By Ed Farrell
Herald Assistant Sports Editor
NEW CASTLE — Trailing by 10 with approximately 2 minutes remaining in Wednesday night’s PIAA Class A quarterfinal-round contest with Quigley Catholic, Farrell High girls basketball team could’ve called it a day.
But the District 10 titlist Lady Steelers staged one final rally to draw even at 54 with less than a minute, before falling 58-54 at New Castle High Field House.
“I just told ’em, ‘Hey, believe in one another.’ With forty-four seconds to go, you have a chance to win. But they made the plays and we didn’t,” summarized Lady Steelers’ skipper Eddie Turosky.
Farrell (18-6) faced a 54-44 deficit with 2:09 left. But Marissa Carry connected on a drive, then D’Asia Chambers checked in with the final 9 of her game-high 26 points during a 57-second span. That forged Farrell into a 54-all deadlock with 41.8 ticks to play.
However Taylor Verrico and Natalie Delon delivered putbacks, sandwiching a blocked Chambers’ shot in the lane, to spark the Lady Spartans (21-3).
The St. Bonaventure University-bound Chambers’ 26-point, 15-rebound double-double and Carry’s contribution of 23 points stoked the Lady Steelers, who trailed 11-10 at the quarter, 26-25 at intermission, and 43-39 through 3 periods. The game included 4 ties and 11 lead changes.
However Farrell finished with 28 turnovers, was outrebounded 44-36, and converted only 5 of 13 free-throw attempts. Conversely, Quigley connected on only 21 of 72 floor shots (29.1 percent) and made more fourth-quarter miscues (8), than during the 1st 3 periods combined (7). But the Lady Spartans spurted from the 3-point line, connecting for 10 triples.
“We can all look at the little things, but just remember they’re high school athletes out there, okay?” Turosky rhetorically noted. “They’re not (NCAA) Division I athletes or NBA athletes, or anything like that. Kids are prone to make mistakes in high-pressure situations.
“We made some and I would say Quigley did, too. We just didn’t capitalize on a lot of their mistakes, and they capitalized on some of our’s. But I give credit to the (Farrell) kids ’cause the battled back,” he noted.
While WPIAL 3rd-place Quigley Catholic could not convert free throws, either — 6 for 13 overall, missing the front end of a trio of 4th-quarter 1-and-1 bonus situations — it did exhibit slightly more scoring balance, particularly off the bench.
Spartans’ starters Jen Deltondo (16 points, including 4 triples) and Verrico (12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists) and Allison Brooks (12 points on 3 triples, plus a game-high 8 assists, 7 rebounds) did their damage. But frosh frontliner Delon delivered 8 points and 6 rebounds and Drew Meeker mustered 8 markers and snared 7 caroms. Jalysa Archie annexed 9 caroms and Deidre McKenith-Williams a handful for Farrell, but Chambers and Carry accounted for 49 points.
Despite the defeat Turosky admitted, “It was just a fantasy season for me, in the sense I didn’t know what to expect from these kids from the get-go. I explained to them how proud I am of them and the community is, and I would even go as far as to say the Shenango Valley is proud of these kids, because nobody expected them to be the last team standing.”
Turosky cited seniors Chambers, McKenith-Williams and Takerra Samuels: “They came back after a four-and-eighteen season, and just instilled leadership in these younger kids, brought ’em to a different level, and allowed them to believe in themselves.
“‘D’ (Chambers) was in a situation last year where she was ‘the show,’ and she was prone to shoot twenty-five, thirty times a game,” Turosky continued. “She had to adjust on the fly this season to get these other kids involved, and I thought she did a heckava job at doing that.
“You’re never pleased when (the season) ends, unless it ends where you want it to, but I can’t hang my head,” Turosky continued. “I’m very proud of what these kids accomplished. They’re the District 10 champions, the seniors go out with three (D-10 titles). ... They’ve left a legacy for these younger kids. I heard teams around the county talk about being young, but we graduate three seniors — two of whom played quite a bit — but the rest are sophomores and freshmen. I think this (playoff) experience for those younger kids is going to lead to better things for next year. Hat’s off to them. They’re a great bunch of kids with a lot of heart, and it showed out there (Wednesday) night.”
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PIAA CLASS A QUARTERFINALS
FARRELL 10 15 14 15 54
QUIGLEY CATH. 11 15 17 15 58
FARRELL — Chambers 11-3-8-26, Carry 10-1-1-23, McKenith-Williams 0-0-0-0, Archie 1-0-0-2, Scott 1-0-0-2, Floyd 0-0-0-0, Robinson 0-1-2-1. 3-pt. goals: Carry 2, Chambers 1. Totals: 23-5-11-54.
QUIGLEY CATHOLIC — Verrico 4-3-6-12, Brooks 4-1-2-12, Deltondo 6-0-0-16, Fˆnk 1-0-2-2, Skonieczny 0-0-0-0, Meeker 3-0-0-8, Delon 3-2-3-8, Dillon 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Deltondo 4, Brooks 3, Meeker 2, Verrico 1. Totals: 21-6-13-58.
