The West Shamokin Lady Wolves put together a great fourth quarter to earn a 48-35 victory over the Charleroi Lady Cougars in round one of the PIAA State Playoffs.
by Jake DeLuca
After winning the Heritage Conference Championship and the District 6 Championship the West Shamokin Lady Wolves took their first step towards the State Championship by defeating Charleroi Lady Cougars 48-35 in front of a packed crowd at Armstrong High School.
The first half was really a feeling out process for the two teams. Neither team was able to jump out to more than a 4-point lead and by half-time the score was 21-19 in favor of the Lady Wolves.
After half-time it looked like the defensive battle would continue, at the end of the third the score was 30-28 with the Lady Wolves still leading.
The fourth quarter would be where West Shamokin really separated themselves. The Lady Wolves outscoured Charleroi 18-7 in the fourth to win 48-35 and advance to the Sweet 16 of the PIAA Playoffs.
After the game, West Shamokin guard Olivia Fusaro said the hard work is paying off.
“It’s really great, we worked hard all week at practice and we really worked hard all season to keep pushing on the road to Hershey (PIAA Championship) and we hope to make it that far,” Fusaro said.
Fusaro finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Katie Glover finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds, Andrea Orlosky finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds, and Jasah Huth had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.
The Lady Wolves will have to travel a little farther for their Sweet 16 match-up against Delone Catholic. The game will be played at Bedford High School on Wednesday, March 15 with tip-off set for 7:00 PM.