding was there and turnovers weren’t an issue.”
Monessen (18-5) raced out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter, held a 27-0 lead before Leechburg (8-11) scored, and a stifling press was key.
Leechburg turned the ball over 17 times in the first half and 24 times for the game while Monessen gave it away 13 times.
Hailey Johnson scored eight of Monessen’ first nine points and finished with a game-high 15 points while inching closer to 1,000 career rebounds. She needs less than 40.
“She was focused tonight,” Vertacnik said. “We need that from her.”
Madison Johnson (13) and Na’Jaziah Carter (11) also hit double figures for Monessen.
Next up is fourth-seeded Riverview (15-6) Thursday at Fox Chapel.
The game will be a rematch of a Feb. 3 game at Riverview that saw the hosts take advantage of Monessen’s worst shooting performance of the season en route to a 50-25 win.
“We weren’t there mentally and the shots didn’t fall,” Vertacnik said. “Then, we got lazy on defense, and it was the second most points we gave up all season.
“We were eight for 62 from the field and eight for 20 from the (foul) line. It wasn’t pretty shooting all the way around for us, but I give them credit.
They came to play that day. It was a very good game for them and a very bad game for us.
They came out hot that day but haven’t scored like that since.”
Rebound will be key for the Greyhounds in the quarterfinals.
“We have only made 400 out of 1,400 shots this year, but we average 48 rebounds per game,” Vertacnik said. “Plus, teams don’t know who will score for us. Hailey is the only player averaging 10 points per game, but we have players averaging 8.3, 8.2, and 7.9 points per game. That makes us even more dangerous, and especially if we shoot like we did tonight.”
Sidney Campbell added eight points and five assists for Monessen while Grace Richards led Leechburg with five points.