Mahanoy Area pulls away from Marian

POTTSVILLE – From dust and to dust we shall return.

Marian looked viable for a return seat in the District 11 Class 2A playoffs, but on this, the first day of Lent, the Fillies bit the dust.

It came at the hands of their top rivals, Mahanoy Area. No doubt both teams are very familiar before the third meeting of the season unfolded in Martz Hall Wednesday. Twice before the Lady Bears (19-5) were the winners, and they made it three after weaving to a 43-32 win.

The third-time-the-charm adage for No. 5 seed Marian (14-10) wasn’t working. Its sensational guard, Emily Shaud, dumped in a team-leading 14 points, but couldn’t rescue her side in her final high school basketball appearance. Ditto for starting seniors Macey Alansky, Julia Kreisl and Abby Digris.

There were no answers for the speedy Bears, a team that played up-tempo every moment and raced the floor to get transition points.

Mahanoy, the top seed in Class 2A, has its share of weapons. If Jordan Karmonick (17 points) is bottled up, Claudia Clark can find open space to fire away. When the Fillies tried making stops out front, Emily Lawrence was buzz-sawing inside.

The backbreaker came with time expiring in the first quarter. Karmonick let go with a long three-pointer that seemed to flip the tables toward her team. Even though it just tied the game at 7-7, the excitement generated was a huge factor.

“That shot was from way, way out,” said Marian coach Paul Brutto. “It was a big shot, it was deep, and she’s a good player.”

Indeed Karmonick is like the energizer, no slacking off.

“I thought they controlled the first quarter, and then Jordan hits that big shot at the buzzer there,” Mahanoy head coach Tom Scheeler said.

Scheeler thought the defensive side was just as important in getting the Bears back on track. Mahanoy wasn’t in a good flow, and Marian’s defense was poking holes all over the offense.

After Clark swished in a triple to open the second quarter, giving Mahanoy a 10-7 edge, Krisel answered right back for a tie. Even when the winners sprung in front with seven unanswered points, with Meghan Macleary, Allyson Babinsky and Karmonick scoring, Shaud tried to rally her team with a trey and a driving deuce. But Lawrence assured her team of a 20-15 halftime lead.

“I wish she would have taken a few more,” Brutto said of Krisel’s three-point shots. “She passed up a few, and I thought she could have taken a few more, but we were trying to run the offense a little bit more. She did play well, and that’s the bottom line.”

Then the treacherous third quarter was about to hit the Fillies, an Achilles Heel for most of the season.

Cealinn McGroarty flung in a triple to put the Bears in front 23-15 on her teams’ first possession of the second half. However, Abby Digris sank a bucket, and then the ship was on the verge of taking water. The eventual winners reeled off five straight points and all Marian had was two free throws by Krisel to make it 28-19.

For a few moments there was some kick left in the Fillies tank, cutting into a 31-19 deficit when Krisel buried a trey and Shaud made in a nifty drive to make it 31-24. But the Bears started to crank it back up, led by Karmonick, as she drained in six points to make it 41-29.

“These kids have been resilient, one of my favorites to coach,” Brutto said. “They’re just so coachable. I was real proud of their effort. This is a great group of kids. We’ve won state championships, and I told them I’ve been coaching 40 years, and they’re very special.”

GO FIGURE … The numbers show both sides with 22 rebounds each. Shaud with seven and Kreisl with six led Marian. Karmonick had seven for her side. Marian was 10-for-32 from the floor and only 1-of-7 in the second quarter. The Bears shot 15-for-35 on the game.

QUOTE OF THE TOURNAMENT … Mahanoy Area Athletic Director Kieran Cray: “I don’t know why we have such a shortage of (game) officials. There sure are enough in the stands.”

OFF TO THE DANCE … Mahanoy Area will play for its fourth straight Class A District title against Moravian Saturday. The Fillies bid adieu to five seniors; besides the aforementioned, Lyndsey Reinoehl had a curtain call.

MARIAN

Shaud 6-1-2-16, Kreisl 2-3-4-9, Digris 1-2-3-4, Alansky 1-0-0-3, Reinoehl 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 0-0-0-0, Pleban 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-6-9-32.

MAHANOY AREA

Karmonick 5-5-8-17, Clark 3-0-2-9, Lawrence 2-1-1-5, Babinsky 2-1-2-6, McGroarty 2-0-0-4, Macleary 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 15-7-13-43.

Marian 7 8 4 13 – 32

Mahanoy Area 7 13 8 15 – 43

Three-pointers: Marian - Shaud 3, Kreisl 2, Alansky 1. MA --Karmonick 2, Clark 2, Babinsky 1.