PLAINS TWP. — Two players from rival schools gave the White team the momentum in the first quarter Friday night in the Dr. George P. Moses Girls Basketball Senior All-Star Classic.
The momentum led to a dominant second half as the White defeated the Red 116-80 at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
Dallas’ Molly Walsh scored eight of her game-high 31 points in the first quarter. Lake-Lehman’s Kathryn Morgan had eight of her 16 in the same span.
Along with five more points from Nanticoke Area’s Kate Reed, the White took a 25-18 lead into the second quarter and never looked back.
Walsh was named the White team’s MVP. A 1,000-point scorer who missed her junior season with an injury, Walsh led a second-half assault that saw the White outscore the Red 66-37 in the final two quarters.
“It was great, especially since I grew up with a lot of them,” Walsh said. “I’ve been playing with them since middle school, so it was fun to play with them one more time.”
Holy Redeemer’s Tessa Cegelka was selected the Red team’s MVP. She scored a team-high 15 points followed by Lake-Lehman’s Delcia Biscotto with 13. (Players from Lake-Lehman were on both teams).
Redeemer recently finished its season playing in the PIAA Class 3A state championship game, so a much more relaxed atmosphere was welcomed by Cegelka.
“Coming off our state run, it was definitely hard to play like that,” Cegelka said. “We were so focused in on the state run, but it kind of felt like a breath of fresh air just being able to play my last basketball game with my best friends.”
The teams combined for 28 3-pointers. Walsh and Reed, who had 71 treys in the Wyoming Valley Conference regular season, had five each.
The most impressive 3-pointer came from Hazleton Area’s Addison Fritz from Hazleton Area. She started the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer fired after barely crossing the time line.
The White led 50-43 at halftime and the Red cut the deficit to 50-45 when Hazleton Area’s Alexis Reimold scored on a rebound to start the third quarter.
The White’s Giuliana Latona of Pittston Area, though, scored all six of her points in a two-minute span to help her team pull away.
The White closed out the third quarter with a 14-0 run where Walsh knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and two more baskets for a 86-61 lead.
Walsh’s jumper with 4:39 left in the fourth allowed the White to reach the century mark.
In the 3-point shooting finals, Fritz defeated Crestwood’s Keira Dougherty.
Dr. George P. Moses Senior All-Star Classic
Girls Game
White 116, Red 80
WHITE (116): Natalee Atkins 3 0-0 7, Nevaeh Baran 2 0-0 4, Amiah Ceruti 3 0-0 7, Jordyn Johnson 2 0-0 4, Kate Reed 7 0-0 19, Molly Walsh 13 0-0 31, Leah Drozginski 2 0-0 4, Lili Hintze 4 0-0 10, Giuliana Latona 3 0-0 6, Kathryn Morgan 7 0-0 16, Olivia Oliver 2 0-0 4, Kaylie Fraind 1 0-0 2, Maya Gross 1 0-0 2. Totals 50 0-0 116.
RED (80): Tessa Cegelka 6 0-0 15, Kearney Quinn 2 0-0 5, Jordan Andrews 2 0-0 4, Addison Fritz 4 0-0 10, Alexis Reimold 5 0-0 10, Makenna Colleran 2 0-0 5, Gabbi Novitski 0 0-0 0, Ava Yancey 2 0-0 6, Delcia Biscotto 6 0-0 13, Emma Schlingman 3 0-0 8, Alyssa Thebeault 2 0-0 4. Totals 34 0-0 80.
White`25`25`36`30 — 116
Red`18`25`18`19 — 80
Three-point goals: White 16 (Atkins, Ceruti, Reed 5, Walsh 5, Hintze 2, Morgan 2). Red 12 (Quinn, Cegelka 3, Biscotto, Yancey 2, Colleran, Schlingman 2, Fritz 2).
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