Late basket gives No. 4 Avonworth girls come-from-behind win over Seton LaSalle

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 15, 2018 | 11:09 PM

Good teams try to find a way to win even when it's not their night.

Class 3A No. 4 Avonworth stayed within striking distance of Seton LaSalle on Monday, fighting back from an early deficit to defeat the Rebels, 37-33, in Section 3 girls basketball action in Baldwin Township.

“We had a lot of open looks and we missed a lot of things, but we played until the end,” Lopes coach Mark D'Alessandris said. “I keep preaching to the girls to play to the end. We are trying to play for four quarters.”

The Antelopes (10-4, 5-1) regained their first lead since their opening basket with less than 20 seconds remaining in the game on a layup by junior Hayden Robinson to give Avonworth a 35-33 lead.

Robinson's basket came after Seton LaSalle senior Layni Ziegler missed on a drive to the hoop after stealing the ball from Avonworth freshman Harris Robinson.

Hayden Robinson, who was held scoreless in the first half, led the Antelopes with 10 points, while sophomore Kathryn Goetz finished with eight.

“We were trying to go to her. We were trying to isolate her down low, but they did a good job of helping down. We had other girls who got open looks,” D'Alessandris said. “Hayden helped us out on the defensive boards. She was in foul trouble and did a good job with staying in there to help us out in the end.”

The Rebels (6-8, 3-3) entered the game focused on slowing down Hayden Robinson. Rebels coach Ian Barrett was proud of his players' defense against her.

“We were just packing the middle,” he said. “She gets to the hoop so we played that right hand, didn't let her drive and boxed her as hard as we could. That is a Division I athlete right there. I'm proud of my girls with holding her in check.”

With the Antelopes trailing 33-30, senior Nicole Costa stole the ball from Seton LaSalle freshman Abby Marzina and drove down the lane for a layup and a foul. Costa, who finished with seven points, connected on her free throw to tie the game at 33-33 with 1:12 remaining.

With 15.4 seconds left, the Rebels had one more chance to tie the game. However, freshman Meghan Dryburgh, who finished with eight points, was unable to score on a runner down the lane for the Rebels.

“I thought our girls battled hard. I thought we gave that one away. I thought we had that won. We had timely misses,” Barrett said.

“We weren't taking care of the ball. We had a lot of turnovers and traveling calls down the stretch. It came back to bite us.”

Sophomore Alyssa Pollice led the Rebels with nine points, while Ziegler added seven points in the loss.

After trailing 12-6 after the first quarter, the Antelopes held the Rebels to only two points by Dryburgh in the second quarter to trail 14-12 at halftime.

Andrew John is freelance writer.

Tags: Avonworth, Seton-LaSalle