Abel battles to end as Southmoreland falls
SOUTH PARK – Vanessa Abel never quits. The Southmoreland senior wasn’t on top of her game through three periods in the Lady Scotties’ 59-50 loss to Moon in a WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal clash at South Park High School on Friday night.
The Lady Scotties trailed 43-22 heading into the fourth period, but Abel went down guns-a-blazing in what could’ve been her final eight minutes of high school basketball. The West Virginia University recruit scored 18 of her game-high 30 points in the final frame in a futile effort to spark a Southmoreland comeback.
“I didn’t want to give up,” said Abel, who topped the 2,000 mark in career points this season. “In my mind, I thought we could still come back and win. I tried everything I could.”
Even after it was over, Abel wasn’t about to give up.
“Hopefully, Moon will beat (top-seeded) Hopewell now,” Abel said, referring to the only way the Lady Scotties’ season can continue.
If the Lady Tigers do upset Hopewell – Moon lost to the Lady Vikings twice during the regular season – they would drag Southmoreland into the PIAA tournament.
“She’s a competitor,” Southmoreland coach Brian Pritts said of Abel. “She’s had a really tremendous career. West Virginia is getting a gem, not just as a basketball player, but as a kid, too.”
If this was Abel’s final game, the finest season in Lady Scotties history would be over.
Southmoreland won its first section championship and postseason game, and ends the WPIAL playoffs with a sparkling 22-4 record.
“I’m proud of my kids,” Pritts said. “They had a tremendous season. It’s been a lot of fun, and it’s not over yet. We’ll be rooting for Moon on Tuesday.”
A Moon loss means Friday was the final game for three Southmoreland seniors in Abel, Anna Coffman and Kayla Wildey. That class had a 74-25 record in the past four years, including 23-8 the last two seasons.
Abel hit four 3-pointers against Moon, including three in the fourth period. She was followed in the scoring column by Coffman who dropped in nine points with one trey and also had five assists. Wildey did not play.
“I’m going to miss the seniors,” Pritts said. “They had four strong years and made the playoffs every year. Even Kayla, though she didn’t play a lot, did a lot of little things throughout the season. I’m very happy with her.”
Pritts wasn’t happy with the way Friday’s game began, however.
Abel scored the game’s first bucket with a driving lay-up off the opening tip, but Moon reeled off the next 17 points, effectively shredding the Lady Scotties’ zone defense. Gracie Palucis scored 10 of her team-high 18 points and sank two of her 3-pointers during the first period, and Laura Magnelli nailed two treys in a row during the big run and finished the night with 10 points.
Southmoreland eventually steadied itself and clawed its way back in the game.
Down 19-4, the Pritts’ crew scored seven straight points to make it 19-11 before Palucis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to set the score at 22-11 after one period.
At that point, Pritts switched to a man-to-man defense and began to trap and use full-court pressure. His players executed that plan almost to perfection as Southmoreland held the Lady Tigers to only two points in the second period. The Lady Scotties pulled within 24-18 on a jumper by Jamie Henry, but then failed on four consecutive possessions to get any closer with three missed shots and a charging call on Abel.
“We dug ourselves a hole, but we held them down in the second quarter,” Pritts said. “The problem was we couldn’t score at our end.”
Moon took charge again in the third period. Julie Gebhard scored the first basket of the second half to snap a six-minute drought by the Lady Tigers, who went on to out-score Southmoreland 19-4 in the period in building an insurmountable 21-point lead.
“I thought we had a good talk with them at halftime, but Moon came out fired up, and our girls got caught looking a little bit,” Pritts said. “That’s the difference between their team and ours. They’ve been this deep in the playoffs many times before, and we just don’t have that experience.”
Moon coach Sarah Kirk didn’t panic during the Lady Scotties’ rally.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Kirk said. “We had ours and then we had to withstand theirs and eventually try to go on another one, which we did. I thought we did a good job on Abel for the first three quarters.”
Kate Kovach gave Moon three double-figure scorers with 11 points.
Besides Abel and Coffman, the only other players to score for Southmoreland were Henry and Nikki King, who had six and five, respectively. Henry also pulled down seven rebounds. Nicole Pizzola also started for the Lady Scotties and Amanda Gross saw time off the bench.
“We did everything we wanted to do this season,” Abel said of her team’s goals of earning a section title and winning a playoff game. “I had my goals just a little higher, though. I wish we could’ve gotten one more win.”