Hot-shooting Linville ends Lourdes' run
Mar. 13—HAMBURG — The thought around the Lourdes Regional girls basketball team was a run to the state finals in 2023 should equal another run to Hershey by virtue of the talent the Red Raiders returned from that squad.
Coach Mike Klembara has been around long enough to know that certainly isn't the case.
"There was a lot of pressure on the girls this year because of what they did last year," Klembara said of four senior returning starters — Masie Reed, Paityn Moyer, Cassidy Grimes and Leah Kosmer. "A lot of people thought it was an automatic thing (for them to return to the state championship game), and it's not. It's not any level of sports."
And on Wednesday in the second round of the PIAA Class A playoffs, the Red Raiders hit a speed bump on their way back to Hershey in the form of Linville Christian School sophomore Courtney Good.
Good knocked down seven of the Warriors' 10 3-pointers and Lourdes Regional shot 27 percent from the floor, including 0-of-13 from 3-point range, in Linville Christian's 47-27 victory at Hamburg High School.
"We watched five tapes of them, and we knew they were a 3-point shooting team, but at no point in those five tapes did they shoot the ball like this," Klembara said. "That's a young team, and if they keep shooting like that, they are going to cause problems for a lot of teams."
Linville Hill won its 15th straight game, and improves to 22-1 on the season. The Warriors will face Greenwood in Saturday's quarterfinals. Lourdes Regional finishes the season at 17-10.
"I told our seniors that they will remember this game for a long team, but I also told them, they have to remember what they did over the last four year, and what they accomplished," Klembara said.
Lourdes Regional's best chance came in the first half. The Warriors didn't handle the Red Raiders' pressure very well. Lourdes Regional forced seven first-quarter turnovers, but also missed several layups. Linville took just five first-quarter shots, but went 3-of-3 from behind the arc, and led 10-6 after the opening quarter.
"Give them a lot of credit. I think at one time (in the second quarter), they had 20 points and I think they had six 3s," Klembara said. "We didn't shoot well at all — from the line (1-of-10) or from inside. We missed a lot of layups."
Good's only two pointer of the game, and the Warriors first one of the contest, came on a breakaway layup to give Linville a 20-10 lead midway through the second quarter, and the Warriors were 7-of-13 from the floor, and six of eight from 3-point range.
Linville Hill didn't shoot nearly as well in the second half, but that was negated on the offensive glass — the Warriors had seven in the third quarter — and Lourdes Regional never got closer than eight points in the third quarter.
Kosmer had eight points to lead the Red Raiders.
Good finished with a game-high 23 points, while Desiree Smucker added 10 points, including two 3-pointers.
"I told the two shooters (Good and Smucker are both sophomores) to keep working hard," Klembara said. "Those two are going to be a problem when they are seniors, if they can shoot like that now."
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PIAA CLASS A PLAYOFFS
SECOND ROUND
at Hamburg H.S.
LINVILLE CHRISTIAN 47, LOURDES REGIONAL 27
Lourdes Regional (17-10) 27
Masie Reed 1 1-6 3; Paityn Moyer 1 0-2 2; Cassidy Grimes 2 0-2 4; Anna Keer 3 0-0 6; Leah Kosmer 4 0-0 8; hannah Lokitis 2 0-2 4. Totals 13 1-10 27.
3-point goals: none.
Did not score: Vivan Reiprish, Luci Shingara, Alayna Marcheski, Sydney Gonzalez, Onaleigh Barnes.
Linville Hill Christian (22-1) 47
Courtney Good 8 0-0 23; Ellie Rishel 2 3-6 7; Desiree Smucker 3 2-2 10; Carissa Mulder 1 0-0 2; Abrielle Fisher 1 0-2 3; Payton Smucker 1 0-0 2; Leah Kurtz 0 0-2 0; Chloe Smucker 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 5-12 47.
3-point goals: Good 7, D. Smucker 2, Fisher.
Did not score: Leah Bragg, Riley Martin.
Score by quarters
Lourdes Regional;6;10;7;4 — 27
Linville Christian;10;15;10;12 — 47
