St. Joseph advances past Monessen in WPIAL Class A quarterfinals

By: Adam Brewer
Thursday, February 23, 2023 | 10:19 PM

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Third time was the charm for the St. Joseph girls basketball team against Monessen on Thursday night.

The previous two times the squads met in the quarterfinals, the Greyhounds came up with lopsided wins in 2011 and 2004.

The visiting Spartans had other plans and won the second half Thursday because of a solid performance at the free-throw line and their height on defense, beating Monessen, 53-46, in Class A quarterfinal action.

“On defense, we wanted to pack everything in and force Monessen to take jump shots,” St. Joseph interim coach Brian Swierczewski said. “They did a very good job of driving it in on us, but I thought our height at the rim really disrupted their offense. We had to control their bigs and win the inside.”

The No. 5 Spartans (20-4) will face top seed Union, a 64-20 winner over West Greene, in the semifinals Monday at a site to be determined.

This will be the second straight season St. Joseph advanced to the semifinals. Last year they upset top seed Rochester in the quarterfinals and fell to Aquinas Academy in the semis.

“It’s awesome to get back to the semifinals this year,” said junior guard Julie Spinelli, who compiled a game-high 23 points for the Spartans. “This proves that last year wasn’t a fluke. We were all surprised we got the fifth seed this year. We used that as motivation, and I think we got the better of the play in the second half.”

Emma Swierczewski was also in double-figures with 16 points, and 6-foot-2 center Anna Kreinbrook only scored six points but made an impact on defense with 13 rebounds and 12 blocks. Four of five starters for St. Joseph were taller than 5-foot-10, and that gave the Greyhounds (15-6) trouble all night.

“It was a fight for 32 minutes,” Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik said. “Both teams are really good defensively, and both teams won their sections. I thought their bigs out-performed ours. We forced 27 turnovers tonight, but we really didn’t get a lot of points off of press or off turnovers.”

The No. 4 Greyhounds will host Section 2-A rival West Greene in the consolation bracket Saturday and look to gain the fifth WPIAL spot for the state playoffs.

Sidney Campbell (17) and Hailey Johnson (12) led Monessen, which fell to 5-5 in the quarterfinal round since 2004 and was looking for its first semifinal appearance since 2011.

Sandwiched around three foul shots by St. Joseph in the waning minute was a trey by Campbell to make it 53-44. Campbell added two more free throws in the final 10 seconds, but that was the final points that were scored by either team.

“They are an aggressive team, so we knew we had to match that intensity,” Spinelli said. “We had to protect the paint and fight for every loose ball. We wanted to make it back to the semifinals, and we knew it would be tough because there are so many good teams in Class A.”

Monessen trailed 7-3 at the beginning of the game but bounced back with a 9-3 spree that included a 3 from Campbell and six points from Na’Jaziah Carter.

After a bucket by Swierczewski started the scoring in the second for the Spartans, the Greyhounds responded with a 6-2 run that included another shot from beyond the arc by Campbell, a free throw by Hailey Johnson and an inside hoop by Madison Johnson.

St. Joseph compiled the final five points of the first half by way of a 3-pointer and a layup by Spinelli.

“The effort was there, but it just wasn’t meant to be for us,” Vertacnik said. “They went man-to-man (defense) on us, and we struggled against that. A lot of teams in our section go zone, and I think we only faced man twice all year. We missed some easy inside shots as well.”

Tags: Monessen, St. Joseph