Montrose’s Sara Krupinski shoots over Hanover defenders during the Meteors’ District II Class AA win over Hanover at Scranton High School on Friday. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALICE STUFFLE
BY JOBY FAWCETT
Times-Shamrock Writer
Montrose players got whatever message their coach sent during a spirited second-quarter timeout and rolled into the semifinals of the District 2 Class AA girls basketball playoffs.
Trailing Hanover Area, the Lady Meteors turned up the defensive pressure and finished the quarter on a three-minute run that gave them the lead and the momentum in a 66-40 win Friday night at Scranton High School.
Montrose (22-3), the Lackawanna Division III champions, played Lake-Lehman (21-2) on Tuesday at Pittston at 6 p.m., but the results were not available at press time.
“I was really happy with the way we were able to play,” Montrose junior Dallas Ely said. “We kept our heads up. We knew we had to win to keep playing and we really played good defense.”
Hanover Area (11-13) overcame a sluggish first quarter and began crashing the boards. Danielle Tuzinski and Raisha Piper each had four points in the lane when the Lady Hawkeyes took a 19-18 lead.
Then, Montrose coach Al Smith called a timeout and rallied his team.
Following that point, Sam Abbott, who finished with 11 points, drilled a 3-pointer, igniting a 11-3 push to end the half leading 30-22.
In the third quarter, Ely got the hot hand scoring six points and Mimi DiPhillips scored six points as the Lady Meteors seized a 43-31 advantage.
“We really focused on defense and boxing out,” DiPhillips said. “We realized that it was important to win and we wanted to just keep our season going.”
Increasing the pressure, Montrose forced seven turnovers in the fourth quarter and Ely began converting fast-break opportunities, hitting for 12 of her game-high 25 points.
“We had to hustle and get after the ball,” said Ely, who also contributed four assists and four steals in the game.
Montrose’s Katelyn Spellman pulls down an offensive rebound in front of Hanover Area’s Amy Viti at Scranton High School on Friday. TIMES-SHAMROCK PHOTO/LINDA MORGAN
Montrose also played strong in the paint, grabbing 60 rebounds. Sara Krupinski, who also blocked five shots, led the way with 13, DiPhillips had 10, Abbott had nine and Katelyn Spellman had eight, including five offensive.
Leading Hanover Area, Chelsie Cormier had 14 points, including nine in the second half, Piper had 13 and Tuzinski finished with 12 and nine rebounds.
On Tuesday, Montrose Area’s girls’ basketball team faced a 50-38 loss against Dunmore in Carbondale.
The Meteors got ahead in the first quarter going 9-4 over the Bucks before Montrose and Dunmore each scored 13 in the second to see the Meteors lead 22-17 at halftime.
After the break, Dunmore’s big third quarter going 12-4 over Montrose gave the Bucks the lead a 29-26 going into the fourth.
Dunmore then finished off the Meteors with a 21-12 run in the fourth to take the top seed in the District II Class AA playoffs, and sending the Montrose girls to the second seed.
Dallas Ely led Montrose with 19 points while Myra Lattimore had eight and Katelyn Spellman had four.
Spellman contributed 11 rebounds and Sara Krupinski had six assists.
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