WPIAL Quarterfinals Saturday Spotlight Game: Quigley Catholic 49 – St. Joseph 39

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 22, 2014 | 10:13 PM

In a battle of the Spartans and a rematch from last year’s Girls Class A quarterfinals, the result was the same as Quigley Catholic moved on to the semifinals with the backyard win, 49-39 over St. Joseph, at the Ambridge Field House. Liz Duer and Kaitlyn Smith each had 14 points to lead Quigley to the victory.

In a back and forth first half, Quigley led 5-0, then St. Joseph stormed back to score the next 7 points and would lead 9-8 after one quarter. Smith drained a three pointer to put Quigley Catholic back on top, but Mallory Heinle brought her team back. The Slippery Rock University recruit nailed a three with 2:15 left in the half to tie the game at 15, but the duo of Smith and Smith took over for Quigley. Kaitlyn Smith connected on a three pointer to take the lead back for good and Gabrielle Smith notched the old fashioned three point play. Gabrielle scored 7 of her 9 points in the quarter as Quigley took a 25-17 lead at the break.

Neither team shot well from the floor in the third quarter, Quigley was 4 of 12 from the floor and turned the ball over several times, but St. Joseph’s did not take advantage, going 4 for 13, with 8 of their 12 points in the quarter coming from Heinle.

Trailing 38-29 entering the fourth, Quigley was able to pull away on baskets by Kristen Jackson and Kaitlyn Smith to go up 46-33. St. Joseph’s was never able to cut the lead to single digits, making just 3 of 14 shots in the final frame.

Jackson ended with 10 points for Quigley, now 18-5 overall on the season. The winners shot 35 percent on the game, at 17-of-49 and were 13-of-22 from the charity stripe. Quigley committed 17 turnovers, but still managed to win their 9th straight game.

St Joseph saw it’s 11-game winning streak come to an end. Heinle hit her season average of 23 points in the game and Nikki Mielecki had 11 points. St. Joseph shot 26 percent from the floor at 13-of-49, they were 11-of-17 at the line and committed 15 turnovers. Both teams had 33 rebounds in the game.

Quigley will next meet top-seeded Vincentian in the WPIAL Class A Semifinals on Wednesday, 6:00pm at North Allegheny High School.