ST. MARYS 49, PUNXSUTAWNEY 42

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March 2, 2010 - District 9 Class Girls'  AAA Championship Game

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CLARION – St. Marys rode the second-half play of Kayla Hoohuli and Amanda Simbeck to win its third straight District 9 Class AA girls’ basketball title 49-42 over Punxsutawney Saturday afternoon at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

"The season all along has been rewarding," St. Marys head coach Bob Swanson said. "This has been a whole different team than what we've had in the past. We've usually had seniors and bigger kids, but this is a really young group. We've coached them altogether different."

The Lady Dutch (21-2) trailed by eight, 31-23, following a basket by Punxsutawney’s Shawna Crago with 5:05 to play in the third quarter but proceeded to go on a 23-6 run over the next 12-plus minutes to take control of the game.

"We started running some motion plays where we moved the ball," Swanson said. "To be honest, in the first half we were too much on one side and trying to let Kayla loose. They did a nice job on us defensively." 

Hoohuli scored 13 of her game-high 26 points and handed out three of her team-high five assists during the run, while Simbeck added eight of her 10 points, she added 11 rebounds to complete a double-double.

"That came from our change in game plan," Swanson said. "We needed to have more motion, and (Kayla) strarted hitting the open person and they were putting them in. It takes all five to do it, but Kayla leads the pack. The last time we played Punxsutawney, she scored 41 points and we lost."

Two free throws by Hoohuli with 4:36 left in the third started the game-changing spurt, and St. Marys tied the contest at 33 on am Adair Gennocro layup off a Hoohuli pass three minutes later. Gennocro then returned the favor feeding Hoohuli for a layup that gave the Lady Dutch their first lead, 35-33, since midway through the first quarter with 23 seconds left in the third.

Two free throws by Megan McCully 13 seconds into the fourth quarter tied the game back up for Punxsutawney (12-12) before Hoohuli gave St. Marys the lead back on a jumper 39 seconds later.

McCully tied it up one last time for the Lady Chucks with a jumper at the 6:45 mark off a pass from Hannah Neal, but St. Marys retook the lead for good on a Hoohuli free throw 19 seconds later. That started a 9-0 run for the Lady Dutch that ended with a Hoohuli layup with 1:39 to play that put St. Marys ahead 46-37.

Thanks to a McCully layup and a Neal 3-pointer, Punxsutawney got to within five, 47-42, with 46 seconds to play and had a chance to cut the lead to two following a turnover by St. Marys’ Shelby Zomcik three second later. But a 3-pointer by Jenna Reitz was no good with 24 seconds left, and Hoohuli hit two free throws with 19 seconds to play to seal the win.

The last 12 minutes of the first half belonged to Punxsutawney, as the Lady Chucks erased an early 12-6 deficit by going on a half-ending 18-5 run that gave them a 24-17 halftime lead. Neal had a monster first half scoring 13 of her team-high 16 points in the half.

Our defense wasn't really that bad, but we didn't get shots to go," Swanson said.

Punxsutawney then continued to control play through the first three minutes of the second half before St. Marys turned things around.

Reitz added 11 points and five rebounds for Punxsutawney, while Gennocro chipped in eight points and six steals for St. Marys. Hoohuli added seven steals, six rebounds and two blocks to her 26 points and five helpers.

NOTES – Hoohuli’s 26 points tied for the second most in a District 9 girls’ championship game regardless of classification since 2001. Coudersport Kristy Kamper also had 26 points in 2008. Union’s Bethany Koch scored 31 in 2006. The 26 is the most in a Class AAA championship game since 2001 far surpassing the 19 scored by Punxsutawney’s Brittney Nelson in 2002.