St. Joseph girls halt playoff losing streak

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 21, 2022 | 8:54 PM

Purchase Photo Options

The St. Joseph girls basketball team is back in the WPIAL postseason win column.

The youthful Spartans, with just one senior on their roster, halted a three-game playoff losing streak dating to 2018 with a 45-37 victory over Mapletown on Monday in a Class A first-round game at Gateway High School.

“I was really happy with our young kids and the way they persevered in the final minutes, especially when (senior) Trinity (Lockwood-Morris) went out with three minutes left,” St. Joseph coach Dennis Jones said.

“The game was still in doubt at that point. It put them on the spot, and they did a really nice job. We talk all the time about playing with composure. It was just a good team win.”

Lockwood-Morris fouled out with 3 minutes, 5 seconds left in the fourth quarter and St. Joseph holding a 38-29 advantage.

Mapletown’s lone senior, 5-foot-8 guard Taylor Dusenberry, went to the line and sank two of her team-best 22 points to make it 38-31. Later in the quarter, she converted a layup off a St. Joseph turnover, and she drained a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to close the deficit to six at 43-37.

But St Joseph held strong, and a layup from sophomore forward Emma Swierczewski in the waning seconds set the final.

“It was a really good experience for the girls. It was pretty exciting,” Jones said. “We reminded the girls throughout the game that if they made a mistake or a play didn’t turn out the way they wanted, they needed to forget about it and move on to the next play. We are way better at that now than earlier in the season.”

St. Joseph, winner of four of its past five games, improved to 9-13 and will travel to No. 1 Rochester (16-4) for a quarterfinal matchup Thursday.

“That will be a great opportunity for the girls,” Jones said. “We’re going to be ready for it. They will meet the challenge, for sure.”

Mapletown, third in Section 2 behind No. 2 West Greene and No. 5 Monessen, concludes its season at 11-10.

Dusenberry, one of the leading scorers in all of Class A this season, finished just above her average of 20.4 points. A knee injury took away the recent Bethany commit’s sophomore season, but she still ended her final season not too far away from 1,000 points for her career.

“It’s hard to put into words what she’s meant to this program,” Maples coach Kaitlyn Novak said. “She’s been an absolute blessing. I couldn’t ask for more from her as a teammate on and off the court. She was the mental and physical heart and soul for this team. It’s going to be impossible to replace her.”

Novak said she was proud of her youthful and short-handed team that numbered just seven players.

“They had a big height advantage, but the girls scrapped and fought for rebounds and never gave up, no matter what happened throughout that game,” Novak said.

Early on, it looked as if St. Joseph would run away with the game. The Spartans built a 15-2 lead with 2:31 left in the first quarter on a layup and 3-pointer from Lockwood-Morris, a pair of field goals from Swierczewski and additional buckets from sophomores Julie Spinelli and Anna Kreinbrook and freshman Gia Richter.

But St. Joseph went cold from the field, especially under the basket, and started to commit turnovers. Mapletown also started to draw fouls against the Spartans. It added up to a 13-1 run as the Maples drew to within one at 16-15 with 3:56 left until halftime.

St. Joseph righted itself in the waning minutes of the second quarter as Spinelli led the way with six points and the Spartans built the advantage back to seven at 24-17.

But Mapletown had the last laugh of the first half as Dusenberry, who scored seven points in the second quarter alone, hit a desperation 3-pointer from about 25 feet at the buzzer.

St. Joseph used an 8-2 run midway through the third quarter to build its largest lead of the game – 10 – at 34-24 at the 2:41 mark.

Spinelli paced the Spartans with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six steals, and Lockwood-Morris added nine points and five steals before fouling out.

Kreinbrook pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked three shots, and Swierczewski recorded nine rebounds to go with six points.

“It is really nice to get this playoff win,” Spinelli said. “We worked hard all season for it. Hopefully, now we can give it our best on Thursday.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Mapletown, St. Joseph