Salandra key player as Connellsville girls defeat Uniontown
Connellsville’s Christine Salandra admittedly made one of Thursday night’s hastiest decisions. But in a matter of seconds, she shook off the temporary brain freeze to come up with perhaps the game’s biggest play, and in turn, may have kept any hopes the Lady Falcons have of reaching the postseason alive.
Salandra finished with a team-high 21 points, all but seven in the second half, as Connellsville dropped Uniontown, 58-47, in Section 2-AAAA action at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
The Lady Falcons improve to 7-8 overall, but more importantly, 3-4 in section play. Connellsville closes the first half of section play in fifth place, but only a game back of fourth and two games out of a tie for second.
“This was a much-needed win,” said Connellsville coach Bob Renzi Jr. “We prepared for this game for a long time. We knew it would be a turning point in our season. Our girls are finally starting to work together. This is a new team.”
Billie Jo Haas’ three-pointer gave the Lady Falcons the game’s first points, and Connellsville never trailed. The Lady Falcons led by eight points after one quarter, and after Uniontown pulled to within 19-18 midway through the second period, closed the half with an 11-4 run to push the halftime edge back to eight.
Salandra helped up that lead to as many as 13 twice in the third quarter, but Uniontown’s Jocelyn Chandler converted a three-point play with 2:57 left in the third to trigger a 13-4 run and Connellsville’s advantage was just four points with 4:39 to play.
After Uniontown missed a chance to cut the gap to two, Salandra passed on an opportunity to wind the clock a little, and instead fired up a shot from inside the top of the key. Chandler pulled down the rebound and the Lady Red Raiders again had a shot to close the gap.
But just as quickly as Salandra fired up the errant shot, she picked Chandler’s pocket and went in for a layup, pushing the Lady Falcons’ lead to 46-40 and starting a 5-0 run. The closest Uniontown would get the rest of the way was seven points.
“She (Salandra) stepped up tonight,” Renzi said. “Different girls have been stepping up every night.”
Not only did Salandra lead Connellsville in scoring, she often drove the lane and found an open teammate for an easy layup. Ashley Benzio was the recipient of several Salandra passes and finished with 11 points.
The smaller Lady Falcons also outrebounded Uniontown, 30-11.
Chandler led all scorers, tossing in 25 points, but because of tight defense by Salandra, was held to only one point over the game’s final 4:49.
Uniontown continues to struggle after opening the season with four straight wins. The Lady Red Raiders have lost 8 of their last 11 games, and fell to 2-5 in Section 2-AAAA after Thursday night’s loss.
“We weren’t ready to play tonight,” said Uniontown coach Ann Malkowiak. “You have to approach every game like it’s a championship game. In the second half of the game, we did a better job, but we lost control of the game in the first half.
“Fundamentally, we had some breakdowns and we didn’t have one of our better shooting nights. We’re struggling now. We have two kids in our starting lineup who have any varsity experience from last year. This is bound to happen. The kids have to understand and push through this. Everything is not always good in sports. You have to work through the bad.
“We’re down, but we’re not out. Everybody has given up on this team, but I haven’t, and my coaches haven’t.”