Leechburg girls’ impressive run ends

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 9, 2018 | 10:57 PM

The curtain came down on a remarkable era of Leechburg girls basketball Friday night.

District 10 champion West Middlesex used a strong inside game to eliminate Leechburg, 56-40, in a PIAA Class 2A girls first-round game at Slippery Rock's Morrow Fieldhouse.

Six-foot sophomore MaKennah White led the way for the Big Reds (22-4) with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Six-foot senior Mackenzie MacKay had 14 points and nine rebounds, and 5-9 sophomore Grace Mile had 15 points.

The Blue Devils (19-6) won 58 games over a four-year period with basically the same six players.

Included in the run was the first two WPIAL playoffs victories in program history and a PIAA win last season.

“They're a great group of kids,” Leechburg coach Joel Ceraso said. “I said from Day 1, what drew me to Leechburg to come back and coach was a group of kids who wanted to be in the gym and would be ready to practice. Every time I did that for four years, these kids showed up and did the job.”

Mikayla Lovelace, in her final Blue Devils appearance, scored 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds. She finished her illustrious career with 2,047 points, good enough for 38th on the all-time WPIAL scoring list, but clearly was hoping for a longer playoff run.

“It hasn't really sunk in yet because it didn't end the way we wanted it to,” Lovelace said minutes after the game. “We did as much as we could with the team that we had. I'm glad I got to play with the same people I did since fourth grade.”

The IUP recruit passed former Oakland Catholic and West Virginia standout Meg Bulger, who finished with 2,044.

After a 4-4 stalemate 2 minutes into the game, West Middlesex finished the first quarter with a 15-0 surge. Leechburg missed its first five 3-point shots and didn't get an offensive rebound until the 4:12 mark of the second period.

“I thought we had a really nice game plan,” Big Reds coach Mike Williams said. “We wanted to stop Mikayla and (Cameron) Davies as much as we could. We slowed them down; we didn't stop them. I was really happy with the way we rebounded the ball, and White was a dominant force.”

After the nightmarish first quarter, the Blue Devils were outscored by one point the rest of the way.

“We had a tough time matching up with their size,” Ceraso said. “That was the biggest obstacle. We just didn't have an answer for (White). Some of the things we were successful with against Chartiers-Houston and their big girl, Williamson, worked pretty well.”

Down 19 points several times in the second half, Leechburg cut its deficit to 42-33 on a pass from Lovelace to Daesha Knight. But West Middlesex reserve Olivia Franks immediately responded with a 3-pointer, and the Big Reds were on their way toward a second-round matchup with Bellwood-Antis on Tuesday.

West Middlesex played Friday without its top player, 5-11 guard Delaney Dogan, who's on her way to Gannon. She will face Lovelace in conference play.

“I'm glad we got more team accomplishments than myself,” Lovelace said. “I'm glad our community got to see how hard we worked.”

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Leechburg