D-11 Girls’ Basketball: Bro, quick start propel Mahanoy Area past Pine Grove
Mahanoy Area's Felicia Bro watches one of her shots fall during Tuesday's District 11 Class 3A girls' basketball first-round game at Pine Grove. Bro scored a game-high 24 points in the Bears' 49-37 victory (Photo by Karlee Feger).
PINE GROVE — Mahanoy Area coach Tom Scheeler was hoping his squad would get off to a good start in Tuesday’s District 11 Class 3A first-round game at Pine Grove.
Neither he, nor anyone else in the gym, could have predicted the start his Golden Bears got.
Mahanoy Area held Pine Grove scoreless for the first 12 minutes of the contest and scored the game’s first 20 points en route to a 49-37 victory over the Cardinals.
The win moves the 10th-seeded Golden Bears (14-9) to Friday’s quarterfinals against second-seeded and Schuylkill League champion Schuylkill Haven (20-5) at 7:30 p.m. at Blue Mountain High School.
“Our first half was as good as we can probably play, offensively and defensively,” Scheeler said. “More defensively. We got them rushing some of their shots. We were getting every loose ball and every rebound. That was key.”
Leading the Golden Bear charge was junior guard Felicia Bro, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
Bro scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points, all on layups or drives to the basket. Lilly Carl and Naomi Kowalick each added layups as Mahanoy Area led 14-0 after one quarter.
“It feels great. Our defense came up strong,” Bro said of the quick start. “It’s something we stressed at practice every day that if our defense plays well our offense can come from it.”
Ella Connolly picked up the scoring pace in the second quarter, scoring eight of her 12 points. She had the first four points of the second frame and Carl’s layup made it 20-0 with 4:22 left in the period.
The key to Mahanoy Area’s scoring barrage was a patient offensive attack that worked the ball inside to Connolly, resulting in either shots or kick outs to open shooters.
“I thought our offense looked really good today,” Bro said. “We moved the ball well, everybody got open shots and hit them.”
The Golden Bears set the tone early, holding the ball for more than a minute on the game’s opening possession. That patient approach continued throughout.
“Our first possession was probably the longest possession we had all year,” Scheeler said. “It didn’t end up in a basket, but it kind of set the tone for everything. We got everybody into it.”
For Pine Grove (14-9), the start couldn’t have been any worse in front a large crowd that was kept quiet most of the game.
The Cardinals were 0-for-9 from the field and committed nine turnovers in their scoreless first quarter, then missed their first four shots and made four more turnovers in the second before Kaylee Seltzer’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left in the half got Pine Grove on the scoreboard.
The Cards finished the first half 4-for-21 from the field with 16 turnovers as Mahanoy Area took a 26-9 lead into intermission.
“Not the way the plan was laid out, obviously,” Pine Grove coach Allison Rizzo said. “Turnovers can’t happen, especially when you can’t put the ball in the bucket.
“Turnovers have kind of been our Achilles heel for a lot of the season and something we definitely need to work on moving forward. You can’t have that many, especially when you can’t put the ball in the bucket for 12 minutes.”
