Gross Point Blank
JACKSON TWP — McKenna Gross picked a good time to come out of her early-season shooting slump.
Seneca Valley's senior point guard scored a game-high 28 points in sparking the Raiders to a 56-46 girls basketball victory at home Thursday in the Section 1-6A opener for both teams.
SV coach Todd Schoeffel is confident Gross can do the majority of the ball handling while also contributing much in the scoring department, as she did against the Indians.
“She makes me look good,” said Schoeffel. “She's a talent. When she keeps her head on straight, she's a force.”
Gross was not impressed with her effort in SV's first three games of the season, all wins.
“I was terrible in shooting the ball before tonight,” she admitted. “Having a game like this to begin section play was very important to me. It was important to get the win.”
Gross drained five of the Raiders' eight treys in the game. Two of her 3-pointers came in the second period as SV shook off a sluggish start to score 16 points in the period. Gross' layup late in the first half sent the Raiders to the locker room at intermission with a 23-21 lead.
The Indians (0-4, 0-1) hung around due to some defensive lapses on the part of the Raiders.
“We gave up some baskets on things we knew were coming and that's not good,” he said. “Offensively, we missed a lot of easy chances, something we didn't do in the first three games. But we fought through it and overcame it.”
North Hills received a boost from sophomore guard Abbey McElhaney, who came off the bench to lead the Indians with 13 points, all in the second half.
“We talked to the girls before the game about our strengths, roles that each player has on the team,” said Indians' coach Lauren Wilmus. “Abbey took that challenge and stepped up tonight.”
The Raiders (4-0, 1-0) led 40-30 late in the third quarter, but McElhaney scored five points in the final minute to draw her team to within 40-35 with eight minutes left.
She added a pair of treys late in the final quarter, but the Indians did not score a point in the first four minutes of the period and were unable to get enough stops to stay within striking distance. Gretchen Koken sank a trey to put the Raiders up 48-35 with 4:18 remaining.
“We're a young team and talked about taking it one possession at a time,” said Wilmus, “but we had some crucial turnovers and Seneca goes down and hits those 3s.”
The Raiders committed six turnovers in the first quarter, but lost possession just eight times over the final three periods.
“Coach (Schoeffel) remained calm with us,” said Gross. “He told us to value our possessions, make the easy pass and don't rush our shots.”
NORTH HILLS 46Claire Babicz 3 1-4 7, Sarah Taschner 1 0-0 2, Sydney Ryan 1 5-8 7, Kayla Haile 1 1-2 4, Lexi Kotwica 2 0-0 5, Savannah Powers 3 2-2 8, Abbey McElhaney 5 0-0 13. Totals: 16 9-16 46.SENECA VALLEY 56Gretchen Koken 4 4-4 14, Jess Bickart 2 0-0 5, Madelyn Karchut 1 0-1 2, McKenna Gross 9 5-6 28, Olivia West 2 3-4 7, Haley Cramer 0 0-0 0, Jaden Davinsizer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 12-15 56.North Hills 8 13 14 11 — 46Seneca Valley7 16 17 16 — 563-point goals: North Hills 5 (McElhaney 3, Kotwica, Haile); Seneca Valley 8 (Gross 5, Koken 2, Bickart).Friday: Seneca Valley vs. South Side in Cleveland
