Feb 13, 2005 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

CARROLL TWP. – Southmoreland picked the worst possible time to leave its shooting touch at home. The price the Lady Scots paid was a 55-30 loss to Montour in a WPIAL Class AAA girls basketball playoff game Saturday at Ringgold High School.

Southmoreland made only one-of-10 shots in the first quarter, but trailed only 7-4 after one. The Lady Scots followed that by making only three-of-12 in the second quarter and fell behind, 26-10, at the break. As trends tend to continue, Southmoreland shot four-of-14 in each the third and fourth quarter to see their season end at 16-8. Montour moves into the quarterfinals with a 16-6 record.

Southmoreland coach Brian Pritts said the pressure of the playoffs took a toll on his team.

“There was a lot of pressure on their shoulders,” Pritts said. “You could tell the shots weren’t going to fall because we weren’t shooting properly.”

After managing only 10 points in the first half, the Lady Scots played considerably better in the second half, scoring 10 in each of the last two quarters.

“We did play better in the second half,” Pritts said. “One of our girls was sitting on a training table at halftime and fell off and hit the floor. All of the girls started laughing and it kind of lifted the pressure off of them. We were able to relax at that point and just go out and play basketball.”

Montour made the most of its height advantage, as the Lady Spartans controlled the boards and blocked at least a half dozen Lady Scots shots. Senior Haley Gaidosh grabbed 16 rebounds to go with her 15 points and sophomore Jordan Burkes added 15 points and a couple of blocked shots. Gaidosh is 6-0, as is Chrissy Sheard, who had 10 rebounds and two more blocks.

“I thought our height was the key factor in the game,” Montour coach Denny Hopper said. “We don’t ever see Southmoreland play, but from the tape I saw, I thought the difference would be inside. They drive to the basket a lot, but we were bigger and I think a little quicker than they were.”

Montour’s quickness, especially in transition, helped them open a big lead in the second quarter. A 17-2 run stretched a 7-4 lead to 24-6.

“We thought we could run against them,” Hopper said. “We ended up getting a lot of easy shots, especially in the second quarter.”

Southmoreland’s Vanessa Abel was limited to three points in the first half, but finished with 14.

“When she puts the ball on the floor, we knew from film that she likes to go all the way to the basket,” Hopper said. “She likes to score a lot on the backside and that’s what we were able to take away.”

“This is something we’ve got to learn from,” Pritts said. “This is the poorest we’ve shot all year. We shoot about 35 to 40 percent from the floor (they shot 24 percent Saturday). But Montour has a nice team, a strong team. They run the floor well for such a big team.”

Pritts has the Southmoreland program heading in the right direction – “And we’ll get better” – but he’ll have to do it without seniors Kelly Rollinson, Terri Bundridge, Jordan Pluck and Vicky Santmyer.

“We’re sure miss our seniors,” he said.

“They gave us four good years and they got this basketball program turned in the right direction.”