By Patrick Connelly
Allied News Sports Editor
Although the Greenville High girls were able to trim a 15-point deficit to just 2 with 1:20 remaining Friday night, Avonworth (23-2) was able to escape with a 49-44 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs at Kennedy Catholic High School.
“We were down 13, 14 the whole night,” Greenville head coach Scott Taylor said. “Things weren’t going our way. We were defending OK, but not to our normal standards.”
The Lady Antelopes led 8-3 after the first quarter before jumping out to a 26-12 edge heading into halftime.
Greenville’s Brooklyn Taylor and Hannah Horne hit back-back field goals to open up the 2nd half, but Tara Gallupe connected on 2 straight free throws before teammate Natalie Zivic landed a 3-pointer to put the Lady ’Lopes up 31-16.
With 2:01 left in the frame, Taylor hit a tray to put Greenville down 33-21. Later in the quarter, Horne and Emily Paxson both hit jumpers to cut Avonworth’s edge to 10. Gallupe, though, connected on a tray herself to put the Lady ’Lopes up 38-25 as the quarter came to a close.
Horne hit a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the 4th quarter to put the Lady Trojans (22-4) back within 10. After a Catherine-Costa field goal for Avonworth, Horne hit a basket and the foul shot that followed, trimming further into Greenville’s hole.
Lauren Mayernik and Zivic then hit jumpers on Avonworth’s next 2 possessions as the Lady ’Lopes went back up, 44-31.
With 3:32 to play, the Lady Trojans went on their biggest one of the game.
Horne hit a free throw for Greenville. Taylor added another 3-pointer with 3:06 left before hitting back-to-back free throws as Greenville trailed just 44-37.
After an Avonworth turnover, Taylor connected on a long 3-pointer from the top of the key, putting the Lady Trojans down just 4 with 2:28 to go.
After an Avonworth free throw, another three from Taylor with 1:20 to play put Greenville down 45-43.
“To battle back ... that just shows you the kind of heart these kids have,” the elder Taylor said.
Gallupe hit a free throw for Avonworth with a minute left. Taylor’s 5th and final foul was called 10 seconds later under the basket on Zivic as she exited with a game-high 23 points.
Zivic hit 1 of 2 for the Lady ’Lopes before Greenville got the ball back with 50 seconds to go.
A missed free throw by Morgan Marshall and a missed bucket under the hoop by Kami Rodgers gave the ball back to Avonworth as Zivic took it the length of the court for the basket to seal the win.
“We just ran out of time,” Taylor said.
With the victory, Avonworth moves on to play WPIAL rival Jeannette in the second round.
“You worked your tails off all season,” Taylor said he told his girls after the loss. “They’ve accomplished a lot. I’m real proud of them.”
The game was the last for Greenville seniors Rodgers, Horne, Allison Pfaff, Liz Campman and Amber Sweeney.
“What we’ve done the last 2 years is something to be proud of,” Taylor said of the Greenville program’s continued success. “To get us to this level twice in a row is just tremendous. I can’t say enough. I’m very sad to see them (the sniors) go.”
———
PIAA CLASS AA PLAYOFFS
AVONWORTH 8 18 12 11 49
GREENVILLE 3 9 13 19 44
AVONWORTH — Frew 1-0-0-3, Costa 3-3-4-10, Mayernik 2-0-0-4, Gallupe 3-9-10-16, Zivic 4-1-1-11, Presutti 1-0-0-2, Milbert 1-0-0-3. 3-pt. goals: Frew 1, Costa 1, Gallupe 1, Zivic 2, Milbert 1. Totals: 15-13-15-49.
GREENVILLE — Rodgers 1-0-1-2, Pfaff 0-0-0-0, Horne 4-8-11-17, Marshall 0-0-1-0, Taylor 8-2-2-23, Sweeney 0-0-1-0, Burnett 0-0-0-0, Campman 0-0-0-0, Paxson 1-0-0-2. 3-pt. goals: Horne 1, Taylor 5. Totals: 14-10-16-44.
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