Lady Gators’ season ends with 76-35 loss
FOX CHAPEL — The Geibel Catholic girls basketball team had no answer for the height of St. Joseph Saturday afternoon, as the Lady Gators ended their season with a 76-35 loss in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs at Fox Chapel High School.
The Lady Gators (9-12) were looking for their second straight first-round victory after defeating Clairton last year in the opening round. Geibel is just 2-8 in the first round since 2004.
“We knew they had the height advantage over us,” Geibel coach Patrick Blackstone said. “You look at their roster and see their size, but once they take the court you really see their size and athleticism. You can’t change your height and we showed good fight on the boards. We had intensity and I’m proud of the effort they gave today.”
The Lady Spartans have advanced to the quarterfinal round in six of the last eight seasons. St. Joseph, the No. 6 seed, will play third-seeded Quigley in the quarterfinals on Friday with a time and site to be determined.
Chloe Kurpakus registered a game-high 27 points for the Lady Spartans, while Alex Jones scored 22 and Naveah Angleo added 10.
“A good day for us on offense is when we have a good number of assists,” St. Joseph coach Sandy Ackerman said. “We have to share the ball and make sure everyone gets their touches. We were really strong in transition and we controlled the tempo.”
Gabby Yourish was the leading scorer for the Lady Gators with 15 points, while Sydney Palya chipped in eight.
St. Joseph broke away from an early 2-2 deadlock with nine unanswered points.
After a mid-range jumper by Jessica Wolfe cut the deficit down to 11-4 for Geibel, the Lady Spartans countered with a 14-6 spurt to extend their lead to 25-10 at the end of the first quarter.
It was all the Lady Spartans to start the second quarter, as they opened up the frame with a 13-2 run for a commanding 38-12 advantage.
The Lady Gators responded with a 7-6 scoring edge the rest of the quarter and trailed 44-19 at halftime.
“St. Joe’s has a lot of scoring depth and we had trouble defending their outside shots,” Blackstone said. “You can’t really key in on one person and not a lot of Class A teams have that balance on the outside and inside. We had to be on our toes all game long on defense.”
St. Joseph gained more separation at the beginning of the third quarter with the period’s first 10 points and held a 20-4 scoring edge. Back-to-back hoops by Kurpakus invoked the mercy rule and running clock in the late stages of the third quarter.
“Our defense stepped up in the third,” Ackerman said. “We mixed up our defenses and we like to use a lot of triangle-and-two and some box-and-ones. We went man on their two guards and dropped into a zone against everyone else. Geibel’s guards are quick and we had to keep them in front of us.”
Both teams scored 12 points in the final eight minutes.
Geibel had another strong season despite the season-ending playoff loss, as they finished tied for second in Section 2-A and have qualified for the playoffs in three of the last four years.
The Lady Gators will lose eight seniors: Wolfe, Palya, Gabby Yourish, Gillian Yourish, Piper Scarry, Emily Petro, Maren Knizner and Sarah Petro.
“Those seniors are special and they were key pieces in turning this program around,” Blackstone said. “They brought the right energy every game and every practice. They bring a sense of pride to the school and they all are good role models to the younger kids. They will be missed.”