By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
EXETER – Kallie Booth turned in her third straight team Most Valuable Player award-winning performance and Ava Callahan came up with a pair of clutch defensive plays in the final 1:10 Thursday night to lead Pittston Area to a 26-23 victory over host Wyoming Area in the Tigue-Denisco Cup Game.
Booth earned the Thomas Tigue Award as Pittston Area’s MVP in the rivalry game for the third straight year. She finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals.
“They’ve gotten better,” said Booth, who led Pittston Area to 12- and 27-point wins over Wyoming Area last season. “But, the moral of the story is that we need to get tougher.”
Pittston Area, the defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion and the No. 2 Big School in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, improved to 3-0.
It was not easy.
Appropriately for a game in which neither team managed to score in double figures in any quarter, the outcome hinged largely on late defensive stops by Pittston Area. The Lady Patriots held the Lady Warriors scoreless over the final 2:13 while Booth and Daniella Ranieli each added one point in the team’s late 2-for-4 free throw shooting with an additional attempt wiped out by a lane violation.
“It wasn’t Ava’s best night and she would be the first to admit that,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said, “but when it counted late in the game, she was able to make a play for us so we could get out of here with a win.”
Coming out of a timeout, Wyoming Area isolated Callahan as Anna Wisnewski backed her down into the post in a one-point game with 1:10 left. Callahan held her ground and blocked the shot.
Trailing by two, the Lady Warriors got the ball to leading scorer Morgan Janeski in the post.
Pittston Area’s defense collapsed on Janeski in a triple-team, knocking the ball loose. Callahan got to it on the floor for a held ball with 22.8 seconds.
“That’s a senior and a girl with experience and a leader,” Gregory said. “On a night when she just didn’t have a good night, she played through it and made good plays for us.”
The Lady Patriots had the arrow and took possession.
After hitting the front end of a one-and-one for a three-point advantage with 21.3 seconds left, Ranieli came up with a steal with 15 seconds remaining.
Neither team led by more than three points for the last 21:10 of the game.
Callahan and Taylor Baiera each had seven rebounds.
Ranieli, the only other Pittston Area player with more than two points, had five points and three steals.
Janeski received her third straight Tony Denisco Award as Wyoming Area’s MVP. She had 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Olivia Rome added seven rebounds and Olivia Allen came off the bench to provide four steals for the Lady Warriors, who are 2-2 in Mark Casper’s first season as head coach.
“We’re very happy, obviously not with the outcome, but to hold a team like that with so many talented, high scorers,” Janeski said. “To keep them to what we did on defense, we’re proud.
“Our shots just didn’t fall tonight.”
Wyoming Area shot 25 percent (10-for-40) from the floor while Pittston Area shot 22.2 percent (8-for-36). The Lady Patriots, however, outscored the Lady Warriors, 7-0, at the line.
