Lady Meteors win D2 title

BY MARTY MYERS

Times-Shamrock Writer

If it wasn’t the biggest shot in the last decade of Montrose girls basketball, it certainly was the biggest of Sara Krupinski’s career.

With Dunmore within a bucket and Montrose without a field goal for more than 10 minutes, Krupinski drilled a 17-footer from just beyond the foul line with 1:46 remaining in Friday’s District 2 Class AA championship game.

That basket, which capped a 7 for 11 shooting night, gave her team the impetus it needed to hold off a furiousDunmorerally in the last 41 seconds as Montrose won its first district title since 2003, 49-45, atCarbondaleAreaHigh School.

Montrose also snapped Dunmore’s six-year reign as champions, the second-longest girls streak in District 2 history, according to championship records.

“As soon as I let it go, I knew it was going,” Krupinski said of her 17-footer. “Keeping our momentum, keeping us going, keeping us focused, I think we really needed a big shot and that was it.

“I worked on my game ever since the Holy Cross game because I had a pretty crappy shooting night. For this game, I was really jacked up. I’m a senior and this is the last chance I’m going to have at this. I wanted to make it special. I wanted to make it a night I won’t forget.”

That basket gave Montrose a 43-39 lead, and after Dallas Ely, who led the winners with 20 points and six steals, added two free throws, Krupinski blocked a shot with a minute left.

“My girls played outstanding defense tonight,” Montrose coach Al Smith said. “Dunmore’s a great team, a great program and they’ve got some really good shooters. The girls just played outstanding defense.”

Ely again went to the line and hit two more for a 45-37 lead with 52 seconds to play, butDunmorewas far from through.

Jill Korgeski, who ledDunmorewith 14 points, hit two free throws with 41 seconds left, and after a turnover, Molly Burke nailed a 22-footer.

Then came a wild moment.

After a Dunmore timeout, Montrose sent a second player out of bounds to receive a pass and inbound the ball against the Lady Bucks’ press. But a whistle blew and Dunmore thought it was getting the ball back trailing by three. After a conference by the three Wyoming Valley Conference officials, the ball was given back to Montrose.

“It was explained to me that our defender had gone out of bounds with the receiver, and that is a warning and that it would be in essence a re-do,” Dunmore coach Ben O’Brien explained.

Montrose’s Ashley Lattner got free on a breakaway and took a feed from Ely for a layup that hung on the rim before dropping for a 47-42 lead with 17 seconds left.

“It felt like it hung for a minute,” Smith said.

Burke buried another 3, this time from 23 feet, to slice the lead to 47-45 with three ticks remaining. But Montrose safely inbounded the ball and Ely added two more foul shots to seal it.

It was a strong ending after a rough start for Ely, who missed her first nine shots, several rattling out.

“You can’t panic in the first half,” said Ely, who scored 13 of 15 in a second-quarter stretch that saw Montrose take a 30-22 lead. “You have to keep going at it and I had faith in everyone else that they could step up. And everyone did at some point tonight.

“We were just ready for it to be our time.”

After that, Ely was held in check until hitting her last seven free throws.

“A player likeDallas, you hope you can defend her as well as you can,” O’Brien said. “At that point, you hope she misses because she can score whether she’s well defended or not defended.

“We were fortunate a couple of her shots rattled out.”

While Ely ignited Montrose’s offense, the Lady Bucks were paced by Korgeski, who took several nifty lob passes from Alexa Gerchman, who had nine assists and finished with 11 points.

“That’s been Alexa all year,” O’Brien said. “If we need a little bit of scoring, she can provide it. If we have our inside game going, Alexa can provide that as well.”

But giving up baskets in the low post instead of 3s was a tradeoff Montrose was willing to make.

“They shot a lot of 3s all year and those are kind of momentum builders,” Smith said. “We didn’t let them get any momentum. We made them work for every shot they took and it worked out.”

Montrose advances to meet the District 4 runner-up, Wyalusing orMount Carmel, in the first round of the state playoffs on Friday at a District 2 site at a time to be determined.

Dunmorewill be on the road to face the District 1 champion, also on Friday. Christopher Dock and New Hope-Solebury play today at 4 for that title.

“Congratulations to Montrose, I thought they played great,” O’Brien said. “But I thought it was two teams that played as hard as they could and I’m proud of our players.

“This one will sting for a little bit, but we’ll start thinking about states and getting ready, and that will be our only focus.”