Chandler, Fisher lead Uniontown past Ringgold
In a season of disarray, Uniontown’s girls basketball team finally found a shining moment. Jocelyn Chandler poured in a game-high 39 points and Emily Fisher drained five 3-pointers in scoring 17 as the Lady Raiders stunned Ringgold, 74-62, in a Section 2-AAAA battle at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium on Thursday night.
Uniontown improved to 11-8 overall and 4-6 in section play.
The loss, combined with Laurel Highlands’ victory at Connellsville, dropped the Lady Rams (12-5, 6-3) into third place, one game behind the Fillies, whom they host on Monday.
“We knew this was a big game, and we didn’t come ready to play,” Ringgold coach Skip Koskoski said. “Uniontown wanted the game more than we did. I give them credit. With all they’ve been through this year, their coach (Annie Malkowiak) being suspended and everything else, they showed me a lot tonight. Chandler proved she was the best player on the floor.”
Chandler out-scored Ringgold senior star Brittany Warren, but not by much. Warren rang up 36 points despite scoring on three in the opening period.
Chandler had 13 field goals and was 10 of 14 from the foul line, while Warren made 11 baskets and hit 11 of 13 free throws. Each made three 3-pointers.
“She’s a really good player and she takes the ball to the hole really well,” Chandler said of Warren. “But I tried not to get caught up in me against her. I just wanted to help our team win.”
Chandler also had 15 rebounds and six assists. She assisted on four of Fisher’s treys.
Even Uniontown coach Jason Winfrey, in his third game since taking over for Malkowiak, couldn’t help but get caught up in watching the Chandler and Warren highlight show.
“I caught myself a few times just watching them in awe,” Winfrey said. “Warren deserves all the accolades she gets. She’s a great player. And Jocelyn’s our team leader. She was in foul trouble, but played smart after that.”
That was one of the keys to the game, according to Koskoski.
“Chandler had three fouls at halftime and we wanted to attack her in the second half, but we didn’t do a very good job of it because she never picked up another foul,” Koskoski said.
Warren, who had no fouls at halftime, wound up fouling out in the closing seconds.
The Lady Rams relied almost solely on the 3-pointer in the first period with Courtney Grubich hitting two, and Warren and Stephanie Kuhn adding one apiece for Ringgold’s first four baskets. Grubich ended the night with 10 points and was the only other Lady Ram player with more than four besides Warren.
Chandler tallied 11 points in the opening frame, which had three lead changes and three ties, including 16-16 when it ended.
Chandler scored to open the second period and Sara Kovach followed with a bank shot to make it 20-16 and the Lady Raiders never trailed again. Uniontown led 33-26 after Fisher’s third trey of the period, but after Chandler left with her third foul, the Lady Rams ran off the final six points of the half to trail by only one, 33-32, at intermission.
The Lady Raiders opened the second half with a 17-7 run to take their biggest lead, 50-39, and force Koskoski to call a time out with 2:45 left in the period. Ringgold responded with a closing 8-2 burst to make it 52-47 after three.
If Uniontown had any memories from its last home game against the Lady Rams, when they blew an early 17-4 lead last season, it didn’t show it this time around.
Ringgold hung tough, but couldn’t get any closer than three points in the fourth period. The Lady Rams trailed 63-59 when Fisher made her only basket that wasn’t a trey by driving in the lane and hitting a jump shot with 1:26 left to push the margin up to six.
Chandler then picked up a loose ball off a scramble and hurled it from beyond half court to Kovach for a lay-up to make it 67-59 with 50 seconds left to seal the victory.
“Something we talked about was closing games out, keeping your focus,” said Winfrey, whose record is now 2-1. “We were working on some of those game situations in practice. In fact, the last few days the girls have been doing well in practice. They just had to carry it over into the game, and they did that.”
Fisher had two steals and one assist for Uniontown. Kovach contributed eight points, three steals, two assists and two boards in a solid all-around performance, and Jill Monahan did a stellar job of running the offense and totaled four points, three assists, two rebounds and one steal.
Marissa Voytek and Courtney Sanner accounted for the rest of the Lady Raiders’ points. Voytek had four points, three rebounds and one blocked shot off the bench, while Sanner had two points, two rebounds and one assist. Maggie Petruska also gave the Lady Raiders some quality minutes off the bench, despite not scoring.
“We’ve been sticking together as a team,” Chandler said. “I don’t want this game to be our highlight. A lot of people say we’re out of the playoffs, but I don’t want to think like that. We want to beat as many teams as we can from here on out and use this win as momentum. Our season isn’t over yet.”