Tigers tame Talbots
Free throw accuracy launches McKeesport into semifinals after key late timeout
McKeesport girls basketball coach Amy Gumbert had a feeling about how things were going in the third quarter of the Tigers game against Hampton.
It wasn’t that she wanted to meet with her team and talk strategy. It was when.
Gumbert pulled her team off the floor right after her center, Kaylee Charles, drained the first attempt of a two-shot foul with the Tigers down six Friday.
“I just wanted them to get back to our basketball,” Humbert said. “We let them slow down the game and we wanted to push the basketball and get back to Lady Tiger basketball.”
Luckily for Humbert, she didn’t ice her own shooter.
McKeesport used that timeout to get back into the game, then the team shot a solid 10 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter as the No. 3 Tigers (20-4) pulled out a 5544 come-from-behind win against No. 11 Hampton (15-9) in the WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinals at Fox Chapel.
With the win, the Tigers will play in the WPIAL semifinals for the second consecutive season. They have not been to the finals since they won their only title in 1998.
“I asked them how bad to they want to win,” Gumbert said. “We pulled it out but hats off to Hampton. They took us out of our game and we finally got back to it.”
McKeesport played without senior swing Avionna Menifee, who is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Without her, the Tigers have struggled to find just one replacement to take her place.
This time, however, it was Charles’ turn. The 5-10 junior forward was dominant inside as she came through with a double-double of a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Tigers dominated inside.
“Avionna is not replaceable with what she brings to the team, but we have people who bring some things better than she brought,” Gumbert said. “We just have to figure what each kid is best at.”
Charles came through in a big
way in the fourth quarter. She scored seven points and made several clutch free throws that helped McKeesport protect its lead down the stretch.
“I could just tell that their team didn’t have a big inside presence and I just told the team to feed me the ball,” Charles said. “I felt like it was working from the first quarter.’
Neither team could really establish much in the first quarter, but Hampton took over in the second. The Talbots used a 9-0 run to erase to go ahead 24-18 with 4:14 remaining in the half.
Hampton junior guard Meghan Murray, who led the team with 20 including the 1,000th point of her career, had 12 in the first half as the Talbots took a 29-22 lead into the intermission.
Hampton extended its lead to 32-22 when Claire Rodgers hit a 3-pointer 17 seconds into the third quarter, but that shot awoke the Tigers. At that point, McKeesport went on a 14-2 run of its own, capped by Malina Boord’s 3-pointer, which put her team back on top, 36-34, with 1:54 left in the period.
Hampton, however, tied it on Rodgers’ buzzer-beater off an inbound that came with 0.9 seconds to play and the teams were locked up, 36-36, heading to the fourth quarter.
That was when McKeesport’s defense finally took over.
From the time of Humbert’s timeout during the Charles’ trip to the free throw line, the Tigers pressed the Talbots at every turn. Hampton was 2 for 11 from the field (18.2 percent) and committed six turnovers, yet somehow led, 4443, after Murray hit her 1,000th point on a free throw with 2:55 left.
McKeesport, though, reclaimed the lead on Charles’ two free throws with 2:18 left that ignited a 12-0 run to close it out. Rachel Manfredo, who finished with 16, finished the job with a 3pointer on the Tigers’ next offensive opportunity to make it a two-possession game, 48-44, with 1:46 left.
Hampton had opportunities to get back into it, but committed a couple of costly turnovers. Trailing 50-44, the Talbots were confused in the offensive end and McKeesport nearly forced a turnover.
Hampton looked like it was ready to take a time out, but had only one left and opted to let it play out.
That proved costly as McKeesport forced a turnover, took a foul and Boord hit both ends of the 1-and -1 to make it a three-possession game, 52-44, with only 33.7 to play.
McKeesport, which has struggled from the line at times this season, went 7 of 8 from the stripe in the final minute.
“Usually our team struggles with free throws, but we knew we had to make those free throws to win this game,” Charles said. “It came down to free throws.”