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Waynesburg holds off Lady Gators, 58-48

By Paul S. Brittain for The 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE TWP. — Kirsten Garber and Celine Monica didn’t shoot the lights out at Geibel Catholic’s holiday tournament on Tuesday night. It only seemed that way.

Garber and Monica combined for 52 points as Waynesburg Central held off Geibel Catholic 58-48 in the consolation game of the host team’s tournament.

Five seconds before Garber scored her 33rd and 34th points to end the game, the gymnasium lights briefly started going out, section by section.

“That’s what they’re capable of,” said Waynesburg coach John Garber of his senior guard tandem. “They’re both three year captains and team leaders. That’s what we expect.”

The Lady Raiders needed all of those points and more to offset the hot shooting of Geibel Catholic’s Grace Nowicki, who scored 26 points, and Sydney Palya, who added 12.

The difference in the outcome was a 10-point Waynesburg run at the start of the second half that turned a 27-21 edge into a 37-21 lead.

Geibel Catholic coach Patrick Blackstone said his team might have folded at that point earlier in the season, but is beginning to come together now.

“Everybody played a lot better (than Monday) and we put that behind us,” Blackstone said. “Our intensity was a lot better. I know we lost the game but I’m proud of the way we played.”

After three early deadlocks, Waynesburg Central (4-5, 2-2) went ahead to stay on a 12-2 run to begin the second quarter. Garber scored seven points in the run and Monica added five to offset a basket by Nowicki.

Leading 27-21 at the half, the Lady Raiders surged to their 16-point lead on three baskets by Monica and two baskets by Garber.

Nowicki and Palya scored for GC and Alexa Henckel scored a basket around a free throw by WC’s Morgan McDowell to cut the lead to 40-31, and WC led 45-35 at the third quarter break.

The Lady Gators surged to a 12-4 run to start the fourth quarter as Nowicki scored 11 points and Palya added a basket to cut the led to 49-48 with 3:15 left.

But the Lady Raiders ran time off the clock before Garber sank the biggest of her six treys to rebuild a 52-48 edge.

Monica sank two free throws and Garber added four more points to set the final score.

“We ran a triangle-and-two with (Taylor) Staley, who is a first-year player on number 14 (Nowicki) for awhile,” John Garber said.

He said his oldest daughter’s late trey was “Big! But she knows she has the green light and if she’s wide open, she had better shoot it.”

“This was definitely good for us in playing a couple good teams,” Blackstone said. “That will definitely help (when section play resumes).”

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