Lady Commodores throw a scare into Leechburg
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Frazier coach Ken Poling talks to his team during a timeout during a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game against Leechburg at West Allegheny High School on Feb. 16.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Frazier’s Jovanna Isaac (5) whips a pass to teammate Sierra Twigg (25), who scored on the play, in Friday’s WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game against Leechburg at West Allegheny High School.
Frazier's Lauren Mastowski (24) launches a 3-point shot against Leechburg during Friday's WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
Frazier's Brooke Poling (4) puts up a shot over Leechburg's Mikayla Lovelace during a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School on Feb. 16. Poling, who went over the 1,000-point mark for her career last season, returns for her senior year.
IMPERIAL — Mikayla Lovelace proved to be too much for Frazier to handle, but that didn’t prevent the 11th-seeded Lady Commodores from throwing a major scare into sixth-seeded Leechburg on Friday night.
Lovelace went over the 2,000-point mark in her career with a 37-point effort as the Blue Devils pulled away in the final two minutes for a 75-60 victory in their WPIAL Class AA first-round game at West Allegheny High School.
Brooke Poling led Frazier with 20 points and her three-point play with 5:02 left brought the Lady Commodores (13-10) within 56-54 of Leechburg. Lovelace hit a free throw and then came up with a steal and lay-up shortly afterwards, though, to give the Blue Devils (19-4) some breathing room and they kept Frazier at bay the rest of the way.
“Mikayla’s a big-time player and she makes big-time plays in big spots,” Leechburg coach Joel Ceraso said. “That’s what she did for us.”
Lovelace, a 5-foot-10 senior, gave the Lady Commodores trouble inside all night.
“She’s a good player. You don’t stop a player like that,” Frazier coach Ken Poling said of Lovelace. “We knew what she was going to do, but we couldn’t totally collapse on her because she has capable teammates that can knock down the threes.
“They were blowing the whistle, too, putting her on the line. I’m not saying we weren’t fouling, but …”
Lovelace made 14-of-16 free throws. Brittany Robilio and Daesha Knight added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Leechburg.
Sierra Twigg played a solid game and followed Poling in scoring for Frazier with 14 points. Ashley Moger and Lauren Mastowski, who each made a pair of 3-pointers, scored eight points apiece. Jovanna Isaac, who gamely battled Lovelace inside most of the game and had a solid all-around performance, added seven points.
“Jovanna had her hands full in there tonight,” coach Poling said. “But she played well.”
It was the final game for Frazier seniors Mastowski and Isaac.
Leechburg had a sparkling record that included just two losses to Class AA teams this season, both to top-seeded Vincentian Academy, but the Lady Commodores weren’t intimidated.
“We were playing really well at the end of the season,” Poling said. “Coming in here I knew it was going to be tough against Leechburg, but we held our own. The final score might not indicate that, but it was a tight game until right at the end.”
Leechburg jumped out to an eight-point lead twice in the first period before settling on a 19-14 advantage heading into the second period. Lovelace had 12 points, including two three-point plays in the first eight minutes.
The Lady Commodores battled back and pulled even, 21-21, early in the second when Isaac whipped a nice pass to Twigg for a lay-up, forcing Ceraso to call a timeout. The Blue Devils outscored Frazier 14-7 the rest of the period to take a 35-28 halftime lead.
Poling only had three points at halftime, which actually encouraged her coach.
“I knew eventually her game was going to come around,” coach Poling said. “I felt good that her teammates were stepping up. We hung together as a team and stayed together the whole game.”
Baskets by Poling, Twigg and Mastowski helped the Lady Commodores slice the lead to three twice early in the third period, but again Leechburg regrouped and extended its advantage to 51-42 by the end of the third period.
If the Blue Devils thought they had finally put their pesky foe away, they were wrong.
Twigg and Moger scored the first two baskets of the fourth period to make it 51-46. Poling then countered a Leechburg basket when she hit a driving bank shot.
The Blue Devils pushed the lead out to 56-48, but Frazier fired back with a 3-pointer by Moger and Poling’s three-point play to pull within two.
The Lady Commodores could get no closer, however.
Ceraso was impressed with Frazier.
“That Poling girl is a heck of player,” Ceraso said. “She can put the ball in the hole very unorthodox-wise, I was very impressed with her. We knew we had to concentrate on her but quite honestly some of those other kids stepped up and made shots that we weren’t anticipating.
“I thought our kids did a great job of staving them off. They were very well coached.”
Poling, who has guided Frazier into the playoffs in all four years he’s been coach, feels the best is yet to come.
“We’re losing some good players, but they way we played in the second half of the year, I think we’re going to come back even stronger next year,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
WPIAL Playoff Sum
Class AA
First Round
At West Allegheny
Frazier 14-14-14-18 — 60
Leechburg 19-16-16-24 — 75
Frazier: Brooke Poling 20, Sierra Twigg 14, Ashley Moger 8, Lauren Mastowski 8, Jovanna Isaac 7, Kendall Shaporka 3. Leechburg: Mikayla Lovelace 37, Brittany Robilio 12, Daesha Knight 11, Cam Davies 8, Makenzie Fello 7. Records: Frazier (13-10), Leechburg (19-4).