Aquinas Academy’s hot shooting, foul trouble hinder Geibel Catholic
CONNELLSVILLE — Aquinas Academy used solid outside shooting and took advantage of Geibel Catholic’s No. 2 scorer being in foul trouble to earn a 65-56 victory over the Lady Gators on Wednesday night in the third-place consolation game in the WPIAL Class A girls basketball playoffs at “The Swamp” on the campus of Geibel Catholic Junior/Senior High School.
“I told the girls, ‘Don’t be surprised if this is the WPIAL championship game next year,'” Aquinas Academy coach Andrew Kurzawski said. “These are both two young teams. This was a great environment tonight for basketball, and it was an enjoyable game to coach.”
The Lady Crusaders (16-8) clinched third place in the WPIAL and will open up the PIAA Class A girls basketball tournament on March 8 against the District 5 runner-up at a site and time to be determined. The District 5 championship was played Thursday night between Fannett-Metal and Northern Bedford.
“We also knew if we won the game tonight, we would play a little closer to Western Pa. in the first round of the state playoffs,” Kurzawski said. “We expect to get to states, but it is still a young team, and it is a good opportunity for them to experience a state tournament. We really only have two girls that have any experience of playing in the states.”
The Lady Gators (22-3) also open the state tournament on March 8. Geibel will face the District 9 runner-up. The District 9 championship will be determined March 1 when DuBois Central Catholic and Otto-Eldred meet at PennWest Clairon.
“We have to make a run at states,” Geibel Catholic coach Sara Larkin said. “We have a week now to recover from some of the craziness here and be ready to go.”
Aquinas Academy made eight three-pointers, as Tess Duer, Katie Tarquinio, Rebecca Guillen and Carly Bezila each made two from behind-the-arc.
The Lady Crusaders also opened the game on a 10-2 run.
The Lady Gators also had to play nearly a quarter of game time without post player Mallory Clemmer, who picked up her fourth foul with 3:56 left in the third quarter.
Aquinas Academy had a 13-6 from when Clemmer left in the third period and returned with 6:13 remaining in the fourth. Clemmer also missed time in the first half due to foul trouble.
“She (Clemmer) is a good basketball player, and we wanted to try and get her out of the lane a little bit to free us up on our drive, and luckily the game plan worked out,” Kurzawski said. “Emma (Larkin) is a really good basketball player, and their coach does an awesome job of switching it up and giving us different looks.”
Clemmer was effective when she was in the game, as the freshman scored 11 points.
“We have to stay out of foul trouble,” Sara Larkin said. “We can’t live and die with one person, and this team knows that, and we’re better than that. For two straight games now, we haven’t stepped up, and they have to learn, but they are young. Mal’s (Clemmer) a freshman, Janiah (Darnell) and Madison (Waggett) may as well be freshman, so you got Ava Henderson and Em (Larkin) as the only ones out there that have experience.”
Geibel Catholic tralied 53-47 when Clemmer returned and cut the deficit to 53-51 when Emma Larkin converted on a layup and made two free throws for four of her game-high 33 points, but the Lady Crusaders went back up by six on two free throws from Tarquinio and a basket by Duer.
Duer scored a team-high 23 points and Tarquinio added 10.
Clemmer scored on a putback with 1:43 remaining, but Aquinas went into a delay, which forced the Lady Gators to foul.
Duer made 1 of 2 at the foul line and Carly Bezila, who had 11 points, connected on both of her free-throw attempts to push the Lady Crusaders’ advantage to 60-53.
Larkin made a three-pointer to pull the home team within four, but Aquanis closed the game out at the foul line in converting 5 of 6 attempts.
After the Lady Crusaders went up eight with 5:16 left in the first quarter, Sara Larkin took a timeout and Geibel used a 15-10 run to trail 20-17 after the first quarter.
Tarquinio hit a three-pointer to open the second period, but the Lady Gators went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead after Emma Larkin converted a layup while being fouled and made the and-one for a 24-23 advantage with 5:16 left in the second frame.
Larkin made another layup while being fouled and Clemmer’s putback gave Geibel its biggest lead at 28-23 before Aquinas recovered and regained the lead at 31-30 and 36-34 on field goals by Tarquinio, including one from behind-the-arc.
Larkin made a layup for a 36-36 tie at halftime.
The Lady Crusaders had a 12-9 edge in third-quarter scoring.
Guillen scored 12 points to put four players in double figures for Aquinas.