McKeesport gets healthy at right time
Charles’ return helps lift Tigers into semifinals
Tri- State Sports & News Service Kaylee Charles has watched a lot of basketball during the past few weeks.
She watched McKee sport lose to Oak-land Catholic in a game that could have given the Tigers a share of the Sec-tion 3 title.
She looked on when they lost to South Fayette in the WPIAL semifinals and when they rebounded with a victory against Oakland Catholic in the third-place consolation round and for two state tournament wins
.“Watching my team play and seeing us play all through the WPIALs, I feel like, if I was out there, we could have won ,” Charles said .“But if we win states instead of WPIALs, that’s all that matters .”
On Saturday against Armstrong, the 5- foot -10 senior forward was fi-nally where she wanted to be all along—on the floor competing with her team mates. And the River Hawks saw first-hand just how good the Tigers can be with her in the lineup.
Charles, who spent six weeks recovering from an injury to her left hand, came off the bench but was a force inside when she was on the court. She fin-ished with six points and 11 rebounds and provided the spark McKee sport (24-4) needed to cruise to a win against Armstrong (23-6) in the PIAA Class 5 A quarter-finals at Nor win High School
.“It felt great. I wasn’t even tired ,” Charles said. “I had the adrenaline and all this built-up energy .” With Charles back, it al-lowed senior Rachael Man-f re do to move out of the low post and roam both offen-sively and defensive ly. Given her normal freedom, the Edinboro recruit tore up the Armstrong defense with a game-high 22 points ,11 boards and two blocked shots
.“It feels great with Kay-lee back in. You can really tell she’s back ,” Man fred os aid .“I didn’t mind filling in underneath with the bigs, but it feels good. It does feel better to be a little bit more relaxed after play-ing down there and having a little more freedom .”
Charles stepped onto the court with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter and McKee sport locked in a 6-6 tie with the WPIAL run-ner s-up. Guard Emma Paul, who led the team with 15, drained a basket with 4:35 left to put the River Hawks ahead by two and Sarai Weaver hit 1 of 2 from the line to give Arm-strong a 9-6 lead.
That was also the last lead the River Hawks held in the game.
Brooke Evans, who fin-ished with 10, hit a hoop for McKee sport to get the Tigers back to within one, then Manfredo went crazy. She scored the next 10 points and Charles added her first basket since her return to ca pa 14-0 run that put them ahead to stay ,18-9, at the end of the first quarter.
If the run wasn’t enough for River Hawks to over-come, the hoop from Paul was the last shot from the field they made for 9:04 un-til Isabella Yancy hit a 3- pointer with 3:31 left in the half. By that time, McKee sport had built a 24-15 lead and had the game well in hand
.“We didn’t play well. We picked a bad day to play poorly ,” Armstrong coach Jim Cal lip are said .“We missed a lot of layups and free throws and I don’t know how many turnover s we had (17), but it was alot.
”Even so, Armstrong kept it within reach throughout much of the game and had a golden op-portunity to make a run when Man fred oh it the pine with 6:46 left in regula-tion with her fourth per-sonal foul. The River Hawks trailed only 41-30 and there was time for a come back, but Madison Cherepko hi theron ly bas-ket of the game, a dagger of a 3- pointer from the left side, while Charles locked it down inside to keep the River Hawks from making a run.
With the win McKee sport will make its second trip to the state semifinals in the past three years. The Tigers were the No .3 team out of the W PIA Lin 2022 and lost to Chartiers Valley ,59-50, in the semifinals at Peters Township
.“These girls are physi-cal and they play hard ,” McKee sport coach Matt Miller said .“We scout re-ally hard, we figure out what they’ re trying to do and it’s been working .”