WPIAL GIRLS HOOPS New Castle's Red Hurricanes beaten by Oakland Catholic

New Castle gave the nationally ranked Eagles a battle before losing 54-50.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
AMBRIDGE -- Entering Tuesday's game with New Castle, Oakland Catholic's girls basketball team was the top-ranked Class AAAA team in Pennsylvania and No. 5 in the nation by USA Today.
If those rankings are accurate, one thing is certain -- New Castle isn't far behind. The Red Hurricanes pushed the Eagles to the limit before losing 54-50 in the WPIAL semifinals.
"I don't think we are [far behind them]," said New Castle coach Luann Grybowski. "They had three girls really step up for them when they needed it and they made their free throws down the stretch. But the bottom line is the kids played hard and never gave up, and I guess sometimes, you just have to turn around and go back to work."
Big height disadvantage
The New Castle (23-4) game plan was simple. Facing a height disadvantage, the Hurricanes wanted to push the ball up the floor before Oakland Catholic (26-1) could set up defensively. For most of the first 26 minutes of the game, the plan worked as the Hurricanes held the lead.
"I thought we would score against their press, but we didn't do that as much as we probably could have," said Grybowski. "They [Oakland Catholic] played great halfcourt man defense and tonight, they were the better team. If we played each other 10 more times, I am not sure what would happen, but you have to give them credit. They were eight points down and they came back."
After holding onto a 23-20 lead at halftime, New Castle stretched its lead to seven (27-20) on a pair of baskets by Jalessa Sams to begin the third period.
Just as quickly, the Eagles cut the deficit to a single point, 27-26, but again the Hurricanes responded by stretching its lead back to eight (34-26) with a 1:30 remaining in the third period.
"At that point of the game, I thought we were fine," Grybowski said. "There was a lot of game left, but I thought that possession for possession, if we would take care of the ball, we should be fine, but it just didn't happen."
Foul problems
Still leading by a two points heading into the final period, foul problems and an attacking Eagle offense was too much for the Hurricanes to handle.
With New Castle's Ryenn Micaletti, Abby Allen and Nikki Karatinos all saddled with four personals, the Eagles made their move as they stepped up their game on offense.
After being held in check for much of the game, Ashya Jones and Bridget Finnegan led the Eagles to the win. Jones scored 11 of her team-high 23 points in the final period, while Finnegan tallied eight of her 12 points during the quarter.
Sams led 'Canes
Sams led all scorers with 24 points, while Logan Hartman finished with 10.
Erica Prosser scored 10 points for the Eagles.
Despite the loss, the Hurricanes will return to the postseason for the PIAA state tournament. New Castle will be either the third or fourth seed, depending on Oakland Catholic's fate in the WPIAL championship game.