WRIGHT TWP. — An eight-game winning streak had Crestwood upbeat heading into its rematch with unbeaten Hazleton Area, Monday.

However, the Lady Cougars’ 10-1 start and several subsequent runs combined with a relentless pressure defense ultimately popped the Lady Comets’ air of confidence; while Hazleton Area’s own confidence level stayed sky-high throughout its 77-45 victory.

The Lady Cougars’ second decisive win over their chief rivals this season gave them a firm foothold in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title chase. They lead second-place Crestwood and Dallas by two games with five left in conference play. The top two teams in the division will advance to the WVC playoffs in mid-February.

“We looked really good,” Hazleton Area head coach Joe Gavio understated, after the Lady Cougars ran their record to 17-0, 7-0 in the WVC. “We’re usually down (early) up here, but we jumped them tonight. We broke their will a little bit.”

Kaitlyn Bindas led the Lady Cougars with 16 points despite a cold shooting night from beyond three-point arc for her. Mariah Marolo came off the bench to score 15 points and Alexis Reimold and Sophia Shults added 13 apiece; while teammates Kayla Lagowy, Sophia Benyo, Evelyn Shults and Olivia Williams each contributed solid floor games, especially with several Hazleton Area players in early trouble.

“Whether we’re starting or coming the bench, it doesn’t matter,” Marolo said. “That’s not really important because no matter who’s on that court, everyone can play.”

Lagowy drained a triple on the Lady Cougars’ opening possession to ignite their early surge. Before the run was over, Reimold (four points) and Sophia Shults (three) also were making their presence felt on the offensive end until Reimold and Benyo went to the bench with two fouls apiece.

The Lady Comets, though, were having difficulty solving Hazleton Area’s full-court press on the opposite side, not matter which players in scarlet uniforms were on the floor. They committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter alone on the way to 33 for the game.

“My advice to them was to try to slow it down, but they were making it a track meet,” said Crestwood coach Mark Mushock, whose team hadn’t lost since a 73-46 setback at Hazleton Area on Dec. 23. “Unfortunately, when you play only six girls, getting into a track meet with (Hazleton Area) isn’t going to work.”

Crestwood managed to creep within 14-9 by the two-minute mark of the first quarter following Kate Gallagher’s putback, Cameron Vieney’s three free throws and a Jackie Gallagher three-pointer. But, even more quickly, Marolo answered with her own triple and consecutive layups, Evelyn Shults sank two foul shots and Bindas hit another to account for a 10-0 spurt that upped Hazleton Area’s lead to 24-9.

The Lady Cougars then scored eight of the first 10 points of the second quarter, the last on Marolo’s short jumper, to stretch their lead to 32-11. But three-pointers by Charlie Hiller and Jackie Gallagher and Vieney’s six points late in the quarter kept Crestwood from falling into a deeper hole than 44-29 at halftime.

“I think with them being our rivals and with us losing to them here last year, we really wanted this one,” Marolo said.

Any chance that the Lady Comets (13-3, 6-2) had at whittling away at their deficit ended when Hazleton Area rattled off 12 of the first 13 points of the third quarter to take a commanding 56-30 lead. Marolo’s hoop made it a 31-point game at the end of the quarter assured that the PIAA’s mercy rule would be invoked and the clock would run continually for the remainder of the night.

“We had to go to our bench, but (our reserves) came through phenomenally,” Gavio said. “Benny (Benyo) and Alexis (Reimold) didn’t play most of the second quarter, but Evelyn (Shults) played super (and) you saw what Mariah could do off the bench. When we say we’re deep, we’re deep.

“We just had a good, solid game against a very good team,” he added. “We do what we do. We impose our will on people. We’re pressing, we’re running and we’re doing what we want to do. You could practice against our (press) all you want, but it’s hard to go against it live. We’ll trap you out of it and we’ll force you to make plays or into mistakes. We’ll get you in that game you don’t want to be in.”

“Once you break the press, a lot of teams like to hurry up and get a quick shot,” Mushock said. “I tried to tell them that’s not what we want to do because that’s their game plan. They want you to take quick shots within five seconds. Unfortunately, we did that a lot more than we wanted to tonight.”

Hiller wound up as Crestwood’s leading scorer with 14 points. Vieney and Andrews tossed in 10 apiece and Jackie Gallagher canned nine.

The junior varsity game also went Hazleton Area’s way as Juliana Silva netted 16 points to spark the Lady Cougars’ 55-18 win. Mia Menoski had eight for Crestwood.

HAZLETON AREA (77)

Marolo 6 1-2 15, Benyo 3 0-0 6, Eberts 2 0-0 4, Bindas 7 2-2 16, Williams 0 0-0 0, E. Shults 1 2-2 4, Lagowy 2 1-2 6, Reimold 6 0-0 13, S. Shults 3 7-10 13, Silva 0 0-0 0, Rodgers 0 0-0 0, Chupela 0 0-0 0, Radice 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 13-18 77.

CRESTWOOD (45)

J. Gallagher 3 1-2 9, Korpusik 0 0-0 0, Vieney 3 4-6 10, Hiller 6 1-2 14, Petrosky 0 0-2 0, Andrews 5 0-2 10, Menoski 0 0-0 0, Van Dusen 0 0-0 0, K. Gallagher 1 0-0 2, Sklarosky 0 0-0 0, Stofko 0 0-0 0, Kijek 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 6-14 45.

Haz Area (17-0, 7-0) 24 20 25 8 — 77

Crest (13-3, 6-2) 9 20 9 7 — 45

3-FG: Marolo 2, Lagowy, Reimold, J. Gallagher 2, Hiller.

Holy Redeemer 70, MMI Prep 5

In Freeland, the Lady Royals shot out to a 21-2 lead after one quarter and 46-4 by halftime on their way to the WVC Division 2 victory.

Olivia Dutko paced the winners with 10 points; Brooke Kroptavich was next with nine and Kearney Quinn and Mary Lombardi added eight apiece.

Chloe Allen and Anna Dronock led the Lady Preppers with three and two points, respectively.

Originally Published: January 21, 2025 at 12:28 AM EST