MT. PLEASANT 67, ST. MARYS 57

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March 7, 2009 - PIAA Girls' Class AAA First Round at Clarion University

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Kayla Hoohuli had 34 points in the loss for St. Marys. Photo by Don Long

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Mt. Pleasant used a balanced attack to offset a 34-point performance from St. Marys’ Kayla Hoohuli to get a 67-57 win over the Lady Dutch in the opening round of the PIAA Class AAA girls’ basketball playoffs Saturday afternoon at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

The Lady Vikings (19-6), the fifth-place team from the WPIAL, had four players score in double figures led by 17 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots from Nicola Malara to get their first-ever PIAA playoff win.

Mt. Pleasant led 40-25 at halftime and got the lead to 18, 47-29, nearly halfway through the third quarter. But St. Marys (21-3) chipped away going on a 10-0 run fueled by eight points and an assist by Hoohuli to get within eight, 48-39, with 1:11 left in the third quarter before Mt. Pleasant was able to lead by 10, 51-41, at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Vikings then got that lead to 14, 60-47, early in the fourth quarter before a 7-0 St. Marys run that including five points from Hoohuli cut that advantage to 62-55 on a Leann Levenduski jumper with 2:24 to play. But Mt. Pleasant was able to hold off the Lady Dutch comeback attempt despite hitting only 1 of 6 free throws in the final 51 seconds.

Shelby Way added 16 points and seven rebounds for Mt. Pleasant, while Ashley Renze and Julia Park each had 13 points. Renze also grabbed eight rebounds, and Renee Jones had 11 boards to go with eight points helping Mt. Pleasant outrebound St. Marys 48-29.

Hoohuli, who was a perfect 15 of 15 from the free-throw line, added five rebounds, four assists, six steals and a blocked shot to her 34 points. Amanda Simbeck added 15 points, six rebounds and four steals.

NOTES – Hoohuli’s 34 points are the most by a District 9 girls’ player in a PIAA playoff game since records started being kept in 2001. The previous high was 32 set by West Forest’s Geena Sneeringer in a win over Kennedy Catholic in Class A earlier in the afternoon at Edinboro. Going into the day, the high was 31 set by Coudersport’s Kristy Kamper last year in a Class A game. Hoohuli, Sneeringer and Kamper are the only District 9 girls’ players since 2001 to go over 30 points in a PIAA playoff game … It was the eighth time this season and the 12th time in her career Hoohuli has topped 30 points in a game … Hoohuli finishes her sophomore season with 1,194 career points … St. Marys shot 32.7 percent (18 of 55) from the floor but was 20 of 24 (83.3 percent) from the line. Mt. Pleasant shot 43.3 percent (26 of 60) from the floor but was 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) from the charity stripe … Mt. Pleasant offset the shooting troubles by grabbing 22 offensive rebounds helping the Lady Vikings score 17 second-chance points … Mt. Pleasant also survived 27 turnovers thanks in large part to St. Marys only converting those giveaways into 22 points. Mt. Pleasant had 19 tallies off 19 St. Marys’ turnovers … St. Marys never led in the game … District 9 has now lost seven straight PIAA Class AAA girls’ playoff games going back to 2006. The last time a District 9 girls’ Class AAA team won a PIAA game was in 2006 when Punxsutawney beat West Mifflin 46-22 in the first round before losing to Hopewell 56-26 in the second round. St. Marys has now lost in the PIAA playoffs opening round two years in a row after falling to Indiana 58-41 last year.

MT. PLEASANT 67, ST. MARYS 57

Score by Quarters

Mt. Pleasant 23 17 11 16 – 67

St. Marys 10 15 16 16 – 57

Mt. Pleasant – 67

Renee Jones 4-6 0-2 8, Shelby Way 6-20 2-3 16, Ashley Renze 6-10 1-2 13, Julia Park 5-12 0-0 13, Nicole Malara 5-10 7-12 17, Sadie Rylander 0-0 0-2 0, Kelsey Porter 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 10-21 67.

St. Marys – 57

Gina Pelgrin 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Hoohuli 9-23 15-15 34, Tia Cunningham 1-3 1-2 3, Amanda Simbeck 6-14 3-4 15, Megan Herbstritt 1-9 1-2 3, Leann Levenduski 1-2 0-0 2, Emily Hathorn 0-3 0-1 0, Chelsea Walker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-55 20-24 57.

Three-pointers – Mt. Pleasant 5-11 (Park 3-6, Way 2-4, Porter 0-1). St. Marys 1-12 (Hoohulu 1-4, Herbstritt 0-4, Simbeck 0-3, Cunningham 0-1).