Shade girls pressed out of PIAA Class 1A tourney by Our Lady of Lourdes Regional
Mar. 16—MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — The opening minutes of the girls' PIAA Class 1A second-round matchup on Wednesday evening from Cumberland Valley's Eagle Dome between the Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Red Raiders and the Shade Panthers did not go the way anyone from Shade had envisioned.
Lourdes Regional controlled the opening tip, directing it to Paityn Moyer, who converted the layup with little resistance.
Then as the Panthers inbounded the ball, the Red Raiders dropped into a full-court press that seconds later became a turnover. The Red Raiders defense proved formidable as Shade struggled to get over half court cleanly to set up its offense.
Nearly four minutes into the contest, Jenna Muha scored the first points for the Panthers, but by then, they were already in a 7-2 hole on the way to a 55-34 loss that eliminated them from the playoffs.
"I had a girl that we didn't think was going to be playing who's been sick all day, and we've had some injuries, but we didn't do the things that we needed to do early on," Shade coach Mark Satkovich said.
"We dug ourselves a hole, and most of the time riding Jenna's back, we can come out of that hole. But we found ourselves down, and it was tough to get out of it."
Lourdes Regional (20-7) continued its relentless, smothering defense, while on the other end, Moyer buried two 3-pointers to lead the Red Raiders to a 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It was a lead they never relinquished as they forced 19 turnovers.
Shade (17-11) struggled to get the ball into Muha's hands in optimal positions for the record-setting senior to score.
Moyer face-guarded Muha, denying the easy entry pass, and the rest of the Red Raiders' defense collapsed on her at every opportunity.
"I give them all the credit," Satkovich said.
"They had a very nice game plan in place, and they did shut Jenna down. But you can't shut Jenna down forever. We had some younger girls in because of our problems, and we didn't function as well as we should have."
After a low-scoring second quarter, Lourdes Regional put the game away after halftime as the Red Raiders outscored Shade 23-7 in the next eight minutes behind 12 points from Masie Reed. Lourdes Regional, the third seed from District 4, went 7-for-14 from the free-throw line in the final quarter to ice the victory.
Muha, the all-time leading female scorer in Somerset County and District 5, finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds in the final game of her illustrious high school career.
That closes the record book as the Frostburg State commit set the bar for future generations at 2,349 points.
"I just love these girls," Muha said. "I'm so thankful for them and my coaches. Not all books have a good ending, but I couldn't ask for anything more.
"I was blessed with so much with my teammates by my side, and I couldn't have done it without any of them."
Moyer poured in 20 points for Lourdes Regional, including four long-range buckets from beyond the arc, while Reed chipped in 19 in the win.
The Red Raiders advance to the quarterfinals to face St. John Neumann, 40-37 winners over The Christian Academy.
Despite the loss, the round of 16 matches the farthest Shade has ever reached in the state playoffs, and for the first time since 2014.
Freshman Kennedy Landis added eight points for the Panthers.
