Tigers swept up by Red Tornadoes
MOUNT CARMEL — Just as East Juniata closed in on Mount Carmel in each half, the Red Tornadoes erupted for a pair of double-digit runs to run away with a 47-26 win in the District 4 Class 2A quarterfinals.
The Red Tornadoes (19-4) host South Williamsport on Saturday. The Tigers meanwhile, finish 13-10.
With Mount Carmel unable to string anything together and pull away from the Tigers, coach Lisa Varano called a timeout midway through the second quarter hanging on to a 12-8 lead. The Red Tornadoes were already running a successful full-court press, but she was still looking for more defensively.
“We were relaxed defensively at that point with things working well offensively,” Varano said. “We were getting the looks we wanted but had to pick things up defensively. We did that and I think that allowed us to go on that run.”
The run spanned the rest of the first half and well into the third quarter, stretching the Tornadoes’ lead to 21 points. The Tigers, while not being able to slow down the Tornadoes’ offense, couldn’t get anything going against the shutdown defense, getting away from even the simplest of fundamentals.
“That run killed us. That killed our momentum. There were shots that we didn’t take and instead of passing underneath like you want to do against the press, we were trying to pass over their hands,” East Juniata coach Travis Quici said. “We just played sloppy and let the game get away from us there.”
But not too far.
The Tigers had one more run of their own up their sleeve, scoring 12 unanswered points to close to within 29-20 early in the fourth quarter. They scored all 20 of those points while not being awarded a single free throw. By contrast, Mount Carmel was awarded 15 of their 18 free-throw attempts in the first half.
“We had the big lead, and we took the press off,” Varano said. “We sometimes get a little too comfortable and that led us to going back to the full-court press [in the fourth quarter]. This time of year, that’s what’s going to win you games. We know we have the offense, but we have to play great defense and that’s what we did down the stretch tonight.”
The full-court press again allowed the Red Tornadoes to ice the game with a 14-0 run against a Tigers team Quici said was “gassed” at that point. Jenna Pizzoli’s and-1 to start the streak got the Red Tornadoes’ bench excited. She finished with 10 points while teammate Alyssa Resinger had a game-high 12.
And though — Quici points out that the Tornadoes have the pressure to defend a state title — nerves may have gotten the best of the Tigers early, no East Juniata player finished with more than Marissa Coudreit’s seven points.
“We weren’t taking shots that I thought were there for the taking early,” he said. “Again, credit to their defense, they played well tonight, but I’m proud of the girls. They fought hard tonight. They fought hard all year.”
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