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BY JOHN GORDON jtgordon@leader.net
Thursday, February 03, 2000 Page: 26
The Crestwood junior varsity girls basketball team has some offensive fire
power and moves the ball around extremely well.
So Coughlin head coach Diane Breese and her assistant, Cindy Zbierski, were
hard pressed for ideas on how to throw off the Comet attack.
Their solution: to attack with a hard press.
The half-court traps they planned were the deciding factor in a hard-fought
39-27 decision over the Comets (7-10) at the Crestwood gym on Jan. 27. “The
press worked well for us tonight, we got several turnovers from the traps,”
said Breese.
Turnovers were not a huge factor early in the game. Both sides were
executing their plays well and driving to the basket with confidence.
However, one steal was turned into an easy hoop when Coughlin’s Mary
Pierandozzi intercepted a pass at halfcourt and sped to the other end with the
ball. In transition, she passed the Comet defenders for a layup that put the
9-4 Crusaders atop a 6-5 margin with 2:05 remaining in the opening period.
Pierandozzi finished the game with nine points, including a three-pointer.
Crestwood displayed some of its offensive prowess late in the first quarter
when Maura Morgan faked out two Coughlin defenders, then drove to the hoop and
put home a strong layup that put the Comets in front briefly, 7-6 with 22
seconds left. Morgan finished with a team-high 11 points.
April Kish quickly responded for Coughlin by draining a jumper just before
the first quarter buzzer sounded to give the Crusaders an 8-7 lead. Kish
tallied 12 points in the contest.
Michelle Oros added four points for Crestwood in the early part of the
second quarter and Coughlin held an 18-13 lead with three minutes to go before
halftime. Kish excelled again, stealing a pass at halfcourt and driving to the
basket to extend the Crusader lead to 20-13 with 2:20 left.
Crestwood closed out the quarter on a 5-4 run as Morgan again faked
Crusader defenders out of their socks and put in a short jumper in the lane to
cut the lead to 22-16. Both sides exchanged buckets right before the half and
Coughlin took a 24-18 lead heading into final two quarters.
Coughlin’s Becky Gill was the catalyst in the successful Crusader press in
the third quarter. She made several key steals that led to some easy buckets
and a 30-21 lead going into the fourth quarter. Gill also drained a pair of
treys in the contest and had a total of 12 points.
The half-court press led to a 5-2 run in the opening minutes of the final
stanza as the Crusaders built a 12-point lead, the largest of the game. “The
steals our traps produced turned out to be the deciding points in the game,”
said Breese.
COUGHLIN (39) Kish 5 2-2 12, Gill 5 0-0 12, Pierandozzi 4 0-0 9, King 0 0-2
0, Rava 0 0-2 0, Ford 2 2-2 6. Totals 16 4-8 39 CRESTWOOD (27) Morgan 4 3-5
11, Stout 2 1-2 5, Webby 1 0-0 2, Boone 1 0-0 3, Joyce 1 0-0 2, Oros 2 0-0 4,
Totals 11 4-7 27 3-point goals: Boone 1, Gill 2, Pierandozzi 1 COUGHLIN 8 16
6 9 – 39 CRESTWOOD 7 11 3 6 – 27