Blackhawk makes adjustments, rolls past Greensburg Salem in WPIAL quarters

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, February 23, 2024 | 10:06 PM

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The Blackhawk girls defended their home court and mauled Greensburg Salem, 49-25, in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal Friday.

The Cougars faced the Golden Lions earlier in the season, and Greensburg Salem took the 20-2 Cougars into overtime. Blackhawk came out on top 40-35, but going into the rematch, Blackhawk coach Greg Huston knew his team needed to make adjustments.

Huston had the team focused on pressuring the ball and fronting Kaitlyn Mankins and Blessing Gantt in the post.

“That’s really what we focused on,” Huston said. “We played these guys earlier, and it was a defensive battle. We knew it was going to be similar. We really worked hard. They got two really good post players, and that was the focus trying to take those away. I thought we did a really good job and forced some turnovers in the process.”

The Cougars held Mankins to 11 points and Gantt to four.

Blackhawk also pressed and pressured the ball, forcing 16 turnovers, seven in the first quarter.

Aubree Hupp spearheaded the offense with a career game for the Cougars, tallying 22 points and snagging six rebounds.

“I was really nervous coming into it because we played them early in the season and only won by five in overtime,” Hupp said. “I was obviously nervous, but when the ball was tipped, we came out and beat them by a lot tonight.”

Added Huston: “Aubree was fantastic. As the year has progressed, she just got better and better, and that was the culmination of it tonight. She is such a difficult person to guard because she can go inside and step outside, doing a little bit of both, and that makes it tough to stop her.”

Hupp was just as effective on defense.

“It’s so nice having her in the post because I can rely on her,” Hupp’s teammate, Alena Fusetti, said. “As a guard, I know the post is being covered. She had a killer game, which was awesome.”

Fusetti notched 12 points. That was five points below her season average, but the rest of the Cougars more than made up for that.

“We’ve played them before, and we got crushed with the post players and we didn’t prepare well for that,” Fusetti said. “This time we knew we had to come in and really shut down the post. Ball pressure was our biggest thing, and we did execute that.”

The Cougars started the game on a 9-0 run and outscored the Golden Lions, 12-1, in the first quarter.

Blackhawk’s tenacious man-to-man defense allowed the Cougars to remain in the driver’s seat. The Golden Lions didn’t get their first field goal until a 15-foot jump shot by Ashlan Price in the second quarter.

Greensburg Salem began to get into some rhythm and pulled within 17-8. But the Cougars, using a three-quarter-court trap, went on a 12-2 run to end the half to lead 29-10.

Hupp led the Cougars’ with 16 points in the first half.

Greensburg Salem extended its zone and pressured the ball more and tried a zone trap. The Blackhawk offense slowed in the third quarter, but the Golden Lions couldn’t get things going offensively.

In the fourth, the Cougars pulled away. Despite Mankins heating up, the damage was done.

“I really like our team,” Greensburg Salem’s Rick Klimchock said. “It was huge for us to get a home playoff game a few days ago and get a win. That was wonderful. We knew getting a game in Blackhawk’s gym with an hour and a half bus ride would be a tough assignment.

“Blackhawk was really ready to play. They were really physical. They were really good defensively and took us out of what we were trying to do. All kudos to Blackhawk for being ready to go.”

Although their WPIAL hopes have come to a close, the Golden Lions have an opportunity in a consolation game to get into the PIAA playoffs.

“My goal in the locker room and tomorrow’s practice is to put this behind us and get ready to go Monday,” Klimchock said. “That was my job: to get their heads up a little bit and say, ‘Hey, let’s go and compete Monday and learn from what happened tonight.’ ”

Tags: Blackhawk, Greensburg Salem