Cougars’ upset bid falls just short at KO

Bob Smith / MVI Sports
Charleroi’s McKenna DeUnger (30) tries to get up a shot after contact by KO’s Abby Serakowski (2).

By DEAN DELLAMALVA JR
MVI Sports

A last second 3-point attempt by Charleroi’s Riley Jones was on line, but just a tad too long.

As a result, No. 7 Keystone Oaks escaped with a 54-52 victory over the tenth-seeded Cougars in the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs Wednesday.

Eriana Neal led the Golden Eagles (11-7) with a double-double, scoring 23 points and collecting 14 rebounds. She scored nine of her team’s final 11 points in the win.

Despite the loss, it was a stout effort from the young Cougars who nearly pulled out the victory. Several times in the game, Charleroi (8-9) battled back from deficits as high as 10 points and nearly came away with the upset just before the buzzer.

“I thought that shot was going in,” Cougars head coach Bill Wagner said. “It was a great team effort, they battled their hearts out. I’m super proud of the girls.”

Charleroi came out pressuring Keystone Oaks early, but some quick foul trouble forced Wagner to back his team out of it.

Later in the game, the Cougars went back to the pressure and had some positive results.

“What hurt us was the fouls early, I had to get out of the press,” Wagner said. “In the second half, we were able to go back at it and it was effective. It’s what we’ve been good at all year and to not be able to do it is a killer.”

It was a game in which both teams went back and forth on runs.

An early 9-0 run put the Golden Eagles ahead 16-6 in the first quarter before the Cougars started an 11-2 run that would extend into the second quarter, pulling Charleroi within one at 18-17.

Keystone Oaks answered with an eight-point burst and took a 26-19 lead into the half.

Huge to the Golden Eagles advantage was rebounding in which they held a 25-17 advantage with several multiple chance opportunities.

Things changed in the second half as Charleroi came out with some energy. The rebounding tightened up as did the hustle plays.

“In the first half, rebounding was in our favor but in the second, (Charleroi) really rebounded well,” Keystone Oaks coach Ron Muszynski said. “We switched out of the box and one, and went to man, then they started to beat us on the boards which made the game a lot closer.”

The Cougars began the second half on a 14-5 run and took their first lead of the night after Leena Henderson, who led Charleroi with 20 points, drained a three with 2:47 to go in the third.

The clutch trey made the score 33-31, but, once again, the Golden Eagles answered by scoring the final six points of the quarter to hold a 37-33 lead.

The fourth belonged primarily to Neal who tallied 14 points in the period. A basket by Lexy Wagner put the Golden Eagles ahead 53-46 with just 2:18 to play.

Charleroi refused to quit, though.

Riley Jones scored on a putback with 2:04 left but missed the accompanying free throw. Bella Carroto and Henderson added jumpers to cut the lead to a single point before Neal hit 1 of 2 at the line for the game’s final points.

“(Charleroi) battled and hey are a good, young team,” Muzynski said. “They never gave up and never complained, they just played hard.”

“We didn’t have a couple shots fall and in the end that’s what hurt us,” Wagner said. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort, except on the boards.”

Grace Gardner joined her teammate Neal in grabbing double digit rebounds with 13. But Neal, a sophomore, was certainly the reason for Keystone Oaks’ success.

“(Neal) works hard every day. To us, we know, to a lot of people around the WPIAL, they’re starting to realize,” said Muszynski. “She plays good defense, she rebounds, she pushes and handles the ball. It’s a lot of good things out of a sophomore.”

Jones certainly did her best to aid in the effort.

Despite her team struggling to get rebounds, Jones did her part to clean up the glass, snarring 17 boards. McKenna DeUnger finished the night with 10 points.

Charleroi will carry over its entire starting lineup into next season and will use the playoff loss as valuable experience going forward.

“I told them after the game that they have nothing to hang their heads about,” Wagner said. “This is a stepping stone for next year. That was a great game that they played and next year we’ll be even tougher.”