ANDOVER TOWNSHIP —
It took a second half tidal wave, but the Pymatuning Valley girls basketball team scored a 53-27 home victory over Badger on Thursday night to give coach Jeff Compan his 200th victory.
In his 14th year leading the Lakers team, Compan’s milestone did not come easy.
“We talked before the game about playing with intensity,” Compan said. “We knew (Badger) would be ready to play. (Badger coach) Dusty (Karr) always has his girls ready to play. They’re young, but they are getting better all the time.
“In the first half, we sort of stood around and let them defend us. We’re a slashing type of team that depends on ball movement, but we didn’t get the ball inside well on them.”
It took a second-half surge, starting midway through the third period, for the swift PV (15-2, 8-2 in NAC) machine to get into gear, but when it did, the results were came via typical PV style.
Defensive pressure and attacking key what the Lakers do under Compan.
“Once we got rolling in the third period, we were able to keep it rolling a bit more to pull away,” Compan said.
Kelsea Brown had a big night for the Lakers. She tallied 19 points, snared 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass to help offset a poor shooting night for PV, and stole the ball three times.
“I told the girls at halftime that if we make half of those easy shots we had in the first half, it’s a totally different ballgame,” Karr said.
As it was, the Braves (4-13) were only down 20-13 at the half. They were still in the game, but after scoring the first points of the second half on a 3-pointer by Taylor Kramar, PV tallied the next 11 to take a 31-16 lead with 4:01 left in the quarter. The run was fueled by eight Braves turnovers, including four steals by Heather Brant, and after a 5 of 22 first half from the floor, PV “warmed” up to a 5 of 13 effort in that period.
“Once we started missing shots and they (PV) got running, there was no stopping them tonight,” Karr said. “Offensively, we tried to get the ball to the middle on them before they could trap us. It worked to a point. We got some good shots, but we didn’t knock them down. If we make some of them, especially in the first half, it’s a different game for us. We felt if we could get them into a halfcourt game against our 2-3 zone, it would work in our favor.
“Once they starting pressing the ball more in the third period, though, we made some mistakes consecutively that hurt. At times, with a young team like ours (5 freshmen, 1 sophomore, 1 junior in their rotation) if we make mistakes we try to make up for it too fast, and that leads to more mistakes. That hurt us tonight.”
Brandi Nitch led with eight points, and sophomore post Harlee Logan, while scoring only two points, grabbed 10 rebound, dished out four assists, and blocked six shots to make her presence known in the paint.
Brown was aided by 11 points and six assists from Geena Gabriel with a like number of rebounds, and Heather Brant added 10 points and seven steals.
Even in a off night, PV broke the game open with a huge effort from the foul line. It hit 22 of 28 free throws, more than enough to cover their own rough night from the floor. They hit 15-50 for 30 percent, but their defense forced 31 turnovers. Had the Lakers been making their shots, Gabriel might have had 15 assists on the night, but they made just enough to get Compan his historic win.
“The girls made big plays in the second half when they had to,” he added. “The years have really flown by quickly here, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to coach here. It’s a lot of fun.”
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
Sports
Compan gets 200th win at PV
Badger battles, but Lakers get NAC victory
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Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
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Johnson: Browns will be better
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Skleres finds good fit
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Lakers ousted by LaBrae
Though the LaBrae softball team fell short of one goal this season, another was achieved on Friday.
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Scholastic Statistics:
BASEBALL
DIVISION I
SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Fitch 10, Lakeside 1
at Fitch -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, MAY 18
Baseball
n No events scheduled -
Top to bottom
For a team to score a number of runs in a softball game, the bottom portion of a lineup has to string a couple of hits together at least once.
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Falcons fly to sectional title
Lake Catholic softball coach Dale Colagross had the option of a potential battle with rival Notre-Dame Cathedral Latin, the top-seeded team in the Division II district tournament, or a potential matchup with third-seeded Jefferson in a sectional championship game in the other half of the bracket.
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Area High School Baseball Statistical Leaders:
INDIVIDUAL BATTING (minimum 45 at-bats)
PLAYER SCHOOL AVG OB% SLG% AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Chase Thurber PV .548 .642 .790 62 24 34 10 1 1 25 13
Tim Cross PV .492 .528 .667 63 24 31 9 1 0 25 12
Louie Wisnyai Edgewood .492 .559 .763 59 17 29 8 1 2 26 8
Tony Magda Edgewood .483 .552 .603 58 14 28 5 1 0 19 6
Joey Piscsalko Jefferson .471 .548 .571 70 23 33 7 0 0 19 14
Scott Davidson Jefferson .464 .519 .623 69 20 32 7 2 0 10 8 -
Lakeside rolls past East
One of the great lessons in sports competitions is to play with the maximum effort in utilizing your own skills and talents. It’s a lot easier said than done, but the Lakeside Dragons got a full dose of it Thursday afternoon as they tangled with a youthful and inexperienced group of Panthers from Youngstown East in a Division I sectional semifinal ballgame. The Dragons came out on top, 12-0.
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Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
