Pittston Area junior forward Grace Callahan (32) scores over Abington Heights’ Peyton Houlihan (41) in first-half action on Wednesday night at Abington.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Ella O’Brien (23) hits for two-points at the baseline for Pittston Area at Abington Heights.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Abington Heights’ senior Madison Zalewski (10) has a clean block on Pittston Area’s Daniela Ranieli (2) in a PIAA D2 semi-final game at Abington.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
CLARKS SUMMIT – Pittston Area’s reign as District 2 Class 5A girls basketball champion ended Wednesday night against the team whose dominance of the class the Lady Patriots interrupted a year ago.
Host Abington Heights defeated Pittston Area 50-43 Wednesday night in a quarterfinal that was a rematch of the last two district finals.
The Lady Comets are 6-2 while playing in each of the eight previous years of championships at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza with one of those losses inflicted by the Lady Patriots last year.
Pittston Area took the lead in the first half, but was unable to repeat that victory when Maggie Coleman ran off eight straight second-quarter points to put Abington Heights ahead and Emily McDonald made eight straight free throws, six in the final 1:39, to keep it there.
“They’ve been great battles the last three years,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said after his team completed a 12-11 season. “They’ve been very competitive.
“There’s a reason they’re always in the mix at this time of the year.”
Pittston Area has put itself in that mix in recent seasons, winning Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 and district championships and entering three straight playoff battles with Abington Heights that were each decided by seven points or less.
The Lady Comets held off the Lady Patriots when they cut a 12-point, third-quarter deficit to five points six times in the last 9½ minutes, but never got any closer. Abington Heights held on with a tough, half-court defensive effort that forced Pittston Area to work for shots while the ticking clock was an enemy.
Then, the Lady Comets protected the ball. They committed just three turnovers in the game, none in the fourth quarter, and consistently got the ball to McDonald, their best free throw shooter.
“They’re a veteran team with four seniors and their junior (Coleman) is a three-year starter,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said. “We knew coming in that we were going to have our hands full.
“I was very proud of our effort. I thought a play here, a play there, we might have been able to get it even a little bit closer, but it was nothing we didn’t expect coming in here. We had to deal with their length and their experience.”
McDonald finished 9-for-10 from the line with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.
Coleman had 13 points, three assists and two steals.
Daniella Ranieli led Pittston Area with 21 points and three assists.
After Madison Zalewski scored the first five points and led an Abington Heights defensive effort that held Pittston Area scoreless for the first 4:19, Ranieli got the Lady Patriots going. She hit a 3-pointer to open their scoring, then stepped back to 25 feet to hit another at the first-quarter buzzer for the first Pittston Area lead, 12-11.
In between Ranieli’s 3-pointers, Ella O’Brien came off the bench to provide five points and two rebounds in her first 2:22 to twice lift Pittston Area into ties.
The Lady Patriots led by three twice early in the second quarter before Coleman made four straight baskets, in a span of 2:13 to snap out of an 0-for-6 start and give Abington Heights a 21-16 lead. That run extended to 19-4 to give Abington Heights its biggest lead a little more than two minutes into the second half.
Grace Callahan went 3-for-4 while scoring six points and grabbing a team-high five rebounds for Pittston Area.
The bench combination of O’Brien, Kaitlin Chernouskas and Guilianna Latona combined to go 4-for-5 and add seven rebounds.
