Pittston Area’s Daniella Ranieli drives the lane to score on a layup against Wilkes-Barre Area on Wednesday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Ava Callahan watches the ball as she drains a 3-point shot in the third quarter Wednesday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Danayjha Moore scoops a loose ball in the second half against Pittston Area on Wednesday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Kallie Booth scores a crucial 3-pointer in the third quarter against Wilkes-Barre Area on Wednesday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
EXETER — Perhaps it was fitting what Pittston Area’s Ava Callahan said while outside the basement locker room at Wyoming Area High School on Wednesday night.
“It’s crazy,” Callahan said. “It’s a Cinderella story, from the bottom to the top. There’s nothing better than that.”
Just a season ago, Pittston Area finished in the basement of Division 1 of Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball. Now, the Patriots reign atop by themselves.
Pittston Area held Wilkes-Barre Area scoreless in the fourth quarter until there were 3.1 seconds left to hang on for a 36-33 victory in the WVC Division 1 title game.
The Patriots (13-2 Div. 1, 21-2 overall) finished last season 4-13 and won just one divisional game.
“I would be lying to you if I said I thought we’d be standing here tonight,” Pittston Area second-year coach Jeff Gregory said. “I thought we would be better, but certainly you set your goals.”
A goal — although not expected as immediate as this season — was to win a division title. Pittston Area was able to do that by boosting its points per game by nearly 10. Freshman Daniella Ranieli was a big reason as she averaged 13.2 points in conference play.
Ranieli had an off night on offense with just six points, but her free throw with 1.9 seconds left made it a three-point game. She missed the second attempt.
“I told myself I just could not miss those,” Ranieli said.
No matter. WBA (12-3, 18-4) barely had enough time to launch a contested 3-point attempt from the other side of midcourt that banged off the top left of the glass.
Pittston Area’s Kallie Booth, who finished with 13 points, hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation with 11.8 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. WBA got a 3-pointer from Gloria Adjayi with 3.1 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 35-33, and a bit of a controversy ensued.
Pittston Area claimed the clock didn’t start immediately after Booth’s miss, giving the Wolfpack an extra tick or two to work with.
Defensively, Callahan, Amanda Fath, Leah Zambetti and Taylor Baiera combined to hold Adjayi to that lone basket. Adjayi, WBA’s center, scored 24 in Monday’s meeting, which was won 48-41 by Pittston Area in overtime.
The defense also held the Wolfpack scoreless over the final 1:05 of the third period and for another three-minute segment of that quarter.
Callahan had 10 for Pittston Area, marking only the fifth time this season she reached double figures.
Danayjha Moore and Shelby Ardo Boyko had 10 for WBA, which was playing its third game in three days. The Wolfpack forced Wednesday’s game by defeating Crestwood on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to use it as an excuse,” WBA coach Mary Mushock-Namey said, “but this is our third game in three days and it’s at the end of the season. I know they’re teenagers, but it’s a real difficult task to say go play three teams in Division 1 three days in a row. I think we ran out of gas a little bit.”
WVC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The game set the semifinals for the WVC Championship semifinals on Friday at Pittston Area.
At 6 p.m., Wilkes-Barre Area will play Division 2 champion Lake-Lehman. Pittston Area will play Division 2 runner-up Holy Redeemer at 7:30 p.m.
The WVC Championship game is 6 p.m. Saturday at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
DISTRICT NOTE
Because the District 2 seedings are based solely on the regular season, Wednesday’s game had no impact on the power rankings.
WBA will be the top seed in the District 2/4 Class 6A playoffs and will open at home against either Delaware Valley or Williamsport. Pittston Area will be the top seed in the D2-5A playoffs and will play West Scranton at home in its opener.
WVC Division 1 Championship
Pittston Area 36, Wilkes-Barre Area 33
WBA (33) — Danayjha Moore 3 1-2 10, Reagan Holden 1 0-0 3, Emma Krawzeniuk 1 0-0 3, Shelby Ardo Boyko 5 0-0 10, Gloria Adjayi 1 0-0 3, Eternity Aiken 1 2-2 4, Natalia Credle 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 3-4 33.
PITTSTON AREA (36) — Daniella Ranieli 2 1-2 6, Kallie Booth 3 4-6 13, Ava Butcher 2 0-1 4, Ava Callahan 3 1-2 10, Amanda Fath 1 1-2 3, Leah Zambetti 0 0-0 0, Taylor Baiera 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 7-12 36.
Wilkes-Barre Area`12`9`9`3 — 33
Pittston Area`19`7`15`4 — 46
Three-point goals — WBA 5 (Moore 3, Krawczeniuk, Adjayi). PA 7 (Ranieli, Booth 3, Callahan 3).
