Leechburg’s Mikayla Lovelace eclipses 2,000 career points in playoff victory

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 16, 2018 | 11:03 PM

Leechburg senior Mikayla Lovelace was chasing a milestone and a WPIAL playoff victory Friday night.

Lovelace became the 42nd player in WPIAL girls basketball history to eclipse the 2,000-point career scoring mark as the Blue Devils broke open a close game late and recorded a 75-60 victory over Frazier at West Allegheny.

Lovelace had 37 points and 12 rebounds.

She reached the milestone with 6 minutes, 42 seconds left in the game, giving Leechburg a 55-48 lead. The all-state candidate has 2,006 career points.

The Class 2A opening round playoff victory gave Leechburg a 19-4 mark. The Blue Devils will play defending WPIAL champion Chartiers-Houston in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

“Big-time players make big-time plays in big spots,” Blue Devils coach Joel Ceraso said. “She absolutely did that tonight. I thought she struggled a little early on in the interior. She usually finishes a lot better, but big-time players seem to find a way to make it happen.”

Said Frazier coach Ken Poling of Lovelace: “She's very good going to the hoop. She's quick, and she's going to be good in college, too. Hats off to her.”

Leechburg took the lead for good, 23-21, on a basket by Lovelace with 5:58 left in the second quarter. But the Commodores stayed within striking distance. The Blue Devils never took a double-digit lead until Brittany Robilio hit a basket with 1:18 remaining in the game.

“We fought hard,” Poling said. “I don't think we could have done anything different. We get a couple shots to fall, maybe it would have made a difference in the game. Overall, I'm happy with the way they played.”

The Commodores concluded their season 13-10.

Leechburg looked ready to put the game away in the fourth quarter. But Frazier cut the Blue Devils lead to 56-54 on a 3-pointer by Brooke Poling with 5:02 to go.

A steal and a hoop by Lovelace followed by Daesha Knight's basket on a downcourt pass from Lovelace gave Leechburg some breathing room.

Turnovers on four straight Blue Devils possessions resulted in just two points for Frazier.

“For how many points they scored, I thought we did well defensively,” Ceraso said. “We were throwing the ball away. We weren't driving the gaps. Our defense did step up, and it was huge.”

Even though Leechburg had control of the game, Ceraso called a timeout midway through the fourth quarter just to go over late-game situations.

“I thought our defense did a good job staving them off,” Ceraso said.

Lovelace hit her first 10 free throws on the night, finishing 14 of 16 from the line.

Robilio had 12 points, and Knight added 11.

Junior Brooke Poling, Frazier's all-time leading scorer, finished with 20 points, 17 in the second half. Sierra Twig added 14.

Lovelace's next target on the WPIAL all-time list is Danielle Dawson, a 2002 Greensburg Salem graduate who finished with 2,018 points, two behind Kelly Morda, a 1998 Ford City grad.

George Guido is a freelance writer.