close

Turnovers, fatigue doom shorthanded Burgettstown

3 min read
article image -

McMURRAY – For Burgettstown High School girls basketball coach Megan Zitner, it was about continuing to preach that the Blue Devils had nothing to lose.

That message was reinforced two days before the Blue Devils’ WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game against fourth-seeded Our Lady of Sacred Heart when junior point guard Emily Prasko was ruled out after the discovery of stress fractures in both legs.

With a limited bench, and starting four sophomores, a scrappy effort from 13th-seeded Burgettstown wasn’t enough as the Blue Devils succumbed to turnovers and tired legs in a 50-30 loss to OLSH at Peters Township High School Friday night.

“Coming in shorthanded, all we could do was give it everything we had,” Zitner said. “We were excited to be here. It had to be all heart. They gave that to me tonight but turnovers cost us.”

The 34 turnovers for the Burgettstown – 24 in the first half – spoiled what looked to be an early opportunity to put a shock through the Chargers.

Instead, OLSH (18-4) kept it close and pounced when the Blue Devils’ core wore down. The Chargers outscored Burgettstown 20-0 in the final three minutes of the opening three quarters, including three-pointer and baseline jumper from from Maddie Hoff in the final 35 seconds of the second quarter to give OLSH a 23-16 halftime lead.

“We have dealt with turnovers all year, then to take out your point guard and primary ball-handler makes it tough,” Zitner said. “I think in those quarters we were just out of gas. Most of the starting core played the entire game. I knew they were tired.”

OLSH finally took command in the final minutes of the third quarter. The Chargers increased a single-digit lead, 28-21, with a 13-point run with 2:54 remaining in the third until Burgettstown’s Geena DeMario made a layup with 5:26 left in regulation.

DeMario had five points but grabbed 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who were led by Avery Havelka’s nine points. Hayden Abbott and Chloe Dzuba each finished with eight.

“(Burgettstown) got off to a good start that I think loosened them up,” OLSH coach Don Eckerle said of falling behind 11-7 when Havelka hit back-to-back three-pointers three minutes into the game.

“That made it a little more difficult. Our ease went away and we really had to work. Our game plan was to play fast-paced and create as many turnovers as we could. We got a lot of opportunities. Our urgency got a little better.”

OLSH’s Ashley Norling took advantage of most of the opportunities, scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Hoff was the only other player to score in double figures with 12 points.

“Two years ago was the second time in the last 19 years Burgettstown made the playoffs. To do it two out of three years is pretty exciting,” Zitner said. “They gave me everything they had.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today