D-11 Girls’ Basketball: Fritz shoots Marian past Shenandoah Valley, into AA finals
Marian's Addy Fritz, right, moves around Shenandoah Valley's Brianna Tufts during Tuesday's District 11 Class AA girls' basketball semifinal at Martz Hall (Photo by James Gelatko).
POTTSVILLE — Addy Fritz has a shooter’s mentality.
No matter if they’re going in or not, keep shooting.
That mentality paid off for the Marian junior and her teammates in Tuesday’s District 11 Class AA girls’ basketball semifinal against Shenandoah Valley at Martz Hall.
The 5-foot-11 guard scored 11 of her team-high 15 points in a key spurt through the middle quarters to propel the Fillies to a 42-24 victory over the Blue Devils.
The win advances top-seeded Marian (21-3) to Friday’s championship game, where they will face Schuylkill League Division II rival Williams Valley, a 65-15 winner over Lincoln Leadership, at 8 p.m. at Blue Mountain High School.
The victory also clinches a berth for the Fillies in the PIAA Class AA playoffs.
“We all came in here knowing what we had to do,” Fritz said. “We had to get the job done and play as a team.
“I feel like I needed to do whatever was in my power to get our team back in the game and help us go to the championship.”
Fritz single-handedly took over the game midway through the second quarter after Shenandoah Valley (8-15) sliced an early 15-3 deficit to 15-13 with a 10-0 run to open the second frame. Morgan Labosky scored six of her team-high 15 points in the outburst.
Fritz answered with a 15-foot jumper and a driving layup on back-to-back possessions, then scored on a running hook shot with 2 seconds left in the half to put Marian up 21-13 at intermission.
After Addy Marek opened the third quarter with a putback, Fritz hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and scored on a layup off a feed from Carley Hasara.
Deanna Pugh capped the 18-0 run with a triple and a layup as Marian built a 33-13 with a minute left in the third quarter. Pugh finished with 11 points.
A layup by the Devils’ Maria Castro with 48 seconds left in the third quarter ended a 11-minute, 18-second scoring drought for Shenandoah Valley. The Devils got no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
“There was really no concern on my part,” Marian coach Damian Fritz said. “I know how hard we worked and the discipline we have and the leadership that we have.
“We did what we needed to do there to turn it around and get a little cushion there.”
Coach Fritz wasn’t bothered by the fact that his daughter shot 7-for-21 from the field, taking almost half of the Fillies’ 50 shot attempts. All but one of Addy Fritz’s shots came in the first three quarters.
“She hasn’t been shooting the ball well lately,” Coach Fritz said of Addy. “She works really, really hard. She puts up a lot of shots at practice, outside of practice. You just believe and trust in your work. That’s the type of player she’s developing into.
“She’s not afraid to miss the first five or six. She’s going to make the next five or six. That’s why I love coaching her. Any coach would want one of their best players to have that attitude.”
The game had an odd feel to it, as Marian consistently rotated players in and out of the game, going nine deep despite playing without injured junior guard Olivia Serfass.
Marian swept Shenandoah Valley during the regular season, winning both Schuylkill League Division II games by scores of 45-21 and 49-11.
Coach Fritz said that even though this may not have been the dominating performance that most people expected, his Fillies accomplished their goal, won the game and advanced to Friday’s district final.
“There were some combinations in there tonight that typically don’t play together all year,” Damian Fritz said. “That was the philosophy coming in. I wanted everybody in the program to just get an opportunity to play in a district game at Martz Hall.
“We looked a little out of sync, but I’m OK with that. The girls that I felt needed to play and run on the floor and get up and down and do the things they needed to, might help us on Friday.
“The score is no indication of where we are or how we played tonight. A win is a win in the playoffs. I wanted people to get experience. I wanted everybody in our program to play at Martz Hall in a district game. And now we get ready for Friday, which has been one of our goals all year.”
