ST. MARYS 64, HAMPTON 55

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March 13, 2010 - PIAA Class AAA Girl's First Round

PIAA Playoff Home Page

By Rich Rhoades

CLARION – Call it legendary or, perhaps, record-breaking. Whatever it was, Kayla Hoohuli’s day at Clarion University’s Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium Saturday had the paying customers and others buzzing afterward.

And Hampton followers just shaking their heads.

Hoohuli, the high-scoring St. Marys junior, poured in a career-high 52 points and nearly turned in a triple-double with 10 rebounds, nine steals and five blocked shots in the Lady Dutch’s 64-55 state playoff-opening win over Hampton, the fifth seed out of the WPIAL.

Of St. Marys’ 36 second-half points, 33 were scored by Hoohuli, who went over 1,900 career points and stands at 1,928 as St. Marys heads into Wednesday’s second round against Chartiers Valley.

Hoohuli takes her share of shots and one would expect a player that now averages 30.6 points per game would take plenty. Against Hampton she made 15 of 29 shots from the field and 16 of 18 free throws. The high shooting percentages spelled bad news for the Lady Lancers.

“I kind of felt it the entire game, but toward the end is when I felt it the most, because time is running down and there were only eight minutes left,” Hoohuli said. “We pushed it the entire way and finished hard.”

Hoohuli also made 6 of 12 three-pointers, including at least three from 30 feet.

Yes, 30 feet including at least one from the Clarion “C” logo in front of the scorer’s table.

“I saw a little girl on fire who really wants to win,” said St. Marys head coach Bob Swanson, who had to ask how many points Hoohuli scored a few minutes into the postgame press conference. “She shot the eyes out of it. When she lined up for that first three that far behind the arc, to be honest, I wasn’t really that happy because I knew she was going to shoot it, then she hit it. (I figured) if she wanted to shoot them on a night like tonight, she can shoot all she wants.”

Senior forward Amanda Simbeck, who finished with a team-high 11 rebounds, admitted to playing the role as a spectator when her teammate was having a game of a lifetime.

“Those NBA shots got me a little bit,” Simbeck said. “I wasn’t the only one. A couple of other (teammates) were watching, probably.”

Hoohuli scored 23 straight St. Marys points during a span that started in the final minute of the first half that put the Lady Dutch up 28-27 and ended with the score knotted at 49-49 with 3:03 left in the game.

Then, freshman guard Adair Gennocro scored her first and only  points of the game on a three-pointer that wound up putting St. Marys up for good at 52-49 with 2:16 remaining.

Hoohuli made 10 of 10 free throws in the final 92 seconds to seal the win, St. Marys’ first PIAA playoff victory since 1994 and second in its team history.

“We thought we had a chance,” Swanson said. “It’s our third trip (in a row) and hadn’t won one, so we really wanted this one.”

St. Marys did it not with just Hoohuli’s massive scoring effort, although she certainly led the way defensively. The Lady Dutch forced an up-tempo game, at times with a frenetic pace, and Hampton wound up turning the ball over 27 times. St. Marys scored 27 points off those Hampton giveaways.

“The girls did (believe) we could win,” Swanson said. “We had a chance to look at Hampton and believed if we didn’t let them set up in a half-court offense, we’d have a chance. We had to make them move the basketball. … That’s exactly what we wanted. We pressed the entire game, two zones and a man press and changed rotations. We worked hard on that in practice.”

Hampton was the much bigger team and did hold a significant edge in the rebounding department, 58-36, but it wasn’t enough to offset the turnovers and obviously Hoohuli, although Hampton did outscore her, 55-52.

“I thought we could’ve won and we did. We played amazing,” Hoohuli said. “We boxed out and we pushed the tempo and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Hampton led 17-14 after one quarter and held its biggest lead of the game at 27-19 with 3:27 left in the second quarter. However, St. Marys ended the first half on a 9-2 run and Hoohuli took over from there.

St. Marys continued its first half-ending run by scoring the first nine points of the third quarter on three Hoohuli threes to go up 37-29.

Kristina Scott gave Hampton its last lead at 43-42 with a layup at the 6:36 mark of the third quarter. Two more tie scores, 47-47 and 49-49, before the Hoohuli-led Lady Dutch finished things out down the stretch.

“(Kayla) had a great game and led us to a win,” Simbeck said. “Her attitude was great the whole game and that made everybody else’s spirits go up. One person falls and everyone falls and she didn’t let us fall.”

“This team is never out of it,” Swanson added. “They work hard. We’re going to run up against tougher teams, but we’re just really happy to be where we’re at.”

NOTES: Chartiers Valley (21-5) beat Hampton, 50-25, back on Feb. 4. … Adrianna Ferraro led Hampton (16-9) with 18 points on 9-of-23 shooting. Michelle Wittmer and Emily Gally grabbed 11 and 10 rebounds respectively. … St. Marys’ only other state playoff win came in 1994 when it defeated General McLane, 51-44. The Lady Dutch are now 2-6 in PIAA playoff games. … District 9 overall is now 6-18 in Class AAA state playoff games since 1985. Punxsutawney had won the last two playoff games by D9 teams, coming in back-to-back first-round wins in 2005 and 2006. The Lady Chucks also won in 2002. … While it’s not certain, Hoohuli could’ve set a postseason scoring record for District 9 girls at the least. The 52 points in a game tied the highest known scoring output by a girl from D9 — DuBois Central Catholic’s Lisa Fairman scored 52 against Kane in a regular season game in 2001 ... While records aren't definitive, according to the web site www.pahoops.org, Hoohuli's 52 points may be the second most by a girls' player ever in a PIAA playoff game. Mahanoy Area's Megan Yedsenna had 55 a PIAA Class A Eastern final win over Old Forge in 1989… Hoohuli has played in 74 games and needs 72 points to reach 2,000 for her career. All-time leading scorer Sheana Mosch, also from DCC, needed 82 games to reach 2,000 career points. She finished with a district-record 3,066 points in 116 games. Mosch’s high-scoring game of 51 points came in a regular season game against Brookville in February of 1999 .... Only four girls' players in District 9 history have 2,000 career points … Hoohuli has now scored 112 points (37.3 ppg) in three PIAA playoff games in her career. She had 34 in a loss to Mt. Pleasant last year after scoring 26 in a loss to Indiana as a freshman … Hoohuli has topped 40 points five times this year and 30 11. She has scored 30 or more points 23 times in three years including the five 40-point contests.

ST. MARYS 64, HAMPTON 55

Score By Quarters

Hampton                     17        12        10        16        -           55

St. Marys                     14        14        14        22        -           64

Hampton – 55

Michelle Wittmer 2 1-2 5, Adrianna Ferraro 9 0-0 18, Brooke Goodman 2 0-0 4, Jamie Rylands 1 0-0 2, Emilee Goodman 2 1-3 5, Emily Gally 3 0-0 6, Dayna Lazzaro 0 0-2 0, Kierstin Wilson 1 0-0 2, Kristina Scott 2 5-8 10, Sara Pilarski 1 1-2 3. Totals: 23 8-17 55.

St. Marys – 64

Shelby Zomcik 1 1-2 3, Kayla Hoohuli 15 16-18 52, Adair Gennocro 1 0-0 3, Amanda Simbeck 1 2-5 4, Mandy Gerarge 1 0-0 2, Jenna Anderson 0 0-0 0, Rachel Krieg 0 0-2 0. Totals: 19 19-27 64.

Three-pointers: Hampton 1 (Scott), St. Marys 7 (Hoohuli 6, Gennocro).