First Posted: 2/12/2015
The crowd at Lake-Lehman Jr./Sr. High School thought Wyoming Area’s Sarah Holweg was going to get off the last shot. She had 30 points already, so why not?
With 10 seconds to play, Lake-Lehman hit a free throw to go up, 69-68. Holweg took the inbound pass and went coast-to-coast. Her shot, however, rattled out with just second to play. Enter: Katie Wolfgang.
Wolfgang corralled the rebound and banked it in as the buzzer sounded and Wyoming Area overcame a 21-point third quarter deficit to take a 70-69 win over the Black Knights on Feb. 11.
Freshman Holweg, although her final shot didn’t fall, scored at team-high 30 points, including six three-pointers. Unbelievably, she was outscored by Lake-Lehman’s Cayle Spencer, who finished the game with 44 points.
Wyoming Area coach Chad Lojewski had a timeout in his back pocket while the final play was happening but decided not to use it.
“The transition game off of a make or a miss was really working well for us,” Lojewski said. “Even though I had a timeout, my gut was telling me let this play through.”
He did, and the rest is history. But the Warriors wouldn’t have been in position for that without an impressive comeback.
Wyoming Area found itself down 21 points in the third quarter, and another 16 going into the fourth quarter. Lojewski made adjustments and the Warriors rattled off 35 points in the fourth quarter to Lake-Lehman’s 17.
“I don’t remember another quarter in my coaching career that we touched that,” Lojewski said. “It was just the flow. We had to scrap on defense to get the possessions first. It was just a great environment to be a part of. The momentum started to build. You could feel it.”
Wolfgang finished with an impressive 20 points, while six other Warriors found the scoring column.
Earlier in the week, Wyoming Area suffered a 75-60 loss at the hands of Wyoming Seminary.
Wolfgang led the Warriors with 14 points, while Rachel Solano and Holweg each chipped in 13. Holweg hit three from beyond the arc, giving her nine on the week.
“The girls are obviously very confident,” Lojewski said. “There’s a nice sense of camaraderie. We finally broke through. All of our scrappy playing finally paid off. Now we have to calm down and prepare for districts.”
Patriots rough up Coughlin
After being eliminated from the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 championship, the Pittston Area girls basketball team got right back to work.
The Patriots made easy work of Coughlin on Wednesday, beating the Crusaders, 53-8. Allie Barber had 17 points, while Liz Waleski chipped in with 15 and Jordan Fritz finished with nine.
Hazleton Area, with a win over Dallas, secured the WVC championship on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Pittston Area rattled a tough Dallas team, 74-47, thanks to 18 points from Barber.
Waleski added another 15 points and the Patriots outscored Dallas, 27-5, in the final period to take the win.
Both Pittston Area and Wyoming Area will play in the PIAA District 2 championships beginning Tuesday.
