Waynesburg cruises past Deer Lakes, 55-28
Lori C. Padilla
WAYNESBURG – The bus carrying the Deer Lakes girls basketball team got stuck in traffic and was 30 minutes late arriving at Waynesburg Central High School’s gymnasium for Friday night’s game.
The way things turned out, the Lady Lancers could have used another half hour.
Waynesburg put on a clinic in a 55-28 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.
The sixth-seeded Lady Raiders (21-2) extended their winning streak to 11 and advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals when they will face No. 2 Beaver Falls in a 6 p.m. game at Peters Township High School’s AHN Arena.
The Lady Tigers (21-1) blasted No. 15 South Allegheny in the first round, 73-15.
Deer Lakes finished the season 11-11.
Waynesburg has a trio of freshmen in their starting lineup and two of them led the Lady Raiders in scoring. Tess Pauley tallied a game-high 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and Emma Blair followed with 14.
Waynesburg also got nine points from senior Peyton Cowell and five from its other freshman starter, Addonae Johnson.
“We have to play fast and we have to play together,” said Waynesburg coach Mark Capozzoli. “We’re learning how to move the ball faster and we’re playing good defense.”
The Lady Raiders led 14-7 after the first quarter, 33-16 at halftime and put the game away by outscoring Deer Lakes 16-0 in the third.
“We’re creating a lot of turnovers,” said Capozzoli. “We were switching up our defense. We were countering what they did and it worked.”
Deer Lakes had trouble controlling the ball against Waynesburg’s defense.
“They put us in foul trouble,” said Lady Lancers coach Dana Petruska. “Waynesburg is a nice shooting team. They had a good game plan. I’m not going to take anything away from them. They played a heck of a game. They took advantage of our weaknesses.”
Pauley rang up 17 of her points in the first half and Cowell added eight as the Lady Raiders forced 13 turnovers in building their 17-point lead.
The Lady Lancers were led by freshman Capri Bogan who had eight points.