Neshannock heats up, drops OLSH to repeat as WPIAL Class 2A girls champs

By: George Guido
Friday, March 4, 2022 | 4:36 PM

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The Neshannock Lancers weren’t happy about receiving the second seed in the WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball playoff bracket.

Coach Luann Grybowski then challenged the girls to go out and prove they should have been ranked first.

The Lancers (24-2) obliged by overcoming a cold start, shooting-wise, and held top-ranked Our Lady of the Sacred Heart to one field goal over a 14-minute, 48 second span to win the team’s third title in the past four seasons, 55-31, at Petersen Events Center.

“We wanted to prove that we should have been No. 1,” said senior guard Neleh Nogay.

The schools split the season’s series in Section 1-2A, with OLSH winning the second game, 53-39.

“We knew how we played against OLSH the second time wasn’t us.” said senior guard Addi Watts. “We knew that didn’t represent how we play. So we were kind of excited to make a statement.”

Mairan Haggerty had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lancers. Noagy tallied 13 and Megan Pallerino had 12 points — eight in the fourth period.

Neshannock made just one basket over the first seven minutes of play before the Lancers caught fire.

A big boost for the Neshannock cause was reserve junior Hunter Newman coming off the bench to sink a huge shot that barely beat the red buzzer outline around the backboard as the first-quarter clock struck zero.

“That was huge, a change of momentum,” Grybowski said. “Plus, I think she was the momemtum-changer today. If we need a shooter, Aaralyn (Nogay) plays more. If I need a scorer-slash defender, Hunter plays more. She did a great job today.”

Newman had eight points and six rebounds in less than 20 minutes of play.

OLSH (21-5) was going for its second title to match the gold won in 2019.

“Obviously, we got off to what we thought was a great start,” said coach Don Eckerle. “We then got bogged down. They did a great job on defense. They forced our offense into sets away from the basket, especially in the second quarter.”

The Lancers outscored the Chargers, 15-4, in the second period.

For Grybowski, who has over 700 career victories, it was the first of her six WPIAL titles that were of the back-to-back variety.

“It’s my first time for an opportunity to get back,” Grybowski said. “Every year that I had won it previously, we slipped up. We either lost in the semis or didn’t get back. I told the girls it’s one thing to climb to the top, but it’s much harder to stay at the top.”

Kayleigh Costantino came off the bench to lead the Chargers in scoring with nine points. Emily Schuck had eight and was blunt in the assessment of her team afterwards.

“We didn’t play hard to the end,” Schuck said. “We lost ourselves and who we are. We just couldn’t find our rhythm. So I think we need to take how we’re going to play in states into a factor. We are who we are and we do what we do. I think with our issues today we lost who we are.”

Both teams will be in action to start the PIAA playoffs Tuesday. Neshannock will play Penns Manor and OLSH will battle Bellwood-Antis.

Watch an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Tags: Neshannock, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart