Neshannock upends Mohawk in WPIAL 1-3A action

Feb. 7—The Mohawk High girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night on Monday, but Neshannock decided to crash the party.

After a back-and-forth battle, the Lady Lancers defeated Mohawk, 48-44, in WPIAL Class 1-3A action.

"The thing that I loved was the game was actually a war. We played through it, we didn't get fussy, seniors led," Neshannock coach Luann Grybowski said of the win. "It takes everybody. We held the ball with composure. We didn't locate a couple of times and they hit 3s. It's a testament to (Mohawk). They actually moved the ball well and made an extra pass to get their shooters shots."

Mohawk's Aricka Young netted the first two points of the game with 6:52 left in the first quarter before Mairan Haggerty responded with a layup. Haggerty paced Neshannock (8-1 section, 14-6 overall) with 26 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocks.

"Last time we played them it was really close. This time we knew it was going to be competitive because it's their senior night and they wanted to come out with the win," Haggerty said. "We had to come out and play tough (defense) and everything. It was definitely a big one."

"Great game," Grybowski said of Haggerty's performance. "There are seniors with the most experience and they have to lead us. That's how it has to be if we're going to be successful."

The Lady Warriors (5-4, 13-8) started to break away to end the first quarter with a 17-12 lead over Neshannock.

"It was a tough loss. Especially, on senior night. Alexa (Kadilak) and Madisyn (Cole), they are two great leaders and they bought in since day once since I took the job," Mohawk coach Ron Moncrief said. "We definitely wanted to win it for those girls on Senior Night and for our team. It's a tough loss, a hard loss, but, we'll get better. We'll learn from it. We had a bad quarter in the third and it cost us the game but, we'll learn from it."

The Lady Lancers struggled to penetrate Mohawk's defense in the first half.

"It was a struggle. When teams press you three-quarter court, you know it's their goal to slow you down a little bit and they did," Grybowski said. "When we started getting Mairan the ball in the middle, we were able to attack better I thought."

Megan Pallerino hit a 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds left in the second quarter to grab Neshannock's first lead of the night, 24-22. Mohawk's Madisyn Cole responded with a long ball of her own with one second left to enter halftime with a one-point lead over the Lady Lancers.

Cole led Mohawk with 11 points.

"Madisyn's a quiet leader. She allows her game to do the talking. I can always count on Madisyn to step up and lead by example," Moncrief said. "When she does talk she commands the locker room and commands the huddle. It does not surprise me she had a good game on Senior Night, especially against Neshannock. She's a big-time player and I know she's going to make some more plays in the playoffs for us this year."

Alexa Kadilak and Erynne Capalbo, two of Mohawk's leading scorers, were held to just seven points each in the game. Pallerino's main job on the hardwood was containing Capalbo.

"Megan played great on both ends of the floor," Grybowski said. "That's not an easy job defensively when a kid has you by three inches. We fronted (Capalbo) most of the game. She did a great job on both ends of the floor."

Pallerino posted 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks for the Lady Lancers.

"(Erynne's) a really good player so she's hard to defend," Pallerino said. "I think I did pretty good. I held her under 10. That was my main position tonight and I think I handled it well. I just really wanted this win tonight. I want to be able to cut down the net with my team on senior night on Thursday. That's what we're shooting for."

Neshannock's Avi DeLillo sank a basket to take the lead in the third quarter with 7:14 left before Moncrief called a timeout at 7:02. After the timeout, no one would score until Haggerty hit a layup two minutes later.

Mohawk was able to get numerous steals in the third quarter but couldn't capitalize on them.

"For some reason, we couldn't capitalize on those steals and they did," Moncrief said. "That's why they outscored us in the third quarter. Our defense kept us in the game. It came down to a couple possessions over the course of the game."

After a 3-pointer from Cole, Mohawk narrowed Neshannock's lead to 46-44 in the fourth quarter before Grybowski called a timeout with 1:10 left in the game.

"We decided to hold the ball because we were in the one on one. Instead of running our zone offense, we went to our delay game," "They fouled Camdyn (Cole). They let us run a lot of time off the clock."

Neshannock's Camdyn Cole had four assists and threes steals.

"She had some great steals at the end. I thought she handled the ball exceptionally well against the pressure," Grybowski said of Camdyn Cole. "I don't think she had that many turnovers either. She did a good job defensively too tonight."

The Lady Lancers will host Beaver Falls, while Mohawk will travel to Riverside on Thursday to compete in WPIAL Class 1-3A action. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m.