Hall, Guerriere lift Lady Colonials past Lady Rams
CARROLL TWP. – For Albert Gallatin superstar Loui Hall, it was another night at the office. For Lady Colonials junior Shane Guerriere, it was a coming out party. While Hall battled through double-team defense to lead all scorers with 18 points, Guerriere banged down a trio of three-pointers and took a key charging foul that lifted the Lady Colonials to a 50-43 Section 2-AAAA win over Ringgold Monday night.
The win keeps alive AG’s chance for a perfect section record. The Lady Colonials take a 19-3 overall record and a 13-0 section slate into Thursday night’s section finale against Laurel Highlands.
“Shane has been a good shooter for us all year, but lately she’s really tried to he more selective with her shots,” Lady Colonials coach Shea Fleanor said. “She has worked as hard as any player we have and I was really happy to see her shoot the ball so well for us tonight. She deserved a game like this.”
Just as important as Guerriere’s baskets was the charging foul that she took early in the fourth quarter. Ringgold had scored the quarter’s first three points and Lady Rams guard Brittany Warren came up with a steal. A basket would have brought Ringgold to within a point, but Guerriere held her ground as Warren drove for a lay-up to take the charge. Hall scored on the other end to extend AG’s lead to 42-37 with 5:04 remaining.
“She’s our dirty-work player,” Fleanor said of Guerriere. “Shane and Loui have both taken quite a few charges for us and it means a lot to me because I’m the one always yelling for someone to step up and take a charge. It’s nice to know somebody is listening and it means a lot to them, too.”
For much of the game, Ringgold stayed in a triangle-and-two defense, with the two fronting and backing Hall, who has scored over 2,000 points in her AG career. The result was a very physical evening for Hall, who worked extremely hard for all 18 of her points.
“She has taken such a beating every game we play,” Fleanor said. “She has been allowed to be beaten on more than just about any player in the WPIAL. She needs some time off, but we can’t give it to her now because we’re getting ready for the playoffs.”
Hall, headed to Duquesne on a basketball scholarship, is bigger and stronger than most players, which reminds Fleanor of another player who is bigger and stronger than the competition and even has a separate set of rules named after him.
“To me, it’s like Shaq rules,” Fleanor said, referring to NBA fouling rules regarding Shaquille O’Neal. “I’m not trying to be funny about it, but she really takes a beating every night. I guess the referees feel she should be able to take it.”
Hall made six of her nine free throw attempts. Guerriere’s first three-pointer helped AG overcome an early deficit. It closed Ringgold’s lead to 11-9. Her second basket, which came in the third quarter, extended an AG lead to 29-25 and her third gave AG its first 10-point lead, 38-28. Samantha Kline scored six key points for AG, all coming in the second half. She gave AG its second lead, 26-25, followed a Guerriere trey with a basket to make it 31-25 and followed a Hall basket in the fourth quarter to pad AG’s lead to 44-37.
“Sam and Shane both stepped up for us tonight,” Fleanor said. “Sam had been in a bit of a slump and I was glad to see her get out of it tonight.”
The Lady Rams (15-6, 8-4) travel to Peters Township Friday for the third and final Section 2-AAAA playoff spot. They have a make-up game with Trinity Saturday.
“We’ll see how good we are based on how we can come back from this game,” Koskoski said.
Stephanie Kuhn led Ringgold with 16 points, Warren followed with 11 and Valerie Rogers added 10.