BY MIKE MASTOVICH
CHAMBERSBURG — Forest Hills coach Carol Cecere took extra time to address her team after Wednesday’s 53-44 loss to West York.
Cecere’s eyes were red from shedding a few tears in the visitor’s locker room at Chambersburg High School. But the veteran coach wasn’t upset by her scrappy and somewhat youthful team’s effort in a PIAA Class AAA girls second-round playoff. Instead, Cecere simply was sad that a milestone season had concluded.
“What a great group of kids,” she said. “I’m just blessed with nice girls and good basketball players.
“I told them it’s not the loss that makes me upset. It’s that the season is over. We had a year of such heartaches and injuries. To come off that fully intact, 14 strong, and make a great run that we did, District 6 champions and to get into the Sweet 16 of the state – it was a remarkable season.”
The 6-AAA champion Rangers finished 19-7 and won their first PIAA playoff game on Saturday. District 3 runner-up West York will take a 29-2 record into the Elite 8.
Bulldogs coach Jonathan Shulz, who uses seven seniors on his seasoned squad, said the Rangers most likely will be heard from again in the future.
“Forest Hills is a very young team, and they did a nice job with their dribble-drive offense,” Shulz said. “There are a lot of positives that they need to take out of this and use it as a building tool. This experience will come back and be very useful.”
West York overcame a big first-quarter deficit and was led by Ann Deibert’s 14 points and 11 rebounds. Paige Elliott had 12 points for the Bulldogs, who went 19-for-31 from the free-throw line compared to Forest Hills’ 5-for-7 effort from the line.
Forest Hills sophomore guard Becky Bard had 14 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Casey Gallaher had 12 points. Senior 1,000-point scorer Teddi Burkett closed her career with seven points and seven rebounds.
“A lot of my younger girls play AAU basketball, and they’re used to playing against teams like that,” Cecere said. “I don’t think they were intimidated.”
Especially not early.
The Rangers netted the game’s first seven points. Amy Wiesheier’s rebound and basket at 5:35 made it 7-0. The 5-foot-10 junior had four points and three rebounds in the opening two minutes, 35 seconds.
“Our shooting was just on,” Cecere said.
“They were playing a defense that was sitting a little back, which we anticipated. We told our girls, ‘You’re going to have open looks outside, and you’ve got to take them.’ Then they started playing tighter on the girls.
“They collapse, and they’re so quick. One time we made a pass to Casey Gallaher and she was just smothered with four girls so fast. They’re just quick at getting inside on help.”
Forest Hills’ advantage ballooned to 12-3 on a Gallaher basket. But West York ran off seven straight points and closed the quarter on a 9-2 spurt. The Rangers led 14-12 after one.
“We needed to come out and dictate the tempo of play,” West York’s Shulz said. “Our philosophy is that defense creates offense.
“We like to tighten the vice up a little bit.”
Once again, Forest Hills built a solid lead, 20-14, on sophomore Julia Marks’ 3-pointer 4:33 before halftime. But again, the Bulldogs rallied to tie the game at 20 via Liz Kane’s basket at 3:00 and at 22 after Olivia Manges scored late in the half.
Elliott made one free throw with 13.7 seconds on the clock, giving West York its first lead, 23-22, which stood at intermission.
West York’s Deibert had nine of her team’s 13 third-quarter points as the Bulldogs pulled ahead 36-31 through three.
West York went 7-for-10 on the line in the quarter.
West York gradually pulled away in the fourth, building 12-point advantages of 45-33 and 47-35 midway through the quarter.
“We went a little bit colder and didn’t hit too many outside shots,” Cecere said. “But we had a great season. We also have to thank our fan base. We had a great following. It’s a two-hour drive. The girls look up and see that. It means a lot.”
