Kallock, Mellinger lead Greensburg Salem girls past Apollo-Ridge

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 14, 2019 | 10:18 PM

Greensburg Salem girls basketball coach Rick Klimchock wanted his team to finish the first half of section play the right way, and led by his backcourt tandem of Nikki Mellinger and Megan Kallock, it did.

Kallock had a game-high 18 points, and Mellinger scored 14 to guide the Golden Lions to a 49-38 home victory over Apollo-Ridge in a Section 1-4A game Monday night.

The win puts the Golden Lions in a three-way tie for fourth place in the section with Apollo-Ridge and Indiana.

The Vikings held Kallock, one of the WPIAL’s top scorers, to six points in the first half, but she scored 12 points in the second half, including a three-point play with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter that put Greensburg Salem ahead by 10. Mellinger did a lot of her damage early, scoring seven points in the first quarter, in addition to connecting on a trio of 3-pointers in the game.

“Mellinger and Kallock were ready to go,” Klimchock said. “They knew this was an important game for us. We didn’t want to finish the first half 2-5 (in section play), so now we’re in a three-way tie for fourth. That’s kind of where we hoped to be after the loss (to Indiana) last Thursday night. I respect coach Jim Callipare. They’re a good defensive team, and we had to pull out all the stops to beat them.”

Apollo-Ridge (9-4, 3-4) got as close as four points in the fourth after Liz Penrose made a pair of free throws with just under six minutes remaining, but Greensburg Salem (7-6, 3-4) finished the game on a 13-6 run.

The Vikings had a few opportunities in the fourth to cut into the lead but couldn’t string together baskets. Callipare was unhappy with some of the calls that went against the Vikings down the stretch, especially a charging foul on Rylee Eaton that negated an opportunity to put her on the line for two shots to cut the lead to six with four minutes remaining.

“I usually don’t say much about officiating, but it was the same guys that were on the game here last year and the same thing happened,” Callipare said. “The kids work all week, and then you have that go on in the game. It’s ridiculous.”

Klimchock was happy with the response his team had after dropping a tough game at Indiana, 49-41, in the last outing. Freshman starter Abby Mankins injured her ankle in the early stages of the game at Indiana and did not return. Klimchock said his team was out of sorts the entire game. After a weekend of treatment, Mankins came off the bench to score seven points.

“Give her credit. She ice bathed her ankle all weekend and she gave us a good defensive game,” Klimchock said. “She also made some nice passes.”

The Golden Lions took an 8-4 lead in the first quarter, but Apollo-Ridge responded with a 7-0 run. Emily Bonelli converted a layup, and Morgan Gamble followed with a rainbow 3-pointer. Madison Marks followed with a basket to push the lead to 11-8, but Mellinger sank a 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds to tie it at the end of the first.

Greensburg Salem held Apollo-Ridge off the scoreboard for the first four minutes of the second and got a 3-pointer from Mellinger and a layup and foul for a three-point play by Mankins to take a six-point lead.

Maddy Moore ended Apollo-Ridge’s run with a strong drive to the hoop and a layup. Moore also made a contested 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half that cut Greensburg Salem’s lead to 22-18 at the break.

Eaton led Apollo-Ridge with 10 points, Madison Marks added nine and Moore scored seven.

The Vikings will look to get back on track with a nonsection game Wednesday at Leechburg before traveling to Burrell to start the second half of section play Thursday.

“We’re just going to go back to work tomorrow,” Callipare said. “We’re going to do what we’ve been doing and try to get better every day. That’s all you can do.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Greensburg Salem