For all the marbles
DANVILLE — Mount Carmel is a team with some flaws, sure. It’s also not an accident they’ve made it this far in the state tournament.
Poor shooting from beyond the arc and at the free-throw line for much of the night didn’t come back to haunt the Red Tornadoes in a 39-34 revenge win over South Williamsport in the Class 2A girls basketball state quarterfinals.
The Red Tornadoes (23-5) will play longtime rival District 4 champion Southern Columbia with a trip to the state finals on the line on Friday at a time and place to be determined.
With five lead changes in the fourth quarter, including the Red Tornadoes’ first of the contest since late in the second quarter, it didn’t come easy. They didn’t expect it to.
“The message in the fourth quarter was ‘Who wants it more?,’” Mount Carmel’s Alyssa Reisinger said. “Coach always says we have to play a whole 32 minutes and that’s what we did, and at the end of the game, we wanted it more than they did.”
The Tornadoes went out and proved they wanted it more by cleaning up the two things that were hurting them the most in the first 24 minutes.
After Jenna Pizzoli hit a 3-pointer to give the Tornadoes their first lead of the second half, Reisinger came up big on the other side of the court. With Aleigha Reippel charging the hoop for a layup, Reisinger came up with a block to keep the lead intact momentarily.
A missed And-1 by Mount Carmel’s Jenna Pizzoli allowed Lacy Kriebel to give South its last lead of the night on a layup. The Red Tornadoes didn’t fret, as Katie Witkoskie drilled a long 3-pointer for the game’s final lead change.
“You don’t get this far if you’re not good. South Williamsport has been very impressive, especially late in the season,” Varano said. “I’m just proud of the way our girls responded, they just kept playing and didn’t stop fighting.”
The Tornadoes then did a great job of running the clock down and, after starting 0-for-7 at the line, began making free throws to help ice the game. All told, the Tornadoes went 5-for-15.
“[Free throws have] been a little bit of a battle for us at times, and I think we need to focus more,” Varano said. “Sometimes it gets tough to block the outside noise out, but when they counted, I think we came through.”
Reisinger — who had a clutch layup on an inbound pass from Katie Witkoski —and Pizzoli accounted for 10 of the Tornadoes’ 12 fourth-quarter points. Reisinger matched teammate Ava Chapman with a game-high 10 points.
Chapman helped the Red Tornadoes close out the third quarter on a 9-2 run, draining a 3-pointer in the 5-minute span. The run tied the game at 22.
Both teams played great defense throughout, rushing opposing offenses to take ill-advised shots and rush passes that weren’t there. No Mountie recorded a double-digit scoring performance, while the Tornadoes were held to nine or fewer points in the first three frames.
For Mount Carmel, that also meant getting in foul trouble, getting the whistle blown 13 times. It’s all part of the learning process for the young squad.
“The girls that are starting were in different roles last year, they weren’t the ones that were on the court for 30 minutes a game,” Varano said. “To get this far, it’s just fun now. We want to win, but it’s just a huge accomplishment for this team.”
But they aren’t putting their guard down just yet as they have a chance to defend their crown against Southern Columbia.
The Tigers swept the regular-season series. The Tigers won 39-32 in mid-December before needing triple overtime to beat the Red Tornadoes, 68-66, in late January.
“I’m expecting them to have a good game, just like us,” Reisinger said of the Tigers. “It’s the third time we’re going to meet them this season, and you never know how the outcome is going to be. I definitely believe in us, and it’s hard to beat a good team three times.”
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