Top-ranked Neshannock girls win 3A championship
No. 3 Shady Side Academy rallies late but falls short as Lancers win 1st title
Bella Burrelli came close to dropping basketball to focus on volleyball in her senior year. Hoops, AAU volleyball and school in the winter was almost too much.
It turns out her Lancers were too much for everyone else in the WPIAL.
Top-seeded Neshannock won the Class 3A title Saturday, surviving a rally for a 47-42 win against No. 3 seed Shady Side Academy at Petersen Event Center.
“This was one of our goals and we accomplished it,” Burrelli said. “It’s just an awesome feeling. I was choosing between if I should play or if I should focus more on volleyball. I’m just really glad I played this year.”
Neshannock (23-2) has made the title game once before, losing to Bishop Canevin in 2017.
“I told them this is your destiny,” said Neshannock coach Luanne Grybowski, who has coached for 39 years. She previously led New Castle to three district titles. “You deserve to be here, now let’s go get it. They performed.”
The fairy-tale finish for Burrelli, who will play volleyball at Edinboro next year, and the Lancers could have gone differently.
The Indians’ Ariana Goitz was on fire in the fourth quarter, scoring all of Shady Side Academy’s 14 points. Down three with 18.5 seconds left, Goitz pulled up just beyond the 3-point line and drained the shot.
But it didn’t count. Indians coach Amy Szlachetka called a timeout a split second before Goitz’s shot fell, wiping out the potential tying basket. Neshannock ended up forcing a turnover on the next play.
“If I knew she was going to hit it, I never would have called the timeout,” Szlachetka said. “Ari [Goitz] or Catherine [Jewart] is who I want to shoot. I never thought she was going to pull up and shoot that ball. She had someone on her, there were people behind her, I’m thinking we’re not going to shoot it right now. Let’s call the timeout because we have some nice sideline plays and run something we’re comfortable with and set up a nice shot for [Goitz or Jewart]. I called the timeout and ‘whoosh.’”
Burrelli had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. She also blocked a shot with 49 seconds left on a drive by Goitz with Neshannock clinging to a 43-42 lead.
Freshman Neleh Nogay scored eight points in the fourth to finish with 17. Neshannock shot 62 percent from the floor, hitting 18 of 29 shots. The Lancers had only eight turnovers compared to 17 made by the Indians.
Goitz scored a game-high 23 for the Indians (19-4), playing in their first district final in school history. Goitz had a 7-of-15 day and made all seven of her free throws.
“She went hard to the basket,” Szlachetka said. “We had noticed they could be susceptible to the drive and [Goitz] found some holes and got to the hoop.”
Nyla Rozier and Catherine Jewart each scored nine points for the Indians. Rozier also had a team-leading seven rebounds.