Leechburg girls pull away from St. Joseph in second half

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 4, 2019 | 10:42 PM

The Leechburg girls basketball team was given little chance to reach the postseason. A wave of standout seniors graduated, leaving behind a roster full of talent but no experience.

There were many moments Monday night when the Blue Devils’ inexperience showed, but Leechburg’s overall talent shined brighter.

Backed by Kat Yurjevich’s game-high 24-points, Leechburg rolled past Section 3-A rival St. Joseph, 37-20, to clinch the Blue Devils’ fourth consecutive trip to the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

“I kept telling them that everybody on the outside was kind of against us and didn’t expect us to be able to make it,” said first-year Leechburg coach Andre Carter. “I challenged them at the beginning of the year, and I asked them, ‘Do you think that you can make it (to the playoffs)?’ And they all bought in.”

Leechburg outscored St. Joseph, 12-0, in the third quarter after leading 14-12 at halftime.

Leechburg (6-11, 3-6) will finish fourth in Section 3 and take the final postseason spot. The loss for St. Joseph (1-18, 1-8) brings an end to a run of back-to-back playoff appearances.

“It was a great first half. The fourth quarter, we did good, but the third quarter we didn’t score at all,” said first-year St. Joseph coach Dennis Jones. “I think we’d do better if just (kept) playing. It’s classic for a team that is young and inexperienced. We just got cold.”

The Spartans came out cold in the second half. For the Blue Devils, it was all about Yurjevich. The senior guard’s 12 third-quarter points accounted for all of Leechburg’s scoring.

“All year, the first and fourth quarters have always been our strongest,” Yurjevich said. “This game, we came out very weak, and I knew that I needed to step it up and that’s exactly what I did.”

The script flipped a bit in the fourth quarter. The Spartans got rolling after junior Molly Coleman made two free throws to bring the score to 33-15. Sophomore Alyssa Swierczewski added a layup on St. Joseph’s next possession. The young Spartans team built a 7-0 run that put the Spartans’ future on full display.

Junior Madelyn Willard added a free throw with 2 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the game and upstart freshman Stella Swanson added a layup off a quick steal to cut the Leechburg lead at 33-20.

“They need to get aggressive and realize that they’re playing high school basketball,” Jones said. “They’re not playing grade-school basketball anymore. If they keep coming back, I like the future. They have the talent.”

The first half was a different story, and there were moments those in attendance at the St. Joseph’s Walter Dlubak Athletic Center thought an upset was brewing. Leechburg came out flat and looked ripe for the picking.

The Spartans’ Ava Swanson connected on a 3-pointer to bring the score to 4-3, Leechburg. Swierczewski added a layup to give the Spartans their first and only lead of the game at 5-4.

Yurjevich supplied all of Leechburg’s points in the second quarter as well. She connected on two short jumpers to bring the score to 14-8. Swanson added a layup, and Swierczewski came back with a putback off the glass to give the Blue Devils something to think about heading into the locker room.

“I think we wanted to see what could do in the future and try different things, but after halftime, we knew that we needed to step out game up,” Yurjevich said.

Swierczewski and Coleman led St. Joseph with six points apiece.

“Everyone doubted us at the beginning of the season and we knew that we were going to do it,” Yurjevich said. “We wanted to show everyone that we might not have played together throughout the year but we have skill.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Leechburg, St. Joseph