Bishop Shanahan received 3-pointers from three different players while opening a lead in the second quarter Wednesday night on the way to bringing an end to the most successful girls basketball season in Pittston Area history with a 43-35 victory in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A second-round game at Martz Hall in Pottsville.
Alexa Bojko, Alyssa Brown and Abigail Wolfe each made a 3-pointer while Bishop Shanahan was expanding a 9-8 lead after one quarter to 23-13 at halftime. Each also had another 3-pointer during the game, but it was Sam Blumenthal who led the District 1 third-place finishers (23-6) with 15 points.
Pittston Area had the best regular-season record of any District 2 boys or girls basketball team at 21-1. The Lady Patriots finished 25-3, repeating as Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion, winning their second district title ever and reaching the second round of the state tournament for the first time.
Kallie Booth led Pittston Area with 17 points in the finale, closing out a district and state playoff run in which she averaged 19.6 points per game.
Daniella Ranieli added 12 points and Ava Callahan scored the other 6.
Booth had five points and Callahan joined her in making 3-pointers to keep the Lady Patriots within a point after one quarter.
Ranieli scored Pittston Area’s only five points in the third quarter.
Booth had 12 in the second half, but Bishop Shanahan was able to take a 35-21 lead into the fourth quarter and hold off Pittston Area from there.
