Stingy defense carries Lady Greyhounds to 34-30 win
MONESSEN – Using a stifling, and at times suffocating, defense Saturday afternoon, the Monessen girls downed West Greene, 34-30, for a WPIAL Class A consolation round victory.
“Our intensity and press were the difference,” said Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik. “Our shots weren’t falling, so we turned up the pressure defensively.
“We were down early, but I am proud of the team effort, and we are moving on after beating a good team in a tough game.”
West Greene (10-15) finished with 32 turnovers, most of which were forced by Monessen’s pressure.
“I thought our offense and defense were pretty good, but they (Monessen) pushed it out further than usual,” said West Greene coach Austin Crouse of Monessen’s unyielding pressure. “We shot ourselves in the foot today.
“Our defense was strong all game long, and we held them to 34 points, which is pretty low for them. We just turned it over too many times.”
Vertacnik spoke about a defensive adjustment she made, and it was a key to the outcome.
“I switched up and put the bigs on the front line and put the three quick girls in the back to pick off the ball,” said Vertacnick. “I thought (the West Greene guards) would give up the ball earlier because they are young, that is what they did, and we were able to get the ball by putting pressure on them.”
Despite the high number of turnovers, West Greene was still in it late as Monessen (19-6) only shot 20 percent (10-of-49) from the field, including 27 percent (9-of-34) from the field and just 7 percent (1-of-15) from 3-point range..
West Greene led 12-6 after the first quarter, and the Lady Pioneers led most of the first half until Sidney Campbell gave Monessen its first lead at 14-12 with 3:33 to go before halftime. The teams were tied at 16-16 at halftime.
Kasie Meek scored the first six points of the second half to give West Greene a 22-16 lead, but Monessen intensified its defensive pressure and held the Lady Pioneers scoreless the rest of the quarter.
The Greyhounds scored the last seven points of the quarter to take a 23-22 lead into the fourth, and they extended their lead to 27-22 early in the fourth quarter..
Meek’s free throw ended the West Greene drought, but the Lady Pioneers would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.
My’Asia Majors and Maddie Johnson led a balanced Monessen attack with 10 points apiece. Meek led all scores with 16 points and Kendra Tharp added 10 points for West Greene.
Monessen played without senior Hailey Johnson, who was called for an intentional foul late in its loss to Riverview Thursday. Monessen was notified Friday the refs changed it to an ejection, causing a one-game suspension for Johnson, who has 972 career rebounds.
“We had to be careful (with lineups) with Hailey out,” Vertacnik said. “We have one more game, and we want to get to states one more time with this group.
“The seniors deserve it.”
Crouse and the team will miss their two seniors, but he is excited for the future.
“Our young girls were phenomenal and I am already looking forward to next season,” said Crouse.
Monessen will host the winner of Monday’s Bishop Canevin (7-14)-Eden Christian (9-14) consolation game on Wednesday.
The winner of Wednesday night’s game advances to the PIAA tournament as the WPIAL’s fifth qualifier.