Greyhounds stun Prexies, run win streak to 14
Monessen kept its winning streak alive in emphatic fashion on Saturday when it stunned visiting Washington, 53-47, in a non-section battle of red-hot, top-tier boys basketball teams.
The Class AA Greyhounds (17-4) have won 14 in row for the first time since 2016 when it had a 15-game streak.
The Class AAA Prexies (15-2) had won 15 straight since a season-opening loss to Class AAAA power Belle Vernon.
Lorenzo Gardner led the way for Monessen with a game-high 15 points. Dante DeFelices and Jaisean Blackman followed with nine points apiece, Kody Kuhns added seven points and Leonaj Thomas chipped in with six points.
“I think this is a win that gives our kids the confidence to know that we can play with any team,” Greyhounds coach Dan Bosnic said. “Washington’s a really good basketball team, one of the top-ranked teams in 3A.
“It tells the kids when they commit to something and play the way they’ve been playing, which is very unselfish, doing anything they can to help the team win, they can be very successful.”
After the first quarter ended in a 13-13 deadlock, the Greyhounds nudged out to a 27-24 halftime advantage and took a 40-37 lead into the final quarter. Monessen outscored the visitors 13-10 over the final eight minutes.
“We were up by about six or so for a majority of the fourth quarter,” Bosnic said.
Davoun Fuse and Tayshawn Levy both scored 10 points to lead the Prexies.
“Washington is physical and they have a lot of size,” Bosnic said. “We watched film of them and saw them at our Christmas tournament when they beat a really good Linsly team so we were familiar with them. They’re effective rebounding the basketball and they bother you with their athleticism.
“Our kids didn’t back down from them. We handled ourselves rebounding the ball and we were able to pack our defense in and probably made them do some things they weren’t used to doing.”
Monessen (4-AA) and Washington (4-AAA) both head into the WPIAL playoffs as section champions.
Girls basketball
Ringgold 62, Uniontown 46 — Kirra Gerard poured in 32 points and the Lady Rams surged ahead in the second quarter on their way to a Section 3-AAAAA win over the visiting Lady Raiders.
Uniontown (2-10, 5-15) led 15-12 after the first quarter but Ringgold (3-8, 6-14) used a 14-4 advantage in the second to go ahead 26-19 at halftime and extended the gap to 43-31 at the end of three.
Miya Harris led the Lady Raiders with 18 points and Summer Hawk added 13 points.
Yough 48, Mount Pleasant 46 — Neither the host Lady Cougars nor the Lady Vikings qualified for the postseason but the rivals staged a battle for sole possession of fifth place in Section 3-AAA with Yough coming out on top in overtime.
Laney Gerdich led the Lady Cougars (4-8, 6-14) with 21 points and Mikahla Chewning had 14 points.
Yough led 15-11 after the first quarter, 26-21 at halftime and 36-26 after three, but Mount Pleasant (3-9, 8-13) rallied to tie the game, 42-42, by outscoring the hosts 16-6 in the fourth.
The Lady Cougars held a 6-4 edge in the extra frame to earn the victory.
Tiffany Zelmore led all scorers with 24 points for the Lady Vikings who also got 13 points from Hannah Geskinski.
Monessen 57, Washington 17 — The playoff-bound Lady Greyhounds closed their regular season with a non-section win over the visiting Lady Prexies.
Monessen (16-5) raced out to a 17-5 lead in the first quarter and pulled away from there.
Mercedes Majors led a balanced Lady Greyhounds attack with 12 points. Zalendria Hardison followed with 11 points and Kinsey Wilson added 10 points.
Cayleigh Brown and Amari Oakley each tallied five points for Washington (1-19).
Before the meeting with the Lady Prexies, Monessen finished the final 2:07 of a game against Fort Cherry that was suspended from Jan. 26 due to a power outage.
The Lady Rangers hung on for a 54-51 victory.
Raney Staub led Fort Cherry (15-6) with 24 points and Kaylee Weinbrenner had 10 points.
Mercedes Majors paced the Lady Greyhounds with 20 points. Hailey Johnson contributed 13 points.
California 65, Avella 54 — The Lady Trojans tuned up for the upcoming playoffs with a non-section win over the host Lady Eagles, who are also headed to the postseason.
Kendelle Weston rang up a game-high 20 points for California (13-9) and Sam Smichnick was close behind with 19 points.
The Lady Trojans led 15-14, 35-20 and 52-36 at the quarter breaks.
Katie Dryer paced Avella (10-11) with 17 points and Ava Frank added 10 points.