Task too tall
IMPERIAL — The Hillers were more like Mountains.
And the Mars girls basketball team was powerless to overcome them.
Trinity's inside tandem of Mary Dunn and Abbey O'Connor vexed the Planets all night as Mars fell Wednesday to the Hillers 57-39 in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals at West Allegheny High School.
Dunn, a 6-foot-1 senior center, scored 20 points. O'Connor, a 5-9 junior forward, added seven points and a slew of rebounds as Trinity dominated on the glass.
“We were half their size,” said Mars coach Dana Petruska.
When Mars collapsed inside on Trinity's post threats, Sierra Kotchman hit from the outside and scored a game-high 21 points.
“She's only a junior and I thought she carried us in the second quarter when Alayna (Cappelli) went to the bench,” said Trinity coach Bob Miles, who is a 1970 Butler High School graduate. “We can move Sierra to the point and we don't miss a beat. It may actually improve our transition game a little and our bigs can get down the floor.”
That inside-outside game has served Trinity (21-3) well this season.
“That matchup is really hard for teams that don't have at least one big player inside,” Miles said. “We take advantage of that. Our guards are very unselfish. They are very willing to give the ball up inside. Sometimes they might be too willing to give the ball up.
“When everyone starts closing in on our inside game, our guards have the ability to knock down an outside shot.”
Meanwhile, Mars found it hard to knock down anything.
It was an uncharacteristically poor evening from the field for the Planets, who were just 12-of-49 shooting in the game.
Lauren Wasylson led Mars with 16 points and her three first-half 3-pointers kept Mars in the game for the first 12 minutes.
But Trinity adjusted and look the 3 away from Wasylson.
That helped Trinity go on a 10-2 run on the way to a 36-24 lead at the half. That advantage ballooned to 50-30 by the end of the third quarter.
“When we got down by double-digits, I could see that panic mode set in,” Petruska said. “That's immaturity, I think. There wasn't that calmness.
“(Trinity's) best players are seniors and juniors. Our best players are a freshman, a sophomore and a junior.”Nicole McCloud added 11 for the Planets (19-6).Mars will now have 10 days off before it opens the PIAA playoffs March 5.“We'll take a couple of days off,” Petruska said. “We'll get back after it and get ready for next week.”Petruska said she wished her team didn't have to wait that long to play again.“It's too long of a layoff,” she said.It may give her team the time to believe again.“At the beginning of the Ambridge game (a win in the quarterfinals) we were kind of feeling things out,” Petruska said. “When we started to believe, that's when we started playing ball.”MARS 57Bri Buzard 0-5 0-0 0, Lauren Wasylson 5-13 2-2 16, Nicole McCloud 4-10 0-0 11, Tai Johnson 1-16 4-6 7, Elise Sheehy 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Ryan 2-3 1-2 5, Nichole Sommers 0-1 0-0 0, Grace Ryan 0-1 0-0 0, Daria Hockenberry 0-0 0-0 0, Cassie Mueller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-49 7-10 57.TRINITY 39Natalie Cappelli 0-3 0-0 0, Alayna Capelli 2-6 1-2 7, Delaney Elling 0-3 0-0 0, Sierra Kotchman 7-18 4-5 21, Mary Dunn 9-14 2-5 20, Skyla Summerkamp 0-0 0-0 0, Allie Scarfo 0-0 0-0 0, Adison Mamula 0-0 2-4 2, Rachel Lemons 0-0 0-0 0, Abbey O'Connor 2-6 3-4 7. Totals: 20-50 12-20 39 .Mars 11 13 6 9 — 39Trinity13 23 14 7 — 573-point goals: Mars 8 (Wasylson 4, McCloud 3, Johnson); Trinity 5 (A. Cappelli 2, Kotchman 3)March 5: Mars in first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs
