Mount Lebanon is ousted by New Castle, 53-43

The Hurricanes corrected a problem when they stopped layups via penetration.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BUTLER -- All the New Castle girls basketball team wanted was a second chance, and when they got it, the Hurricanes made the most of the opportunity.
Turning the tables on a frustrating 49-40 loss to Mt. Lebanon five weeks ago, the Hurricanes defeated the Blue Devils, 53-43, Tuesday night in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA state playoffs.
"I don't know if there was any extra incentive because of losing to them before," said Hurricanes coach Luann Grybowski. "What I do know is that these kids are capable of playing the way we played tonight, especially on the defensive end of the floor. They played smart, they took care of the basketball and overall, I thought we did a great job."
Oakland Catholic next
The Hurricanes advanced to the Western semifinals where they will face Oakland Catholic. New Castle lost to Oakland Catholic, 54-50, in the WPIAL semifinals two weeks ago.
"The kids know that one got away from us," said Grybowski. "They now know you can't give up three or four minutes and not show up to play. You have to play hard for the entire 32 minutes."
Mount Lebanon got out to a quick start, leading 14-9 at the end of the opening period, but during the second eight minutes, New Castle posted a 17-2 advantage and led 26-16 at halftime.
"I thought their penetration killed us early," said Grybowski. "I told [the players] if we stopped their penetration and forced them to shoot or pass the ball, they would be playing into our game. We just couldn't allow them to continue to penetrate our defense and get layups."
Jalessa Sams, who led New Castle with 24 points and eight rebounds, felt she and her teammates might not have been focused.
"I don't think we were ready to go in the first period," said Sams. "During the second period, we got things going and became more focused on what we were doing."
Cut deficit in half
The Blue Devils cut the deficit in half at 31-26 at the end of the third period and with a 3-point goal by Christine Briercheck made it 31-29 one minute into the final quarter.
However, the Hurricanes responded, pushing the lead back to 10 with a 10-2 run.
"I called a timeout and said to the girls, "Look, you can't ever think the game is over against a good team because it isn't,' " said Grybowski. "They made a little run at us so we had to make a run right back at them."
Logan Hartman also had a solid game for New Castle with 12 points and four rebounds, while point guard Ryenn Micaletti added six assists and five steals.
"The one thing I didn't do tonight was get into foul trouble," said Micaletti. "In a lot of games, I usually have two or three fouls in the first half and have to sit a couple of minutes. But in this game, I didn't pick up any fouls until the fourth quarter and I was also really proud of my defensive effort."
One of the big factors was turnovers. In the earlier loss to Mount Lebanon, the Hurricanes committed 30 turnovers, while Tuesday they had only nine.
"We have been concentrating on that in practice," said Micaletti. "We know that every possession is crucial so we worked hard on protecting the basketball.
"As for meeting Oakland Catholic again, we are anxious, very anxious for that game. For us, it is going to be the game of a lifetime."