PA. PLAYOFFS Hickory girls bow out of play in Dist. 10

The Hornettes suffered a 62-44 loss to Mercyhurst Prep.
MEADVILLE - The Hickory High girls basketball team faced a lot of challenges during the 2004-05 season, but none bigger than Wednesday's opponent in the semifinals of the District 10 Class AAA tournament.
Mercyhurst Prep, boasting three Division I recruits, gave up the first six points of the game to the Hornettes then dominated the remainder of the game in a 62-44 victory.
Stayed close early
Hickory (19-7) stayed close with ties at 8 and 10 in the first minute of the second period, but that is when Prep (23-3) took off on a 13-2 run to open a 27-14 lead at halftime.
"I thought there were a couple of times where they were able to answer on key turnovers and that hurt us," said Hickory coach Jeanette Whitehead.
"We would get it close, and then turn the ball over and they capitalized on the mistakes. I am not disappointed with the level of play from my team, but tonight, they had too many horses for us to handle."
Deandra Evans is a big part of the Hickory offense, but Prep held her to eight points.
"They packed it in pretty good on her," said Whitehead.
"They had good size up front and that might have made it even more difficult to get the ball down low. We weren't able to get [the ball to] her the way we usually like to."
Chere' Marshall led Hickory with 22 points.
"She had an awesome game," said Whitehead of Marshall.
"I just wish we could have gotten one or two other players to connect with her and maybe it would have been a different game."
Consolation game Saturday
Hickory will play Franklin (23-2) in the district consolation game Saturday; the winner advances to the PIAA tournament.
"I hope we can regroup and come out focused to play a hard-fought game," said Whitehead.
Chelsea Gordon led Prep with 22 points, while Mashea Williams added 15 and Erin Kerner 14.