EXETER – Maddie Karp was the top offensive and defensive rebounder Thursday night while helping Pittston Area to an advantage on the boards during its 55-27 victory over host Wyoming Area in the ninth annual Tigue-Denisco Cup Game.
Pittston Area improved to 2-0 while Wyoming Area came out of the meeting of non-league girls basketball rivals with a 1-3 record.
Karp joined Wyoming Area’s Shannon Kearns as the only players with four offensive rebounds and was the only one in the game with five defensive rebounds. Her nine total rebounds helped Pittston Area to a 33-25 advantage on the boards.
The Lady Patriots outscored the Lady Warriors 6-2 on second-chance points in the second half.
Karp turned one of her offensive rebounds into a two free throws to cap an 8-0 run to begin the second half and put Pittston Area ahead 33-18. She drove for a basket off another offensive rebound to complete a 9-0, fourth-quarter run to a 46-25 lead with 4:50 remaining.
Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory praised his team’s second-half defensive effort in allowing the Lady Patriots to break open a 25-18 game.
“The main thing for us was we wanted to keep them off the foul line,” Gregory said. “In the first half, we did not do a very good job of that. I think they were in the two-shot foul with six minutes left in the half.
“When we were able to keep them off the foul line, they only had (three) baskets in the second half. That’s what we talked about at halftime. ‘We’ve got to stop fouling’. Then, we were able to get some things in transition.”
The Lady Patriots had four fastbreak baskets in the last six minutes while pulling away after leading just 37-25 to that point.
Wyoming Area was 7-for-9 from the line in the first half, but just 2-for-4 in the second half. Pittston Area made seven second-half free throws and held Wyoming Area to 18.8 percent (3-for-16) from the floor.
A detailed statistical look at the Tigue-Denisco Game, with full shooting stats, follows:
Pittston Area 55, Wyoming Area 27
PITTSTON AREA (55) – Daniella Ranieli 6-11 5-5 19, Maddie Karp 2-7 2-2 7, Guiliana Latona 3-6 1-1 7, Lili Hintze 1-7 0-0 3, Grace Callahan 0-2 0-2 0, Julia Long 5-7 0-1 10, Leah Drozginski 1-5 0-0 2, Haley Pointek 0-0 2-4 2, Carlena Lizza 1-3 0-0 2, Nora Callahan 0-1 0-0 0, Bella Dessoye 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 20-50 10-15 55
WYOMING AREA (27) – Krea Bonita 1-4 2-2 4, Abby Sterba 3-11 1-2 8, Shannon Kearns 1-2 2-4 4, Kendall Day 1-4 0-1 2, Jailynn Park 1-3 4-5 7, Sydney Ratchford -4 0-0 2, Erica Gilligan 0-1 0-0, Anna Kelleher 0-0 0-0 0, Lila Price 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 8-30 9-13 27.
Pittston Area`18`7`12`18`—`55
Wyoming Area`10`8`3`6`—`27
Three-point shooting – PA 5-17 (Ranieli 2-3, Dessoye 1-1, Karp 1-3, Hintze 1-5, Long 0-1, NCallahan 0-1, Latona 0-3), WA 2-10 (Park 1-2, Sterba 1-4, Day 0-1, Price 0-1, Ratchford 0-2).
Shooting percentages – PA 40.0 on FG, 29.4 on 3PT, 66.7 on FT; WA 26.7 on FG, 20.0 on 3PT, 69.3 on FT).
Team rebounds – PA 3, WA 4.
Total rebounds – PA 33 (Karp 9, GCallahan 5), WA 25 (Kearns 6, Day 5).
Assists – PA 16 (Ranieli 3, Hintze 3, Karp 2, GCallahan 2, Latona 2), .WA 4 (Kearns 2).
Steals – PA 10 (Ranieli 2, Karp 2, Latona 2), WA 11 (Park 4, Sterba 2, Day 2).
Blocked shots – PA 0, WA (Kearns, Ratchford).
Turnovers – PA 13, WA 25. Team fouls – PA 16, WA 16.
Fouled Out – Day.
