Frazier suffers heart-breaking loss
WASHINGTON — Frazier held a 20-13 lead over Washington midway through the third period on Thursday night and the Section 4-AA title seemed within the Lady Commodores’ grasp.
Then the Lady Prexies’ Taylor Ellis stepped up and delivered.
Ellis hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull Washington within one, 20-19, after three periods and the momentum swing carried over into the final frame as the Lady Prexies surged to a 36-32 victory and claimed the section crown.
Frazier (12-7, 9-3), attempting to win its second section title and first since 1974, took the loss hard.
“It would’ve been kind of nice to put the number up there on the (section) banner for this year,” said a teary-eyed Jamie Muccioli, who scored a game-high 15 points for the Lady Commodores. “That’s what I was hoping.
“But we made our mark in this section. Now we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
Frazier was coming off a 16-7 season in which it finished second in Section 4-A and won a WPIAL playoff game. The Lady Commodores jumped up a classification this season, but that didn’t prevent another second-place finish and postseason berth.
Now their sights are on another playoff win after their season finale at Chartiers-Houston on Monday.
“I told them we’ve got to regroup and get ready,” said an emotionally spent Ken Poling who is in his first year as Frazier coach. “We’ve still got one more game yet. We’ll take the day off tomorrow and then get back to work. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to shoot better.”
Shooting was the Lady Commodores’ downfall in a defensive battle. Frazier missed numerous open shots, some that were off the mark and some that just refused to go down.
Even so, Poling’s crew had control of the game for a good while.
The score was knotted 6-6 after one period and there were four lead changes in the second. Muccioli twice gave Frazier the lead late in the quarter with driving baskets, one with 57 seconds left and another with 17 seconds left that put the visitors ahead 14-13 at halftime.
The Lady Commodores shut down Washington (13-9, 10-2) for the first part of the third period and gradually built their lead to 20-13 on two buckets by Muccioli and a basket by Hannah Kline.
That’s when Ellis got the Lady Prexies going with consecutive treys.
“That was a hug lift,” Washington coach Mike Maltony said. “Those two shots definitely pumped the energy back into our team.”
“I definitely felt a swing,” Poling said. “Any time you can hit a couple threes … points were very hard to come by in this game. I have to give her credit for that.”
Frazier did a solid job in containing Lady Prexies’ star Tajah Gordon, holding her to nine points, but six of those came in the fourth period and four pushed the hosts over the top.
Gordon scored on a put-back with 5:54 remaining to give Washington its first lead since the second period, 23-22. Cassidy Guiser answered for Frazier with her first basket of the game to put the Lady Commodores back up, 24-23. Gordon then hit a pair of free throws with 4:55 left and the Lady Prexies would never trail again.
Mikala Maltony, the coach’s daughter who led Washington with 11 points, followed with a jumper and Gordon and Emmalea Beck added baskets in a 9-point run the put the Lady Prexies up 32-24 with 2:45 left.
Guiser hit a 3-pointer to make it 32-27 with 2:20 on the clock, but missed free throws proved costly for the Lady Commodores. They failed to convert on their first seven of the second half, including three in a row while down five.
Finally, however, Hannah Fell swished a pair for Frazier with 47 seconds left to make it 32-29, making it a one-possession game.
Gordon fed Maltony for a basket, though, and Ellis hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to put the game away.
“Frazier is a real good team,” Mike Maltony said. “You can’t take anything away from them. They’re quick and physical.
“It’s a shame somebody had to lose.”