Trojanettes turns up the defense in 67-27 win over J-M girls
Jefferson-Morgan's Erin Confortini (15) makes a pass around Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic's Kiki Palmer during Monday's WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Peters Twp.
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan’s Morgan Simkovic takes a shot over Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic’s Ashley Robbins during Monday’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Peters Twp.
Jefferson-Morgan's Kayla Yorko (14) looks to make a pass around Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic's Mary Casamassa during Monday's WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Peters Twp.
McMURRAY — Jefferson-Morgan stood toe-to-toe with Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic and was holding its own midway through the second period in the WPIAL Class A girls basketball quarterfinals.
Then the Trojanettes showed why they are the No. 2 seed.
North Catholic turned up the defense to spark a 21-point run that included the final 16 points of the second period en route to a 67-27 victory Monday night at Peters Township High School.
“They just wore us down,” J-M coach Chris Niemiec said. “We go six, seven deep and they full-court press and even at halfcourt, they’re up in your face. When you’ve got one or two ballhandlers it starts to wear on you.”
North Catholic (19-5) advances to the semifinals where it will face Riverview on Wednesday.
The Lady Rockets (20-3), however, will jump right back onto the hardwood tonight for a PIAA play-in game against a familiar foe in California, which lost to Riverview in overtime Monday.
The two will play tonight at 6:30 p.m. with the winner receiving a chance to qualify for the state playoffs with another victory on Thursday.
“We don’t have a lot of time to rest or practice what we messed up on, but I think we’ll be OK,” said J-M’s Erin Confortini, who led the Lady Rockets with 13 points, including one 3-pointer.
Jefferson-Morgan’s only two losses before Monday came at the hands of the Lady Trojans.
The Lady Rockets played a spirited opening period against the Trojanettes. Erin Confortini opened the game’s scoring with a 3-pointer before North Catholic took the lead with baskets by Mary Casamassa and Evelyn Brazil.
J-M answered with a pair of Confortini free throws to re-take the lead and a basket by Nicole Venick put the Lady Rockets up 7-4. J-M’s Jamie Lawrence countered a bucket by the Trojanettes’ Samantha Breen to make it 9-6 but baskets by Breen and Mia Palmer gave North Catholic a 10-9 lead after one.
The Trojanettes scored the first six points of the second period for a 16-9 lead. The Lady Rockets, though, responded to a Niemiec timeout to fashion a six-point run with Confortini twice scoring off offensive rebounds around two free throw by Ally Bogden to slice the gap to one, 16-15.
Then, the bottom fell out for Jefferson-Morgan.
Kiki Palmer hit her second 3-pointer of the period and Casamassa scored four straight points as North Catholic took control and eventually surged to a 30-15 halftime lead.
The Trojanettes also scored the first five points of the third period to complete a 21-point run for a 35-15 lead.
Niemiec did all he could to stem the tide to no avail.
“You just try to work on the next basket and you try to break that run,” Niemiec said. “We were setting up special plays just to, hopefully, get a basket then two and then three, but we could never get that one.”
The Trojanettes led 46-27 after three periods and out-scored J-M 21-0 in the final frame with all but the final six of those points coming from their starters as North Catholic poured it on.
Casamassa and Abby Goetz led North Catholic with 14 points apiece and Breen followed with 13.
“They’ve got some length, and even their guards have long arms,” said Niemiec, who watched starters Morgan Simkovic and Bodgen foul out for his team.
“I think once we started to get into foul trouble we started to get frustrated,” Confortini said. “They definitely had a height advantage on us. I felt we all could’ve done better.
“It was a good atmosphere to be in, though. There were a lot of fans, a nice crowd.”
Venick was J-M’s second-leading scorer with five points, including a 3-pointer. Bogden scored four and Kayla Yorka hit a trey for three points.
Niemiec wasn’t down on his team after the loss.
“I just want them to have fun,” he said with a smile. “They knew that if they lost they had to come back tomorrow.
“This is one of those games you’ve got to put in your rearview as fast as you can. Same place tomorrow. I think they’ll respond well.”