No. 2-ranked Blackhawk girls avenge loss to Central Valley

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 5, 2018 | 10:33 PM

Once Blackhawk's offense gets going, it's tough to contain.

Central Valley saw that Monday night when the Cougars erupted for a 26-point third quarter en route to a 68-50 home win in WPIAL Section 2-4A girls basketball action.

Blackhawk (17-1, 10-1) wrapped up at least a share of the section championship. It's the Cougars' second title in a row. They can claim the crown outright with a win over Beaver (15-5, 9-2) on Thursday.

“It's awesome. It's a great feeling,” said Blackhawk junior guard Mady Aulbach, who had a game-high 18 points. “I love winning with the team we have. It's really fun playing with them, and it makes it even better when everyone wants to see each other do well.”

The victory avenged a 58-51 setback to the Warriors on Jan. 11.

“We just wanted to show them that it was a fluke that they won the first time,” Aulbach said. “We wanted to show them what we are really about and how much we've worked since that time in the middle of the season.”

The Cougars entered the contest averaging a WPIAL-best 66.4 points per game. Though they led throughout, they couldn't gain much separation in the first two quarters. Blackhawk was up 15-11 after the first and built a 29-20 edge late in the second quarter. However, Central Valley tallied the frame's final two buckets to come within 29-24 at intermission.

“I think we were playing with a lot of nerves in the first half,” Aulbach said. “It was a big game, and we had a big crowd. I think we were feeling things out. In the second half, we went out and played fearless.”

After the Warriors made it a 37-31 game with 4:58 left in the third quarter, the Cougars erupted for an 11-0 run. Aulbach sparked the rally as she tallied nine of the points. By the time her 3-pointer swished with 1:33 to go, Blackhawk had a 48-31 advantage.

“That was really fun,” Aulbach said.

Defensive pressure created some Central Valley turnovers, too, which helped fuel the Cougars' red-hot offense.

“We had to be more patient on offense. We weren't really running our stuff,” Blackhawk coach Steve Lodovico said. “Defensively, I started to see Central Valley wear down a little bit. I said that we were going to keep throwing people at them, and we wouldn't stop trapping them. It paid off.”

The Warriors made a final run in the fourth quarter and trimmed the deficit to 17 points, 58-41, but the Cougars closed out the win with a balanced offensive attack. Makenzie Amalia had 13 points, while Taylor Lambright and Ava Haddox both added 10. Olivia Roberts finished with nine points.

“I told them that was our best offensive team win we've had. There were different girls stepping up at different times for us,” Lodovico said. “With Tailyn Silver out of the game a lot with foul trouble, I think everybody did their job. There are a lot of good players in that locker room. Makenzie and Mady get a lot of the publicity, but there were a lot of good players who stepped up.”

Kaelyn Underwood led Central Valley with 13 points. Allyson Kirby added 11.

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: Blackhawk, Central Valley