Lady Scots top Uniontown, 37-27
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Southmoreland’s Adeline Nicholson (10) takes a rebound away from Uniontown’s Kelsea Rose (20) under the Uniontown hoop Wednesday in non-section action at Uniontown Area High School.
Uniontown’s Mya Murray (3) takes a shot over a pair of Southmoreland defenders in non-section action Wednesday at Uniontown Area High School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Southmoreland’s Adeline Nicholson puts pressure on Uniontown’s Kierra Rose (15) as she sets up to shoot the ball during their non-section game Wednesday at Uniontown Area High School. Rose led Uniontown with nine points.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Kierra McCargo (24) goes under Southmoreland’s Maggie Moore (32) to pass the ball during their non-section contest Wednesday at Uniontown Area High School.
John F. Brothers
Southmoreland’s Sarah Pisula (24) dribbles against Uniontown during a non-section matchup at Uniontown Area High School last year.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Southmoreland’s Erika Sherbondy (3) shoots for two over Uniontown’s Kelsea Rose (2) during their non-section matchup Wednesday at Uniontown Area High School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Southmoreland’s Carissa Cyphert (13) stays close to Uniontown’s Malaysia Ellis (5) as she moves the ball across the court during their non-section game Wednesday at Uniontown Area High School.
It was one of those basketball games when both teams had their moments and both coaches ran the gamut from totally frustrated to very happy.
And there were many stops in between those contrasting emotions during Southmoreland’s 37-27 win at Uniontown in girls non-section basketball action Wednesday at A.J. Everhart Gymnasium.
When it was all said and done, both coaches were fairly pleased, Southmoreland’s Brian Pritts because of the outcome and Uniontown’s Jason Winfrey because of the effort he got, especially on defense, from his young Lady Raiders.
“We had a lot of turnovers,” Pritts said. “We did not protect the ball tonight and Uniontown made it very tough on us. That’s what we wanted, that’s why we scheduled this game.”
Pritts noted in his pre-game comments that winning at Uniontown is never easy and the Lady Raiders, in kind, treated their guests like flies treat picnic food.
“Defensively, I thought we hung with them pretty well tonight,” Winfrey said. “We did a good job of rotating and I thought we did a good job of keeping their bigs off the boards.”
As a result, the Lady Raiders were able to hang with Southmoreland and never trailed by more than 12 (36-24, with 1:55 remaining).
But despite all of the good Uniontown managed on the defensive end, the Lady Raiders didn’t shoot well enough or score enough points to seriously challenge the Lady Scots, wither.
“On the offensive end, we were handicapped a little bit,” Winfrey said. “We probably only made about 20 percent of our shots from the floor.”
That can be pretty frustrating for such a young team that starts a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors, but Winfrey said he keeps practices and games as upbeat as he can for one simple reason.
“I try to encourage them to keep shooting,” Winfrey said. “We were in our first game and we were losing pretty bad and nobody wanted to shoot. We have to learn to keep our heads up and keep shooting the ball. We need someone to step up for us. We are young, but we need an identity on offense.”
Sophomore Kierra Rose led Uniontown (0-4) with nine points, while Mya Murray added eight points, 10 rebound and three blocked shots.
Senior Olivia Porter scored 21 for Southmoreland (4-0) and sophomore Maggie Moore added 12. That duo scored 33 of the Lady Scots’ 37 points and actually split the scoring among quarters. Moore had six each in the first and third quarters, while Porter scored 18 of her 21 in the second and fourth quarters, including all 13 in the second.
“In the first quarter, they were doing a good job of doubling Olivia and that forced her to distribute,” Pritts said. “Maggie did a nice job of picking up some scoring for us.”
Porter scored late in the first quarter and got all 13 Lady Scots’ points in the second, including three long-range shots that found the bottom of the net.
According to Pritts, Porter has a green light to shoot once she gets on a hot streak. “She is very confident in what she does,” he said. “So she does have a green light and she is getting better at knowing when to shoot and when not to shoot.”
Winfrey credited a couple of girls, most notable junior Abigail Marinucci, for doing a good job on Porter.
“We did a good job on her, but she is a streaky kind of scorer,” Winfrey said. “And she can score from almost anywhere.”
Uniontown led, 9-8, at the end of one quarter before Southmoreland jumped to a 21-15 halftime lead that stretched to 30-20 through three quarters.
Uniontown got back-to-back baskets from Murray to make it 30-24, but Porter nailed a three-pointer to make it 33-24 and the Lady Scots stretched the lead to 36-24 with 1:55 left.