HS Girls’ Basketball: Conti drives Spartans past Blue Mountain
North Schuylkill's Mya Conti surveys the defense during Monday's Schuylkill League Division I win at Blue Mountain (Photo by Karlee Feger).
ORWIGSBURG — When Mya Conti got the ball Monday night, the North Schuylkill junior point guard wanted to go left.
The Blue Mountain coaching staff knew it.
The players on the court knew it.
The moms in the stands knew it.
The boys in the corner student section knew it … “left-handed layup.”
Yet, no one could stop her.
Conti scored a game-high 22 points, all on driving layups to the left side of the basket, as North Schuylkill defeated Blue Mountain 45-33 in a Schuylkill League Division I girls’ basketball game Monday night.
The victory keeps North Schuylkill (14-4, 12-0) unbeaten in league play and clinches at least a tie for the Division I title. The Spartans can win the division outright with a win Thursday against Schuylkill Haven or next Monday at Tamaqua.
“It’s her ability,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said of Conti. “When you’re 5-foot-2, and you want to score the basketball around the rim, you have to have a knack and the ability to not only get to the rim, but you have to have ways of finishing.
“She’s outstanding at the outside arm finish. If you watch her finish, it’s not inside. She doesn’t finish like a normal layup. Her finish is outside. We work on that and she practices that because she has to score that way because she’s 5-foot-2.
“As far as quickness and toughness, you can’t find anybody who’s quicker and tougher. It’s her ability to get there and she knows how to finish.”
Listed at 5-3, Conti scored a pair of layups in the first quarter and one in the second on a reverse layup to help the Spartans take a 24-14 halftime lead.
Gianna Capone had all eight of her points in an 18-6 run in the first quarter, while Addisyn Balicki came off the bench to score all five of her points.
“She’s quick. She has that quick first step,” Blue Mountain coach Rose Carper said of Conti. “She has that little shoulder shrug that makes everyone jump to the right shoulder for some reason and she goes left. She’s quick, she’s good, she’s a great player. It’s tough to stop a person who has a quick first step.”
Conti then single-handedly took over the game in the third quarter with left-handed drives to the hoop, scoring 12 of North Schuylkill’s points as the Spartans outscored Blue Mountain 13-4.
North Schuylkill led 37-18 after three frames and pushed the margin to 45-26 with 2:23 left before Blue Mountain’s reserves scored the final seven points of the game.
“I want to score it,” Conti said. “It was open a lot. There’s no reason to stop it if they’re not stopping me. If it’s open, you take it.”
Conti’s offensive ability was the difference in an otherwise defensive battle. The Eagles (7-12, 6-6 D-I) held the Spartans under 50 points for only the fifth time in 18 games —- they also accomplished the feat in the first meeting Dec. 20, a 46-35 North Schuylkill win.
The problem for Blue Mountain is the Eagles lack a scorer who can consistently put points in the board. Blue Mountain shot just 6-for-32 (18.8%) from the field in the first three quarters, including 1-for-16 in the third quarter alone.
Mila Fleagle had 13 points for Blue Mountain, but no other player had more than four.
“That’s kind of been the thing all year,” Carper said. “It’s not like we give up a ton of points. We held them to one of their lowest scores all year. We just can’t keep up with the scoring even if we are holding teams to 40-45.
“That go-to, take-over player is what we’re missing this year. It takes time to replace your scorers that you had last year and trying to figure that out. I just keep telling them to keep shooting. Catch, ready to shoot.”
For Blue Mountain, the loss denied the Eagles a chance to qualify for the District 11 Class 4A playoffs. They need one more league win to make it, either Thursday against Pine Grove or next Monday versus Minersville.
“Try not to overfocus on it … just play the next game,” Carper said. “One more and we’re in and then you never know what happens. I think we have the pieces, it’s just putting them all together the same night.”
