Charleroi falls but still qualifies for playoffs
CHARLEROI — With a playoff berth on the line, McGuffey’s girls basketball team went to Charleroi Thursday night and clinched a postseason spot out of Class Section 4-AAA with a 53-46 win.
“I knew we had some talent and thought their junior and senior years would be the years we could do a little damage,” second-year McGuffey coach Andrew Kurzawski said of his young team. “This is a huge step in the right direction for our program.
“We were nervous coming out of the gate, and there was a great crowd tonight. We started to settle in, and it made a big difference.”
There were plenty of storylines heading into the contest.
On top of the postseason berth being at stake, Charleroi junior McKenna DeUnger entered the game needing 12 points to join the 1,000-point club.
Lastly, even with the loss, Charleroi qualified for the playoffs when South Park beat Yough Thursday night.
The Cougars (5-5, 11-9) came out on fire and took a 22-14 lead into the second quarter, leading by as many as 12 points (26-14) early in the second.
DeUnger was playing her typical solid all-around game and she sat at eight points early in the second quarter.
A mere four points from 1,000, DeUnger took a fastbreak pass and jettisoned toward the hoop for a layup attempt.
However, a McGuffey defender contested the shot and DeUnger rolled her ankle when she landed.
The shot rolled off the rim, no foul was called and DeUnger had to be helped off the court with 3:51 left in the half after a Madison Gaso basket for McGuffey.
At the time, Charleroi held a 26-18 lead, but DeUnger would not return to the game.
“(DeUnger) going out helped us quite a bit,” said Kurzawski in an empathic tone. “She is a great player, and she was playing great tonight.”
First-year Charleroi coach Mariah Ward shared her thoughts.
“This was not the outcome we wanted but we fought hard for four quarters,” she said. “Even when our top scorer was down, we were still in the game.”
Charleroi took a 31-25 lead into halftime, but the momentum slowly moved in McGuffey’s favor.
At the half, DeUnger’s teammates and coaches went to the trainer’s room to check on her.
Moments into the second half, DeUnger limped out of the locker room and onto the bench to provide moral support, but the Cougars could not hold onto the lead.
With Charleroi leading 40-32 with a little more than a minute left in the third, Libby Mallah, Lex Ewig and Taylor Schumacher hit consecutive three-pointers to give McGuffey (5-5, 15-7) a 41-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“We kind of folded defensively and let them get in the game with a lot of threes,” Ward said.
It was the Highlanders’ first lead since 2-1, and they would not trail again.
Down 48-41 in the fourth, Charleroi’s Addison Conrad hit a three and then Bella Carroto cut the McGuffey lead to 48-46 with 1:55 to go, but the Highlanders held the Cougars scoreless the rest of the way to earn the playoff berth.
“We were still in it,” said Ward. “When we went down by two, I thought we had a chance but had turnovers and missed a lot of layups.
“It was just a lot of inexperience playing without your top scorer.”
Gaso led all scorers with 17 points while Ewig (14) and Schumacher (11) also hit double figures for McGuffey. Carroto led Charleroi with 11 points and six steals.
This was the second time DeUnger got hurt against McGuffey this season and could not finish the game, and in both instances, Charleroi had to finish the game with four players. McGuffey won both games late, and the sweep gave it the edge over Charleroi despite the teams having the same section record.
DeUnger remains at 996 points, and the largest girls basketball crowd at Charleroi in years showed up to support the team and cheer DeUnger on towards the 1,000-point milestone, including the four previous players to join the exclusive group: Aly (Lee) Hega, Mia Woytovich, Kaitlyn Riley and Maria Claybaugh.
The good news for Charleroi came later in the night when the Cougars learned that South Park had won at Yough, clinching a postseason berth for Charleroi. Yough and Charleroi split their two-game regular-season series.