By Ed Farrell
Herald Assistant Sports Editor
PITTSBURGH — Grit got the Sharon High girls basketball team to the District 10 championship game. And grit gained the Lady Tigers a measure of respectability despite Saturday’s 75-53 setback to Indiana in the PIAA playoffs Class AAA opening round.
Sharon forsaked safety in an attempt to compensate for a lack of size by outhustling the Lady Indians for every possession. At one point Lady Tigers teammates Brittany Benedetto and Mackenzie Black simultaneously dove for a 2nd half loose-ball. Instead they collided, rendering Black disoriented and in need of medical attention.
Later, Kristen Johnson jostled into the front row of bleachers vying for a rebound, and Benedetto barged onto the Baldwin High playing floor after a steal with approximately 2 minutes remaining and Sharon on the short end of a 71-51 score.
But all that effort went for naught as the Little Indians (22-2) weathered a 2nd-stanza Sharon storm by pouring in 42 second-half points, fueled by Tiara Stossel’s trio of treys.
After commiting 8 first-period turnovers the Lady Tigers trailed 24-15 as Stossel and Leslie Stapleton scored 9 and 11 points, respectively.
But during the 2nd stanza Benedetto and Marketta Jackson evenly divided 8 points and Annie Carpenter and Brittany Johnson split 6, as Sharon surged to a 28-all stalemate. Wth 2:28 remaining to intemission, Brittany Johnson’s feed to Jackson drew Sharon even for the 1st time since the game’s opening 24 seconds.
Leading 33-29 at the break, Indiana increased its edge on Stossel’s shooting and 4 points apiece from Stapleton and Marita Mathe. With 1:46 remaining in the quarter and the Lady Tigers trailing 52-39, Benedetto and Black banged into each other in front of Sharon’s bench. From that juncture, Indiana’s double-digit lead was never challenged.
Stapleton scored a game-high 28 points on 12-for-16 shooting and Stossel 18 for Indiana, while Kristin Brice boasted a 9-point, 9-rebound outing. The Lady Indians ended 30 for 65 from the floor (46.1 percent). Stossel’s 7 assists were complemented by 4 apiece from Mathe and Aubrey Frey, indicative of Indiana’s unselfish ball movement.
For Sharon, Benedetto bucketed 17 points and Kristen Johnson 12, and she and Brittany Johnson divided a dozen rebounds. But the Lady Tigers turned over the ball 24 times and Sharon shot only 21 for 57 (36.8) from the field.
“We bounced back the second quarter and a little bit in the third quarter, but we missed some key foul shots and we didn’t get back on defense,” assessed Sharon skipper Gene Sarazen. “I knew that rebounding would be a problem, that if we didn’t control the boards (Indiana outrebounded Sharon, 43-30), they would get a lot of easy shots, and that’s what happened.”
Following an approximate 25-minute delay, Black was stabilized as a precaution and transported to nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital.
“I think she’ll be all right. The main concern was that was her second concussion in a month or so, and her neck was stiff, so they were taking precautionary measures. But she’s a fighter; she’ll be all right,” Sarazen said.
The Lady Tigers’ 11 consecutive triumphs earned them a berth in the D-10 title tilt, but Sharon’s splendid 20-5 season ended in back-to-back losses to Slippery Rock and Indiana by a combined 42 points. In the next PIAA enrollment cycle, however, Sharon will drop down to AA.
“When you’re at the bottom of the triple-A ladder, you go against these bigger schools and it takes a toll on you. We saw it the last time, when we played Moon a couple years ago. We’re just a double-A school, playing triple-A. We’re gonna go back to double-A and see what happens,” Sarazen said.
Carpenter captained the club as Sharon’s sole senior. She posted a 9-point, 3-assist, 3-rebound line in her scholastic swan song, and an admiring Sarazen said,
“We’re gonna miss her. She was the heart and soul of the team, and did a lot of good things. She kept the team together. She was definitely the leader.
Sarazen summarized the season thusly:
“We’re young, but we got a lot of good experience this year, making the playoffs. I don’t think too many people thought we’d be around after the first round (of districts). Having some success there, and these young kids growing up and getting better, that made a big difference.
“Overall, we’re pretty pleased with what we accomplished this year. The kids played with a lot of heart. If you didn’ see them play, you missed a good show all year, because they did a lot of good things, and it was fun ... ”
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PIAA CLASS AAA PLAYOFFS
SHARON 15 14 12 12 53
INDIANA 24 9 19 23 75
SHARON — Carpenter 3-3-4-9, Benedetto 7-3-5-17. K. Johnson 5-2-3-12, Edwards 1-0-2-2, B. Johnson 2-1-1-5, Black 1-0-0-2, Ham 0-0-0-0, O. Shaffer 0-0-0-0, R. Shaffer 0-0-0-0, Gilchrist 0-2-2-2. Totals: 21-11-18-53.
INDIANA — Mathe 4-0-0-8, Stossel 7-0-2-18, L. Stapleton 12-2-2-28, Brice 3-3-5-9, Frye 2-2-2-6, Mateer 0-0-0-0, Lewandowski 0-0-0-0, Houser 0-0-0-0, Thompson 1-0-0-2, Cavalancia 0-2-3-2, Fefolt 0-0-0-0 Hurley 1-0-0-2, A. Stapleton 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Stossel 4, L. Stapleton 2. Totals: 30-9-14-75.
