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Pilots soar past Catholic Central in Class 2A semifinal, 69-50

HANNIBAL — River’s goal of a Class 2A repeat remains achievable following Monday’s 69-50 victory over Catholic Central in the semifinals of the 12th-annual Wheeling Hospital OVAC Girls Basketball Tournament.

The Pilots (16-4), the second seed in the event, will square off Saturday on the campus of Ohio University Eastern against top-seeded Shadyside, which whipped Wheeling Central, 70-41. The finalists split in the regular season, and River topped the Tigers 47-44 in the 2018 title game.

Central, the third seed, will host the fourth-seeded Maroon Knights Thursday in the consolation game.

“Our first goal at the beginning of the year was to repeat as OVAC champions,” River coach Rick Isaly said. “Our seniors have made it to the playoffs all four years. We won last year, but we came up short the other two. We’re really happy to be back in the title game.”

River turned up the defensive pressure early, forcing numerous Central turnovers and sprinting out to a 21-12 lead after the opening quarter. Carsyn Reynolds paced the Pilots with six points during the spurt, while Riley Lollathin added five.

The Pilots, who never trailed in the contest, led 34-20 at the intermission.

“That was our strategy,” Isaly said. “We wanted to press them early, get some steals and score off the turnovers. We did a good job of getting them early, but Central held its ground.

“We exerted a lot of energy, but the lead was not real large. I got a little worried because when you put out that kind of energy on the defensive end, get turnovers and not score, you let a team hang around and Central did. Central has a nice quality team, I give them a lot of credit.”

The Crusaders (11-8) lowered their deficit to under double figures a couple of times in the third quarter. Ball handling miscues and missed shots kept Jess Looman’s club from getting over the hump.

“At halftime, we challenged the girls to come out strong and cut into the lead,” Looman said. “Credit to them because they did it. Unfortunately, we got careless with the ball or forced a shot on the offensive end.

“I never have to worry about my girls playing hard. Tonight, there were just too many times when we didn’t play smart.”

Lauren Flannery, River’s outstanding floor leader, took game-scoring honors with 23. Alli Long contributed 18 and Reynolds 15.

River, which will move up to Class 3A in the OVAC next year, and Central have faced off three consecutive years in the tournament semifinals. The Crusaders emerged victorious in 2017 before the Pilots won a season ago.

“We talked about this game being the rubber match,” Isaly said. “We haven’t really played a quality team since our last Shadyside game, so it’s been about two weeks.

“We wanted to come out with a lot of energy, and we did. We just didn’t always execute and get points off the turnovers we forced.”

Julia Zatta knocked down 21 points to pace Central. Bella Oliver added nine. The Crusaders struggled from the charity stripe, connecting on 15 of 26 attempts.

“That’s definitely an area where we could have done better,” Looman said. “A lot of our misses were on the front end of one-and-one situations. We spent a lot of practice time shooting free throws. Tonight, they just weren’t falling.

“We knew coming down here we’d have our hands full with River. That’s a veteran team with plenty of weapons. We dug an early hole for ourselves and just couldn’t recover. We’ll have another huge challenge in the consolation game against Wheeling Central. Hopefully, we’ll be up to that challenge.”

The Class 2A crown will be decided at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s going to be another tough match,” Isaly said. “Hopefully, it will be a close game like they have been so far this season.”

The Pilots clipped Shadyside 54-48 on Jan. 14, while Shadyside won 55-48 a week later.

River 69, Catholic Central 50

Central 12-8-14-16 — 50

River 21-13-12-23 — 69

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (11-8): K. Zatta 1 0-0 2; Harold 1 2-5 4; Green 0 0-0 0; J. Zatta 7 5-6 21; Fayak 2 0-0 5; Dombrowski 2 1-3 5; Oliver 1 7-10 9; Olszewski 2 0-2 4. TOTALS 16, 15-26: 50.

RIVER (16-4): Rose 1 0-0 2; Lollathin 2 1-2 5; Cieszeski 0 1-2 1; Flannery 10 3-4 23; Caldwell 1 1-2 3; Moeller 1 0-0 2; Smith 0 0-0 0; Reynolds 7 1-2 15; Long 6 6-8 18. TOTALS: 28, 13-20: 69.

3-POINT GOALS: Central 3 (J. Zatta 2; Fayak).

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