Shamokin girls top Mifflinburg

Feb. 23—COAL TOWNSHIP — Ella Shuck has drawn defenders like moths to a flame for the majority of her four varsity seasons in a Mifflinburg uniform.

That's just good business against a player who ranks second in program history with nearly 1,300 career points.

So you could say Shamokin gambled Thursday by defending the Wildcats with a 2-3 zone that relied more on awareness than devoting attention to the senior shooting star.

"We tossed around the idea of a box-and-one, but we felt that we play good enough defense in our 2-3 that we could find her at all times," said Indians coach Chris Venna. "We didn't use any gimmick. We played our straight 2-3, but we made sure we knew their offenses and where she was going to be at all times."

It paid off. Mifflinburg missed all 12 of its first-quarter shots, including seven from 3-point range, and couldn't recover in the District 4 Class 4A quarterfinal game, falling to Shamokin 30-20.

"I knew that we were going to have to be able to knock down some of those (3-point) shots," said Wildcats coach Kris Shuck. "If we would have saw one or two go in of the seven that were shot, it's a different ballgame. I didn't think we forced anything; they just didn't go down."

Shamokin sophomore post Delilah Nazih scored a game-high 18 points to continue a hot streak. She averaged nearly 14 points over the Indians' last six games to hike her season clip to a team-best 11.5 per game.

Thursday night, she had nine of her team's 11 second-quarter points to counter a Mifflinburg rally and send Shamokin to halftime with an 18-8 lead.

"Second quarter, I guess, I just turned it up a little bit," Nazih said. "I just sealed (the defender) a lot better, got more position, and ... yeah."

The fourth-seeded Indians (16-7) earned a semifinal date against No. 1 Central Columbia (21-3), a 61-22 winner over eighth-seeded Danville, on a day to be determined.

Fifth-seeded Mifflinburg, which had won five of its last six, finished 12-11. It was the most wins of any season in Ella Shuck's career (and twice as many as a year ago), while she totaled 1,280 points, second in program history to Riley Griffith (1,754).

"I'm super-proud of how much I've progressed over the past four years. I feel like I've come such a long way," Ella Shuck said. "Me getting better for my team, also makes the girls around me better. I think that definitely was a huge factor in our success this year."

The Wildcats moved the ball well enough against Shamokin's zone to find openings for those seven 3-point looks, but they were scoreless until Natalie Osborne buried one from the left wing at the 5:23 mark of the second quarter. That stopped the Indians' 13-0 run that saw them score almost as many points in the first 2:20 of the second (six) than they did in the first period (seven).

Oddly, Shamokin had a scoring drought of at least three minutes in every quarter, and the two in the first half were closer to four scoreless minutes.

"Des Michaels getting in foul trouble hurt us," said Venna. "She and Delilah are both scoring 11-and-a-half points a game, and lot of our stuff runs through both of them with both of them working togethers in unison. (Foul trouble) put us in a predicament. Delilah, though, really played great."

After Osborne's trey, Ella Shuck scored five straight points — including a three-point play off a steal — to pull the Wildcats within 13-8 with 3:35 to play in the first half.

"I tried to keep my eye on her as much as I could because she's their best player," said Nazih. "She could, single-handedly, any day, just score 30 points on us."

Nazih ended Shamokin's second-quarter slump with a bucket from the low block with 2 minutes left, and her tough rebound in traffic led to a three-point play and an 18-8 halftime lead.

"And-ones are the best, so it was big," she said. "That was huge."

The Indians shot just 25% in the half (5-of-20), but they kept Mifflinburg from getting closer than five, and then pushed the margin to 14 midway through the third quarter.

"In the first half, I said, 'Defensively, I can't complain. We're doing a good job and keeping it as tight as it can be for not being able to put the ball in the basket,'" said Kris Shuck. "We were careless with the ball too much in the second half, which really hurt us. We didn't get as many shots or a lot of good looks."

Michaels, who picked up her third foul with 4:25 left in the first half, never drew a fourth and finished with six points and six rebounds to match Nazih. Carly Nye added five points in the win.

Ella Shuck posted nine points, a game-high nine boards and two assists in her career finale. Elizabeth Sheesley matched her with nine rebounds, while Jayda Tilghman grabbed eight.

"Both times we played them earlier, I don't want to say we shut (Shuck) down but we definitely held her in check, and that's the difference for them," said Venna. "I mean, she's phenomenal and she scores half their team's points."

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DISTRICT 4 CLASS 4A GIRLS BASKETBALL

QUARTERFINAL

SHAMOKIN 30, MIFFLINBURG 20

Mifflinburg (12-11) 20

Jayda Tilghman 1 0-2 2, Meg Shively 0 0-2 0, Ella Shuck 3 3-3 9, Marissa Allen 2 0-2 4, Elizabeth Sheesley 1 0-0 2, Natalie Osborne 1 0-0 3. Totals 8 3-9 20.

3-point goals: Osborne.

Did not score: None.

Shamokin (16-7) 30

Carly Nye 2 0-0 5, Des Michaels 3 0-3 6, Madi Lippay 0 0-2 0, Ally Waugh 0 1-2 1, Delilah Nazih 8 2-3 18. Totals 13 3-10 30.

3-point goals: Nye.

Did not score: Anastasia Wetzel, Gabby Rapp, Cassie Drumheiser, Payten Puttmann, Mariah Vetovich.

Score by quarters

Mifflinburg;0;8;4;8 — 20

Shamokin;7;11;8;4 — 30