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Crusaderettes top Raiders to advance to Mary ‘O’ championship game

By Jay W. Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG - Here Wednesday evening during the 28th edition of the Mary 'O' Crusaderette Classic, host Parkersburg Catholic ran past Roane County, 52-30, while Charleston Catholic upended Magnolia, 64-19.

Roane County and first-year head coach Shandi White's Raiders, who shot just 21.1% (12 of 57) that included missing 13 of 14 from downtown, will take on the Blue Eagles (0-6) at noon today.

The 5-1 Irish, who were preseason ranked No. 4 in Class AA, will collide with the 6-0 Crusaderettes around 1:30 p.m. as PCHS attempts to win its ninth consecutive tournament title.

"Roane is well coached and they are scrappy," admitted PCHS boss Marty Vierheller, who had balanced scoring with Izzy DeAngelo (14), Seneca Lang (13), Mary Tokodi-Ruth (10) and Jocelynn Thorn (10) each cracking double figures. "I knew that Shandi would do a nice job of preparing her team and they played hard. We had scouted them and we knew what we were up against with them for sure.

"I was disappointed with our shot selection early. I thought we were a little too amped up. We forced things and that is not us. When our shot selection improved I think that we played better. I was also really pleased with the defense that we played, really, for four quarters. I was very pleased we held them to single digits (in every quarter). We played multiple defenses tonight and I liked our ability to mix things up. We tried to keep Roane off balance a little bit."

The Raiders tallied the first two field goals of the affair. Piper Harlan scored two of her six points and Sammi Kiser had half of her four counters as PCHS didn't get on the board until Lang's three-point play 2:28 in. Morgan Sampson's assist on a Tokodi-Ruth field goal put the hosts ahead for good, 5-4, at the 4:43 mark.

Although Hope Mason, who had a game-high 13 rebounds, converted a foul shot to make it 14-9, Thorn assisted on a Tokodi-Ruth 3 for an eight-point cushion after one.

Roane County was unable to make up any ground in the second quarter as the Raiders finished the period 3 of 16 from the field, which was the same as the opening eight minutes.

The Raiders trailed by nine at 25-16 with 1:45 left in the half when Harlan assisted on Braylin Bowe's trifecta, but the Crusaderettes led by 11 at intermission thanks to a Thorn deuce.

PCHS, which was tied for No. 13 in the double-A preseason poll, scored the first eight points of the third.

Despite a steal by Bowe and her assist to Anna Tolley for a bucket to close the third, the Raiders still trailed 37-22.

Sampson, who had a game-high three steals, got the hosts going in the fourth when she found DeAngelo open for a bucket. DeAngelo, who missed a double-double by one rebound as Lang led the hosts with 10 caroms, got a putback at the 4:58 mark to give PCHS its first 20-point advantage at 42-22.

Kate Mullen came off the bench to pace the Raiders' scoring attack with seven points.

"We're going to be in the gym tomorrow morning," admitted coach Vierheller. "We have a walk through and we'll give the kids a little time to shoot, but Charleston Catholic has our full and undivided attention, for sure.

"We need to make sure we don't get sloppy on the glass and we need to run our stuff. Let's not be too anxious to go out and force things. Let's let the game come to us a little bit."

A mere 11 seconds after winning the opening tip for Charleston Catholic, Mary Rushworth drained a 3 for part of her game-high 18 points as the Irish never trailed.

Magnolia, which was led by Sienna McKeever's nine points, answered with an Aubrey Warder putback 24 ticks later, but 3-2 was as close as the Blue Eagles would get.

Telina Williams' putback for part of her 10 counters started a 9-0 spurt for the Irish. Sarah Rahin scored two of her nine markers thanks to a steal and a layup. Aurelia Kirby, who went for 15 points along with game-highs of seven assists and eight steals, had a lay-in, Rushworth added a free throw and Williams ended it with a field goal in the paint.

Layla Carter, who came off the Irish bench and scored nine points to go along with a team-high nine boards and a trio of assists, got a putback to put the Blue Eagles in a 16-5 hole after one.

Magnolia, which had 18 first-half turnovers and 32 for the game, missed all six shots in the second quarter and trailed 38-5 at intermission as Rahin's lay-in closed out the first-half scoring.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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