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PLYMOUTH — The strategy might not be sustainable in the long run, but on Thursday night it worked for the Hazleton Area girls basketball team.
“We didn’t play very good,” Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said, “but we make everyone play ugly.”
That’s what the Cougars did in their 56-46 overtime victory against Wyoming Valley West in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 game. They forced 28 turnovers to overcome sporadic shooting from the field, horrible shooting from the foul line and a 17-point deficit in the third quarter.
Hazleton Area (2-0 Div. 1, 4-2) pressed the whole game, but it had little effect in the first half.
Valley West (2-1 Div. 1, 2-1) used the duo of Trinity Johnson and Fatikha Tikhtova to build a 31-17 halftime lead. Johnson had 11 of her game-high 19 points and 11 of her game-high 19 rebounds in the first half. Tikhtova had 12 points and nine boards. She finished with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The Spartans opened the advantage to 36-19 at 5:45 of the third when Tikhtova recorded a steal and scored on the other end. But then Hazleton Area’s press, which was troublesome but not overwhelming to that point, started to cause major problems.
The Cougars forced nine turnovers in the third quarter and a 3-pointer by Olivia Wolk to close out the period cut the deficit to 43-35.
“It is tough in the press the whole game,” said Wolk, who finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. “We get tired here and there, but tonight was a great night for us. We had a rough start in the beginning, but after halftime we kind of got our second gear.”
And Hazleton Area sped off the rest of the way. Valley West managed just one field goal in the fourth quarter and four-minute overtime as the Cougars outscored the Spartans 19-3 over the final 12 minutes.
As for the abrupt success of the press, Gavio said it was because his players started guarding tighter. He felt they were giving the Spartans too much slack to make passes out of the pressure defense.
“If you’re off them, they can see everything,” Gavio said. “We’re double-teaming everything. For this to work, we have to be on them and they have to turn and make decisions. I mean, we were off them this far and they’re going to turn and look.”
Hazleton Area sent the game into overtime tied 46-46 on Brooke Boretski’s 3-pointer with 1:24 left in regulation. Carley Krizansky gave the Cougars the lead for good — and their first lead since 4-2 at 6:10 of the first quarter — with a basket to open overtime.
Hazleton Area 56, Wyo. Valley West 46 OT
HAZLETON AREA (56) — Carley Krizansky 4 0-0 8, Lacie Kringe 4 0-0 8, Olivia Wolk 5 5-7 18, Julia Mrochko 0 2-6 2, Alexa Tihansky 1 0-0 2, Brooke Boretski 3 2-6 10, Jaya Franek 4 0-3 8. Totals 21 9-22 56.
WVW (46) — Trinity Johnson 8 3-5 19, Gabby Marsola 1 0-0 2, Fatikha Tikhtova 6 6-8 18, Haylie Oliphant 0 0-0 0, Claudia Siegfried 0 1-2 1, Makenzie Perluke 2 2-2 6, Kiara Kane 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 12-17 46.
Hazleton Area`6`11`18`11`8 — 56
Wyo. Valley West`16`15`12`3`0 — 46
Three-point goals: HA 5 (Wolk 3, Boretski 2).