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Alimario comes back, helps lift Madonna in Class A semifinal

LOOKING TO PASS — Madonna’s Andrea Alimario looks for a teammate to pass to while being defended by Trinity Christian’s Jae Smith during Monday’s OVAC Class 1A semifinal. -- Andrew Grimm

WEIRTON — Andrea Alimario’s night got off to a rough start, but its ending could not have been any sweeter.

The Madonna senior went down with an injury with 1:19 to go in the first quarter while driving to the basket. She walked off the pain, however, and ended up with a double-double to lead the top-seeded Blue Dons to a 39-37 victory over No. 4 seed Trinity Christian in Monday’s OVAC Class A semifinal, draining a pair of free throws with 55.3 seconds for what ended up being the final points of the game.

“I knew that wasn’t the end,” Alimario said of the injury. “I knew I had to go back in and help my team.”

As for the winning free throws, she just treated it like any other trip to the line.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is just like any other free throw you’ve shot in your life, why not go for it?'” she said. “They are an amazing team, and we match up with them well. The OVAC tournament is so important to us.”

Alimario finished with a team-high 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds despite being focused on by the Warrior (12-7) defense.

“Andy is always going to be big down the stretch,” Madonna coach Rodney Boniti said. “Andy has all the experience in the world. She has played a lot of ball. Last time, Andy had 28 on them. We knew coming into this game their game plan was to take Andy out of the game, and other players stepped up with her.

“I can’t say enough about our defensive intensity. There aren’t too many teams that are going to keep a team like that to 36 and 37 in back-to-back games.”

Madonna (16-4), ranked fourth in the latest Class A Associated Press Poll, defeated Trinity Christian, ranked ninth in Class A, on Jan. 25, 38-36, in what both coaches called a similar contest to Monday’s.

“They were here a week-and-a-half ago, and it was a battle,” Boniti said. “It was the same type of game. We had the lead, and they took a lead, and we had to come back. (Monday) was the same thing. We kept switching up defenses, and we turned them over a couple of times, got a couple of quick buckets and turned the tide.”

After the teams were tied at 9-9 after the first quarter and 16-16 at halftime, Madonna edged ahead, 26-24, after the third quarter on a late bucket by Alimario. Trinity Christian opened up a four-point lead early in the fourth, before Madonna raced back.

Alimario drained a 3-pointer with 2:17 to go for a 34-33 lead, then Gia Riccadonna hit her second shot from beyond the arc for a 37-35 lead with 1:25 to go.

“The games played so similar,” Trinity Christian coach Mike Baldy said. “When Alimario hit that shot from the wing, I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ We did a better job of containing her tonight, but the other players for Madonna stepped up. This is kind of game I expected, especially since we both pride ourselves on defense.

“I really wanted to come out on top of one of them, but they did the right things, and we didn’t want to hit as many clutch shots as them.”

Trinity Christian tied the game on its next trip up the floor, but Alimario drained her free throws to give the Blue Dons the 39-37 final.

The Warriors got the ball after a Madonna turnover with 22.4 seconds to go, but Layton Craft’s layup attempt in the final 10 seconds did not fall, and Kennedy Martin secured the rebound.

“Kennedy has been tearing down rebounds all year,” Boniti said. “The girl has the heart of a lion.”

One last desperation shot at the buzzer came up short, and the Blue Dons advanced to Saturday’s OVAC championship contest at Ohio University Eastern. They will take on Beallsville, a 58-50 winner over Cameron in its semifinal.

Martin finished with eight points and eight rebounds. Riccadonna finished with six points. Gabby Staffileno and Jazzy Melnyk each scored four points, while Rachel Boniti finished with a game-high six assists.

“We have eight girls that can all play,” Boniti said. “It’s a team effort. If we are not one dimensional, teams have a hard time playing us. We have seen it all year. This hasn’t been an easy run. The girls are learning how to play 32 minutes. There are going to be games (in the tournament) that we need to dig deep for 32 minutes, and they are learning how to do that.

“The atmosphere in here was fantastic. The Madonna community is excited about this team. To see our little gym packed every night, the girls feed off of it.”

Paige Dixon led Trinity Christian with 15 points, while Reagan Sharp also hit double-figures with 10 points.

Winning on Saturday is just another goal Boniti’s team looks to check off the list.

“Our girls have stepped up to every challenge,” Boniti said. “Now we have another challenge to figure out the next challenge. The OVAC tournament is one of our four goals. We wanted to win the city championship. We wanted to win the OVAC regular season. The third challenge is to win the OVAC tournament, and we want to get to the state tournament and see if we can do anything special there. This is the third leg of the journey.

“I will have to put the bridle on the girls and hold them back because I’m sure they are going to be pretty amped up.”

Trinity Christian plays Cameron for third place on Thursday.

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)

Madonna 39, Trinity Christian 37

Trinity Christian 9-7-8-13 — 37

Madonna 9-7-10-13 — 39

TRINITY CHRISTIAN (): Dixon 5 4-4 15; Laskady 1 0-0 2; Smith 1 0-1 2; Sharp 4 1-2 10; Croft 4 0-0 8; Rosen 0 0-0 0; McCure 0 0-0 0; Dlugos 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 5-7 37.

MADONNA (16-4): Boniti 1 0-1 2; Staffileno 1 2-4 4; Melnyk 1 2-5 4; Martin 4 0-0 8; Alimario 5 2-4 13; Riccadonna 2 0-0 6; Battista 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 6-14 39.

3-POINT GOALS: Trinity Christian 2 (Dixon, Sharp); Madonna 3 (Riccadonna 2, Alimario). ASSISTS: Trinity Christian 8 (Dixon 2); Madonna 9 (Boniti 6). REBOUNDS: Trinity Christian 15 (Sharp 7); Madonna 31 (Alimario 12). TURNOVERS: Trinity Christian 9; Madonna 18.

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