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By JOHN ERZAR jerzar@leader.net
Thursday, March 13, 2003 Page: 1B
POTTSVILLE – Let’s get right to the statistic anyone who couldn’t make it
to Martz Hall on Wednesday night was itching to hear.
Meredith Alexis, Bishop Hoban’s high-scoring center, tossed in 25 points in
the Argents’ 54-48 victory over Villa Maria Academy.
Now, before Hoban’s victory in the Class 3A second-round girls basketball
game is dubbed another all-Alexis show …
“The other players do a great job,” Alexis said. “We have the guards
stealing, and the assists are amazing. We had Aimee (Harenza) throwing up
shots in the paint. We have Beth (Pohlidal) and Lauren (Valentine) shooting
threes and Mallory (Zoeller) shooting jump shots.
“So it is balanced.”
District 2 runner-up Hoban (26-3) needed help from more than Alexis to oust
District 1 third seed Villa Maria (24-3) and advance to Saturday’s
quarterfinal round, where it plays District 2 third seed North Pocono (27-4).
The two teams didn’t play during the District 2 tournament.
Valentine eased Hoban closer to victory with a pair of free throws with 15
seconds remaining, then sealed the win with two more with five seconds left.
“I was a little bit nervous,” Valentine said, “but I knew if I made them
we’d be in good position.”
Harenza, a 5-foot-7 senior, took advantage of Villa Maria’s concerns about
Alexis to score eight of her 15 points in the second quarter.
“They were guarding Meredith pretty well,” Harenza said. “But they were
playing man-to-man, so I just drove around them.”
Villa Maria’s Alison Brown drew the assignment of guarding Alexis, a
6-foot-2 James Madison recruit who averaged 34.1 points during the regular
season. Brown did an admirable job considering she was surrendering three
inches and noticeable muscle.
“I don’t think they were especially skilled,” Villa Maria coach Kathy
McCartney said of Hoban, “but their scrappiness kept them in the game.
Basically, it was our inability on offense.”
Villa Maria appeared to panic somewhat on offense after Harenza’s layup
gave Hoban a 50-48 lead with 59 seconds remaining. Instead of looking for a
high-percentage shot, the Hurricanes tossed up consecutive three-pointers with
29 seconds remaining. Then after a timeout, they tried another three-pointer
from the right baseline.
“They were getting that foul line shot every time and I thought they would
go to that,” Valentine said. “But the one girl had a pretty good three-point
shot.”
That girl was guard Siobhan O’Connor, who hit 6-of-11 first-half shots
while the rest of the team shot 3 of 17 from the field.
Hoban didn’t pay particular attention to O’Connor in the second half, but
neither did her teammates. She shot just three times in the third quarter, and
her only basket was a three-pointer that tied the score 37-37 entering the
fourth. She finished with a team-high 15 points.
“We didn’t put somebody on her or play a box or something like that,”
Hoban coach Bob Schuler said. “We were just more cognizant of her.”