PD Old Forge Sports

girls’ varsity basketball

By Rick Notari rnotari@psdispatch.com
Pittston Sunday Dispatch Staff Writer

For the first 27-and-a-half minutes of Friday night’s game against Dunmore, the Old Forge girls’ basketball program went toe-to-toe with one of the premier teams in District 2.

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Pictured above, Old Forge’s Kim Kaville shoots the ball over a Dunmore defender during the Blue Devils loss to the Lady Bucks on Friday night. Below left, Aleca Semenza drives to the basket; and below right, Chrissy Belko goes by a Dunmore defender.

photos by garrett graziano

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Pictured above, Old Forge’s Kim Kaville shoots the ball over a Dunmore defender during the Blue Devils loss to the Lady Bucks on Friday night. Below left, Aleca Semenza drives to the basket; and below right, Chrissy Belko goes by a Dunmore defender.

photos by garrett graziano

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With 4:30 left in the game against the Lady Bucks on their home floor, the Blue Devils had seized control of the game with a 45-43 lead.

But Chrissy Belko’s two free throws that gave Old Forge the lead would be the last points the Blue Devils scored, as Dunmore ran off 16 points to end the game for a wild 59-45 victory in a Lackawanna League Division II game.

Old Forge (11-5 overall, 4-5 D2, 1-1 LL) trailed 16-8 at the end of the first quarter but came roaring back with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 16-16 just 1:40 into the second quarter.

Belko made 3-of-4 free throws during the run, and Nicole Marianelli banged a three-pointer from the left corner before Kim Kaville scored inside to tie the game.

The lead changed three times during the next four minutes, but a Belko layup and two free throws by Lindsey Regan gave the Blue Devils a 23-20 lead with 1:53 left before halftime.

Kaville gave Old Forge its biggest lead of the game on a layup with 42 seconds left for a 25-20 lead, but Dunmore’s Ashley Murray converted two free throws with less than five seconds left to cut the Blue Devils lead to three at intermission.

Dunmore opened the second half in a triangle-and-two defense, and it sparked an 11-2 run over the first five minutes of the third quarter for a 33-27 lead as the Old Forge offense couldn’t get started.

Regan stopped the spurt with a short baseline jumper and added two free throws to cut the Dunmore lead to 33-31.

A three-pointer by the Lady Bucks pushed the lead back to five, but Chrissy Belko converted a steal into a hoop with some harm to get deficit back to two at 36-34.

A 5-2 run by Dunmore ended the quarter for a 41-36 lead however the Old Forge offense was starting to click.

Marianelli buried another three from the corner to cut the deficit to 41-39 just 21 seconds into the fourth. Dunmore answered with two points inside, but Belko sandwiched a bucket and two free throws around Aleca Semenza’s only basket of the game to give the Blue Devils its last lead at 45-43.

From there it was all Dunmore as Old Forge struggled to handle the ball and even get good shots off.

Belko led the Blue Devils on offense with 18 points. She also added three assists, three rebounds and three steals. Kaville added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Regan chipped in with six points.

OF 40, Valley View 39

Aleca Semenza beat the buzzer on a layup with one second showing on the clock in the Elio Ghigiarelli Gymnasium to give Old Forge a, 40-39, victory over Valley View on Wednesday night in Old Forge.

Semenza’s heroics bailed out the Blue Devils as the home team lost a five-point lead in the final 1:58 of the game.

Old Forge (11-4 overall, 4-4 D2, 1-0 LL) ran out to a 9-2 lead early in the game as Kim Kaville scored six of her game-high 16 points in the first 4:32 of the first quarter.

Valley View came right back with a 9-0 run to take an 11-9 lead heading into the second quarter, but the Blue Devils took the lead back as Kaville and Jess Armillay combined for all 10 of Old Forge’s points in the quarter to give the two-time defending District 2 Class 1A champ a 19-15 lead at intermission.

A free throw and a three-pointer by Semenza put the Blue Devils in the lead 24-19 with 4:30 left in the third, but Valley View ran off six straight points to take a 25-24 lead with 2:55 left in the period.

Old Forge came right back as Kaville made 1-of-2 free throws and Chrissy Belko turned a steal into a layup to give the Blue Devils the lead back at 27-25 with 1:23 left in the third.

The Blue Devils kept the lead and increased it to 37-32 with 1:58 left when Armillay scored on a layup after a steal.

Valley View answered with an 8-2 run that Rebecca Keegan capped when she swished two free throws to give the Cougars a 39-38 lead with four seconds left.

After the second made free throw, Kaville took the ball out of the next and quickly inbounded to Belko in front of the Valley View bench. With the Cougars in full-court press mode, Belko found Semenza streaking down the left side of the floor behind the defense, wide open for the game-winner.

Semenza finished with 14 points, and added six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kaville added three steals, three assists and two rebounds for the Blue Devils, and Armillay chipped in with six points.