BY MIKE MASTOVICH
Quigley Catholic used balanced scoring, a solid defense and one momentum-swaying, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to defeat Shade 67-45 in a PIAA Class A girls basketball playoff at Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday afternoon.
“We knew they had some shooters.
“We tried to play uptempo as much as we could,” Shade coach Andy Muha said. “We gambled a lot in the second half. In the first half we were in there.
“After we battled back and they hit the 3 at the buzzer in the first quarter, I thought some of my girls kind of let off the gas pedal a little bit. That happens.
“This game is about emotion.
“We were all pumped and we lost our emotion at the end of the first quarter.”
District 5 runner-up Shade fell behind 5-0 early but battled back to lead 14-13 on Erin Spinelli’s basket with 9.7 seconds left in the first quarter.
But there still was enough time for Quigley’s Allison Brooks to beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to set a 16-14 Spartans advantage after one.
District 7 third-place Quigley Catholic used a 19-11 second-quarter advantage to lead 35-25 at halftime and built as much as a 24-point advantage on Natalie Delon’s fourth-quarter basket that made it 60-36.
“We push the ball up and down the court the whole game every game,” Quigley coach Dan Donawitz said.
“We're not a very big team. We’ve hit quite a few of them (buzzer beaters), believe it or not. I think Ally Brooks has four or five of them this year.”
Quigley (20-3) had four players score in double digits: Taylor Verrico (15); Jen Deltondo (14); Brooks (13); and Drew Meeker (11).
“I think my kids play pretty well as a team,” Donawitz said. “We try to balance it off in scoring.”
“I don't think you can stop one or two people,” Muha said of Quigley.
“I thought they ran the floor well. They had everybody step in and do their job.
“For the last eight or 10 years that I’ve had this group, I’ve always told them you work better as five versus one or two. I thought Quigley played five very well.”
Shade was led by Casey Roberts
(11 points) and Marlee Zubek (10).
Roberts had eight rebounds.
The Panthers (19-7) closed the season and the careers of seniors Kristen Corradini, Spinelli and Roberts.
“I talked to some of the underclassmen and tried to explain to them how much hard work those three, four or five girls put in to give them the opportunity to play on this floor,” Muha said.
“I can’t say enough about my three seniors. I’ve been with them almost since they’ve been in diapers. I’m sure proud of them.”
