Feb 10, 2008 By Stephen Flinn For The 3 min read

BRIDGEVILLE – Higher-seeded Brownsville used a balanced scoring attack Saturday and held off a second-half surge by Riverview to advance from the WPIAL Class AA Preliminary Playoff Round with a 65-46 win over the Raiders at Chartiers Valley. “I thought we hustled throughout, especially on the defensive boards, which helped us control the game,” Brownsville coach Greg Golembiewski said. “We are playing 4 and 5 guards on the floor, so we used our speed to get a lot of loose balls.”

Emily Lucosh led the Falcons with 19 points including 10 in the third quarter. Angie Pelehac added 19 points, and Rebecca Bruschi added 17.

The Falcons (16-8, 7-5) will now play Greensburg Central Catholic either Tuesday or Wednesday.

“We were able to give Wash. High a game this year before falling late, so who knows what can happen if we get a few breaks,” Golembiewski said. “That’s why the playoffs are played on the court.”

Both teams started fast on the court, but slow on the scoreboard. The Falcons won the tip but turned over the ball on their first possession. The Raiders committed an over-and-back violation on their first possession.

It was a scoreless game until Bruschi hit a short jumper to give Brownsville a 2-0 lead at the 5:45 mark in the first quarter. All five Falcon starters scored in the first quarter to push them to a 14-8 lead entering the second quarter.

Erin Wallace then led a Raider charge in the second quarter and Brownsville went cold from the floor and from the free throw line. The Falcons shot only 3 for 12 from the charity stripe in the first half while the Raiders shot 10-11. That combination slowed the Falcons and they held a slim 29-27 lead at the break.

Wallace led the Raiders with 11 points. No other Raider scored in double figures.

Riverview took the lead early in the second half after Grace Yuhas drove for a basket to tie the game at 29-29 and Ashley Brown hit a lay-up to give Riverview its first lead of the game 31-29.

That’s when Lucosh took over for Brownsville. She hit a 3-pointer and the Falcons retook the lead 32-31 2 minutes into the third quarter. She stayed hot and her 10 points in the third quarter helped push the Falcons back in front and take a 48-35 lead into the fourth quarter.

“I felt I had to do something to help our team, so when I hit that 3-pointer early in the third quarter, I told myself, ‘we can do this,’ ” Lucosh said. “I also thought our whole team picked it up a notch after that and we got back on track.”

Brownsville outscored Riverview 19-8 in the third quarter and put the game out of reach. The Falcons tore off a 12-0 run including 6 points in a 30 second span late in the third quarter to give the Falcons a 48-35 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Raiders pressed to start the fourth quarter and closed the gap to 10 points at 52-42 but would get no closer as the Falcons turned it around on the free throw line late in the game by going 7-10 in the last period.

“We were about an eighty-percent free throw shooting team coming into the game,” Golembiewski said. “We started two freshmen and a sophomore today so we’re young and were maybe a little too excited, but we’re a running team and our conditioning paid off today because we never tired out.”