Bishop Canevin girls rally past East Allegheny to reach PIAA Class 3A final

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, March 19, 2018 | 9:36 PM

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The Bishop Canevin girls basketball team knows the drill. The Crusaders have been there before. Win the WPIAL Class 3A girls title, advance through the PIAA bracket only to go head-to-head against WPIAL teams a second time. Not an easy task but one only a champion can withstand.

The Crusaders shrugged off their first-half shooting and defensive woes and put together a complete second half to defeat East Allegheny, 67-52, in the semifinals of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs Monday at Gateway.

“I just kind of reiterated (at halftime) we need to a better job of containing Amani (Johnson), control our emotions,” Bishop Canevin coach Scott Dibble said. “We were down big and I said, ‘We're gonna make a run,' and just rebound, contain Amani and play better defense.”

Bishop Canevin (23-4) returns to the PIAA Class 3A title game and will face the same opponent that turned the Crusaders away last season — District 12 runner-up Neumann-Goretti (17-5). They will play at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey. Bishop Canevin lost to the Saints, 62-56, a year ago.

“Our depth caught up to us,” said East Allegheny coach Mike Osiecki, who was missing freshman Abby Henderson because of a broken wrist. “We did the best with what we had off the bench. They're a good team.”

It took a good team to get back in the game. The Crusaders trailed East Allegheny (27-2) by 15 points in the first half but managed to calm down while the shots began to fall. The Crusaders closed out the first half trailing 31-24. The East Allegheny defense held Bishop Canevin's top scorer, Bri Allen, to just four points in the first half.

“(East Allegheny) came out strong, and I needed to pick it up for my team,” said Allen, who finished with 24. “I think I got more comfortable, and I started playing my game.”

The Crusaders, who defeated East Allegheny, 56-52, in the WPIAL title game, couldn't miss in the second half. Shamijha Price started things with a mid-range jumper, and Allen scored on back-to-back baskets to trim the Wildcats' lead 33-32. Price finished with 20 points.

East Allegheny's Amaia Johnson drained a 3-pointer, but Allen came back down to score on a put-back and added a free throw for a three-point play. Amaia Johnson finished with 21 points and sister Amani led all scorers with 26.

Allen tied the game at 35 on a free-throw with 3 minutes, 56 seconds left in the third quarter.

Senior Kasey Kaczorowski drilled a 3-pointer to give the Crusaders the lead for good at 38-37. Kaczorowski's 3-pointers helped pace the Bishop Canevin offense when it struggled. She finished with 12 points, all 3-pointers.

“I've got to give a shout out to my teammates for their good passes,” Kaczorowski said. “East Allegheny always plays real great defense and are a great team. I think it was a real good team effort, and anytime you get down in basketball, it's tough to come back from it.”

Bishop Canevin closed out the third quarter on a 13-5 run and took a 47-39 advantage going into the final quarter.

The speed and energy that East Allegheny exuded in the first half wasn't there come the fourth quarter. The Crusaders outscored East Allegheny, 20-10, in the fourth quarter to punch their tickets to Hershey.

“They say that the WPIAL postseason is a gauntlet,” Dibble said. “You play them once and then you have to play them again (in the PIAA playoffs). There's a lot of good teams.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Bishop Canevin, East Allegheny