Lady Lions too much for Maples
ALVERTON – Mount Alvernia used an aggressive fast-break offense and a suffocating trap defense to eliminate Mapletown, 73-27, in a first round WPIAL Class A girls basketball playoff match-up at Southmoreland High School Tuesday night. “I think we’re a better team than the scoreboard showed tonight,” said Mapletown coach Linda Schultz. “We just never got into our rhythm tonight. Mount Alvernia is an excellent team and they’re well coached. We’ve faced them in our last three playoff games so we kind of knew what to expect coming in, we just couldn’t get anything going tonight. We usually don’t see this type of talent until we get to this point in the playoffs.”
Mapletown never found an answer for the Lady Lions up-tempo style of play as they opened the first quarter with a 12-4 run which prompted Schultz to use her first timeout just minutes into the game. By the time the opening frame came to a close, the Lady Maples found themselves with a 21-5 deficit to try and overcome.
“Lisa Kaczynski was definitely on tonight,” said Schultz. “She had a tremendous game and we really couldn’t do anything to slow her down.”
Kaczynski led all players with 25 points on the night – 15 of which came in the first half – and a game-high four 3-pointers. She was one of three Lady Lions players to register double-digits in points as Renee Brown and senior Tracie Ferrari were able to add 13 and 12 respectively.
The Lady Maples opened the second quarter with a quick basket from Kayla Stevulak. The play was set-up when Kaitlyn Novak saved a loose ball from going out of bounds and made a no-look pass to Stevulak who drove to the basket for the lay-up.
Mount Alvernia quickly responded however as Kaczynski hit a 3-pointer and then forced a turnover at mid-court on the ensuing Lady Maples possession. Kaczynski went in uncontested for the lay-up to give the Lady Lions a commanding 28-8 lead.
The Lady Lions would continue the pressure for the remainder of the half as the two teams went into the break with Mount Alvernia on top 36-15.
With the loss, Mapletown finishes its season with a 15-8 record, and despite the early exit from the post-season, Schultz decided to look at things in a positive manner following the game.
“The experience of being here is something you have to take and use as a stepping stone going forward,” Schultz said.
“There are a lot of teams sitting at home right now that would love to be sitting here. If you would have told us before the season started that we would make the playoffs and finish 15-8 we would have been very happy with that.”
Junior Erika Chory was the only Mapletown player to reach double-digits as she scored 10 points.
“I really believe that we have a lot more talent than we were able to show tonight,” said Schultz. “And that’s disappointing for the four girls that are graduating.”
Seniors Bethany Ross, Brittany Buckhalter, Ashley Griffin and Cinnamon Kavlick combined for 15 points on the night.