Dec 12, 2003 By Jim Downey 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – Avella had its problems shooting in the paint, missing enough bunnies to fill a display window at Easter. The Lady Eagles had better success 15-feet from the basket though, making 17-of-18 attempts, including 11-of-12 in the final quarter, for a 52-39 come-from-behind Section 2-A victory at Geibel Catholic. Both teams made 16 fields with the Lady Gators holding the edge with six 3-pointers to three by Avella. The difference came at the free throw line with Geibel making only one of seven attempts to the stellar shooting by the Lady Eagles, especially by Lisa Mitchell. The 5-8 senior made 11-of-12 attempts, including 9-of-10 in the final 1:38 of the game.

The combination of good defense and Avella’s lack of ability to make an open shot when the opportunity presented itself opened a golden opportunity for the Lady Gators in the second quarter. Leading 14-13 after a strong finish in the first quarter, Geibel held Avella scoreless for seven minutes until Dianne Bedillion broke the string with a lay-up. Sarah Gossett added a field goal with 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to six points, 23-17.

“Those kind of things hurt. We lost our focus right before halftime,” Geibel Catholic head coach George Bortz said.

The Lady Gators started strong, but fizzled out in the second quarter. Geibel scored nine points in the first five minutes and none in the final three to keep Avella alive.

“Our biggest problem is we have trouble scoring,” Bortz said. “You can’t only score 39 points against the better teams. Those teams hang around and eventually beat us.”

Avella kept hanging around, scoring the final points of the third quarter at 2:14 when Ashley Midler drained a 3-pointer to give the Lady Eagles its first lead, 31-30, since late in the first quarter.

According to Avella head coach Jim Matalik, defensive changes on both ends of the court changed the momentum in the second half.

“I don’t think we were focused (in the first half). You have to take the outside shooting away against Geibel. We moved Lindsay McConnell on Emily Pennington to take the defensive pressure off Lisa (Mitchell). That helped Mitchell on offense,” Matalik said.

“When Geibel went man, that helped us. We’re comfortable against a man defense. Their zone was giving us trouble. We scored two baskets on high pick-and-rolls after they went man. That broke open the game.”

Danielle Cochrane gave the Lady Gators their last lead when she made an inside jump shot at 6:36 of the fourth quarter. McConnell scored on Avella’s next possession for the lead and the Lady Eagles steadily pulled away to set up Mitchell’s performance at the foul line.

According to Bortz, the scoreboard didn’t accurately portray the type of game the Lady Gators played.

“The score is not indicative of the kind of game it was. I was happy with the defense. We just can’t score enough points. I haven’t figured it out. We preached to get the ball inside. We did, but we just couldn’t finish.”

Pennington was the lone Lady Gator in double figures with 13 points on two field goals and three 3-pointers.

Mitchell added a first quarter 3-pointer and two free throws to finish with 14 points.

Gossett scored a game-high 21 points, making all six free throw attempts to go with six field goals and a three-pointer.