GIRLS BASKETBALL Kennedy Catholic's run comes to an end, 61-46

Iroquois stole the Golden Eagles' District 10 thunder.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Going into Saturday's District 10 Class A championship game, Kennedy Catholic was looking for its fourth straight title, but one obstacle stood in its way.
Iroquois had other ideas as the Braves defeated the Golden Eagles, 61-46, at Meadville High School to capture the crown.
"I am just not sure whether we were ready to play from the beginning of the game," said Kennedy coach Pat Mastrian. "This is the same way we played them earlier in the year [a Kennedy win] when they got a lead in the first quarter. But that time, the girls were able to settle down and start executing offensively."
Iroquois in front
The Braves (21-6) scored the first four points of the game. Behind six points from Nicole Wilson, who finished with 14, they built a 14-6 lead after eight minutes.
"We knew that coming in," said Mastrian of Wilson's ability to control the inside game. "We had a plan to stop her, but the girl on the weak side [Heidi Silbaugh] was hurting us also.
"We talked about that at halftime and I thought when we came out, we started to do a pretty good job on it," he added. "But during that one run, it seemed whatever we did wasn't working for us and then our foul problems really hurt us."
Although he watched his team fall behind early, Mastrian said there seemed to be no reason to panic.
"I wasn't extremely upset with the first quarter when it happened because they [Kennedy players] had been there before," said Mastrian. "But in the second quarter, it just seemed as though we didn't have legs in our shots and everything we put up seemed like it was a forced effort."
In command
During the first four minutes of the second period, Iroquois kept its offense working to near-perfection as the Braves opened with a 10-3 run to build a 24-9 lead.
"You have to give them a lot of credit because every time we made a mistake, they were able to execute and take advantage of it," Mastrian said.
Kennedy (23-4) scored 11 unanswered points to cut its deficit to four before Iroquois took a seven-point lead at halftime, when Jackie Artise banked home a long 3-pointer.
Although the Eagles cut their deficit to three points three minutes into the third period, the Braves put the game away as they scored the final 13 points of the quarter to take a 42-26 lead.
Foul problems hurt the Eagles as Elysa Farrell spent much of the first half on the bench with three personals, while Kennedy also lost the services of Teresa Piciotto and Alexis George with five personals in the fourth quarter.
Despite making the early exit, George led the Golden Eagles with 15 points, while Leah Mastrian had 12.