Feb 16, 2005 By Stephen Flinn For The 4 min read

IMPERIAL – The Mapletown girls’ basketball team lost to second-seeded Mt. Alvernia in WPIAL Class A playoff action at West Allegheny High School Tuesday night, 56-37. The Mt. Alvernia Lions have won seven WPIAL Championships and were riding a 15-game winning streak.

“I was real proud of our girls because they showed heart tonight,” Mapletown coach Linda Schultz said. “We were outsized and outmanned, but we still fought and never gave up.”

The Lady Maples fell behind 1-0 before the game even began, as they were assessed a technical foul for circling around the opponent’s side of the court during pre-game warm-ups, which is a violation in playoff games.

Leanne Wisniewski made one of the two technical shots, and Tracie Ferrarri sunk a basket off the beginning possession to give Mt. Alvernia a 3-0.

Mt. Alvernia was not able to take a commanding lead in the first quarter, as the Lions’ shots wouldn’t fall and the score remained 3-1 midway through the quarter on a Mapletown free throw by Erika Chory.

The Lions’ defense forced 17 first-half turnovers, especially off an aggressive press and allowed only one Mapletown field goal in the first quarter – a Brittany Buckhalter lay-up with 30 seconds left, which finished the scoring for the first quarter at 12-4.

“Mt. Alvernia was a really good team and we knew we were in for a tough game,” Shultz said. “We battled but just didn’t have enough players to come out on top against their deep bench.”

The Lady Maples scored four unanswered points early in the second quarter on an Ashley Griffin lay-up and two Mary Kocerka free throws to pull to within six points at 14-8, but Ashley Rothwell powered in the lane for a lay-up to push the Lions’ lead back to eight points.

Mt. Alvernia’s pressing defense worked for and against Mapletown. The Lions caused 17 Mapletown turnovers in the first half, but also committed 11 fouls before the break, which allowed the Lady Maples to shoot 15 free throws in the first half and go into the locker room only down 24-15.

“The free throw line definitely helped us tonight,” Shultz said. “We got to the line and shot pretty well, which helped us to stay in the game.”

Kocerka led the Lady Maples with 14 points, nine coming at the free throw line on a 9-of-11 performance from the charity stripe.

“Mary is one of our two seniors, and I was really proud of the way she played tonight,” Shultz said. “She shot real well from the line and gave us leadership.”

Mt. Alvernia came out of the locker room after halftime, playing much more aggressively on both sides of the ball. Erika Chory went to the hoop strong 30 seconds into the third quarter and sunk a lay-up to close the gap to 26-16.

“I gave the kids some motivation at halftime and they responded,” Shultz said. “The third quarter was our best of the game.”

Kocerka scored five points in the third quarter to fuel the Maples, who scored 14 as a team, as the Lions took a 42-29 lead after three.

Ferrari paced the Lions in the third quarter with four points and led Mt. Alvernia with 14 for the game.

The Lady Maples were unable to sustain their energy in the fourth quarter, as The Lions went into a stall on offense to protect their 13-point lead, which forced Mapletown to chase them.

The first field goal in the fourth quarter didn’t cane at the 5:30 mark on a January Baker putback underneath, which gave Mt. Alvernia its biggest lead of the game to that point at 46-30. The Lady Maples never got any closer.

“Maybe Mt. Alvernia came into this game thinking they would blow us out,” Schultz said. “I think we surprised them a little how we were able to stay with them through much of the game.”