Metro
Daniella Ranieli combined for 72 points in three games during the week as Pittston Area remained unbeaten through five non-league girls basketball games.
The Lady Patriots are among six unbeatens left in District 2 going into Saturday and are tied with Holy Redeemer for the best record at 5-0.
Pittston Area is the only unbeaten in Class 5A where it has the early lead in the race for the top seed in district playoffs.
Pittston Area 49, Riverside 33
Pittston Area held visiting Riverside without a field goal for the first 6:40 and scoreless for the final six minutes Friday night.
Daniella Ranieli led the way with 25 points. Lili Hintze added nine points.
Ranieli had six points in the first quarter. Carlena Lizza’s 3-pointer made it 14-1 before the Lady Vikes scored their first basket.
Riverside closed to within 23-14 at halftime and scored 16 points in the third quarter, but Ranieli had 12 of her points during that time to help Pittston Area expand its lead to 10.
The Lady Patriots scored the game’s final six points.
Pittston Area 59, Honesdale 50
Pittston Area overcame a 10-point deficit with a 25-6 finish in Wednesday’s game at Honesdale, a likely contender in Lackawanna League Division 2.
The Lady Patriots scored the last three points of the third quarter then outscored the Lady Hornets 22-6 in the fourth.
Daniella Ranieli and Lili Hintze combined for nine 3-pointers. Ranieli, who also had five rebounds and four steals, hit five while scoring 28 points. Hintze made four while scoring 16.
Guiliana Latona grabbed eight rebounds in the win.
Honesdale (4-2) was led by Natalie Goldstein with 14 points.
Pittston Area 53, Wyoming Seminary 28
Coach Jeff Gregory credited Maddie Karp with doing much of the work that held Ella Stambaugh more than 23 points below her season average Monday when Pittston Area handed visiting Wyoming Seminary its only loss.
Stambaugh has scored at least 27 points in each of Wyoming Seminary’s three wins. She managed just six in between a pair of games of at least 30 points.
Daniela Ranieli scored a game-high 19 points, including three 3-pointers, while dishing out seven assists.
Karp and Lili Hintze each added nine points. Karp and Grace Callahan each collected six rebounds.
Dallas 65, Wyoming Area 33
Wyoming Area dropped its third straight and fell to 1-4 on the season with Monday’s non-league loss at Dallas.
Odessa Kanton went 10-for-11 from the line while scoring 22 points to lead Dallas, which also got 12 points each from Mia DelGaudio and Brianna Casey.
Wyoming Area was led by Abby Sterba with 14 points.
