TAYLOR — Pittston Area is going to look different than in the recent past. When a situation gets tough, it’s going to take a team effort to resolve it.
Such was the case Friday night. Pittston Area was sailing along nicely against Riverside in a non-conference girls basketball game. Then came some rough waters in the third quarter, but the Patriots endured for a 42-33 victory.
Pittston Area graduated 1,700-point scorer Daniella Ranieli, who was a four-time All-Wyoming Valley Conference selection, two-time Times Leader Player of the Year and three-time Class 5A all-state pick including making the first team as a senior. She and Kallie Booth, an All-WVC selection who graduated in 2023 and scored over 1,000 points, led the Patriots to the District 2 Class 5A title in 2023.
“We’re not going to have that star player that we had in the past four or five years when you go back to Kallie and Daniella,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said. “We’re going to have to use a more balanced approach, and on different nights everybody is going to have to step up.
“Tonight, thankfully, we had people make plays in the fourth quarter. And to be honest, I could probably point to everyone of those kids in the fourth quarter and everyone made a big play.”
Leah Drozginski made a big basket early the fourth, hitting a 3-pointer after Riverside (1-1) pulled within 29-26. She then passed inside to Giuliana Latona for two more points. Julia Long’s three-point play bumped the advantage to 37-28 with three minutes left.
Gregory commended Bella Dessoye for her defense on Riverside’s Faith Pavalonis, who recently played for Team USA in the Junior Olympics. Pavalonis finished with four points. And Lili Hintze closed out the game with five free throws in the final minute as Pittston Area improved to 1-1.
The Patriots jumped to a 9-0 lead after one quarter and led 22-9 at halftime. Riverside was able to get within three points twice in the second half behind the 3-point shooting of Kiley Williams.
Pittston Area 42, Riverside 33
PITTSTON AREA (42) — Julia Long 4 3-5 11, Leah Drozginski 2 0-0 5, Bella Dessoye 2 0-0 5, Giuliana Latona 3 0-0 6, Lili Hintze 4 5-8 15, Shawna Pugliese 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 8-13 43.
RIVERSIDE (33) — Faith Pavalonis 2 0-0 4, Cassidy Merrifield 1 0-0 3, Caitie Beecham 0 0-0 0, Kiley Williams 5 2-2 16, Mikayla Smith 0 0-0 0, Addison Smith 3 0-0 7, Layla Welch 1 0-0 3. Totals 12 2-2 33.
Pittston Area`9`13`5`15 — 42
Riverside`0`9`15`9 — 33
Three-point goals: PA 4 (Drozginski, Dessoye, Hintze 2). RIV 7 (Merrifield, Williams 4, A.Smith 1, Welch 1).
