Rematch: AG girls hope for same result with Hempfield
YORK RUN – Shea Fleanor really doesn’t think this time around will be much different. Same teams.
Same coaches.
Same game plans.
And if Fleanor and his Albert Gallatin Lady Colonials have their way … same result.
One of Albert Gallatin’s 21 victories this season came against Hempfield back on Dec. 28, 2002. But that 51-46 win pales in importance to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. Quad-A quarterfinal-round matchup against the Lady Spartans at Norwin High School.
“We prepared the same way we did for them the first time,” Fleanor said. “We did some good things in the game, and there were some things I wish we would have done differently.
“Their coach (Gene Brisbane) has done a great job of establishing a system within their program. Based on what they’ve done the past couple of years, it’s obviously been successful. We don’t expect much different this time.”
Playing without point guard Rachel Karpency, Albert Gallatin managed to survive a first-round contest against Mount Lebanon when Loui Hall nailed a pair of free throws with two seconds to play Tuesday night.
Hall scored 23 for the game, after finishing second in the WPIAL in scoring during the regular season with a 31.2 points per game average.
Fleanor is still unsure of Karpency’s status for Saturday.
“It’s up in the air right now,” he said. “She was off crutches (Thursday) and she walked around at school without them. But we’re preparing to play without her. But in the back of our minds, maybe we’re thinking she’ll be able to go, even if it is just spotting her a few minutes.
“It made it pretty tough (against Mount Lebanon). We had to use Loui a little bit to bring the ball up the court, and that wore her down a little more than usual. But not having Rachel available gave our young kids some confidence going into this game because they had to step up. We had to do a little growing up during the game.”
Hempfield (21-4) was using a decided height advantage, meanwhile, to rout Laurel Highlands, 58-34, in first-round action. That advantage, clearly evident against the Fillies, won’t be as pronounced Saturday.
“They are big, but we’ve played Oakland Catholic and North Catholic, both of which are bigger,” Fleanor said.
“We played them (Hempfield) man-to-man the first time we played and their height didn’t seem to bother us too much. We have Loui and Ashley Davis inside, and I think they had problems with our size.”
Indeed. Hall and Davis combined to score 40 of Albert Gallatin’s 51 points.
Another big performance out of Hall and Davis could equate into the Lady Colonials’ advancing past the first round for the first time in school history.
“That first win (over Mount Lebanon) was huge for us,” Fleanor said. “We’ve had two pretty good practices, and the girls are very enthusiastic. No girls’ team has advanced past the first round. The girls have been talking about it. They want to make history.”