After an up-and-down 11-11 regular season in the gauntlet of the Laurel Highlands Conference, the Lady Devils basketball team now is looking forward to the District 6, 2A playoffs.
The lady Devils will play the Portage Mustangs on Wednesday, February 19, at Bellwood-Antis high school.
The Mustangs are 13-10 on the year and are led by leading scorer Kendall Bednarski, who is averaging 16.3 PPG. The paint is controlled by starting center Payton Noll who is averaging 6.3 RPG.
B-A enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed, while the Lady Mustangs are No. 5.
The Lady Devils have been a very well rounded team this season. They have seen great contributions from both the freshman and junior classes, as well as the senior class. Coming into the season without a single sophomore rostered, the depth of the team was a concern. However, due to the freshman and junior class stepping up, the team has improved steadily this season.
Junior Lilly Gerwert has continued her growth from last season. Throughout the regular season, she has averaged 17.5 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 1.3 SPG, and 2.9 BPG. Lilly has been literally and figuratively huge for the Lady Devils this season. Standing at five feet eleven inches tall Lilly has been a force in the paint this season for the team.
To go along with all of the young and new talent coming through the team, the steady senior class has remained the backbone of this team.
One of those seniors, Leigha Clapper, has been getting playing time since she was a freshman. She is no stranger to these big games, making and playing in the playoffs all four years of her career. When asked about how they are going to prepare for this game, Leigha stated, “We have over a week to prepare for a game. This game is a win or game home game for us. We are starting by having a film session and taking the day off from getting up and down. We will have 5-6 hard practices before we play again working on our stuff and what they like to run.”
Speaking of people being no strangers to big games, head coach, Kylie Longo-McGarvey, has coached for plenty. She was an assistant coach for the Lady Devils when they won two state championships, and were well on their way to a third before covid ended the season.
When asked about what this game means for the team, Coach Longo-McGarvey said getting over the hump early in the playoffs is always key.
“First round of playoffs is always a big one. It is lose and go home,” she said. “We have officially entered the season of survive and advance. We have talked at lengths about chunking the season. We just finished the biggest chunk of our season of 22 games. Now we enter a shorter season of District play offs where if you win two games your sitting at a district title game, or you win one game and you find yourself battling it out in the consolation bracket and fighting for a spot in state playoffs.”
Coach McGarvey said much of her team’s fate will rest on its ability to “have a mental toughness that allows us to reset, refocus, and be ready for a whole new season in district playoffs.”
Tickets are available online at the PIAA district website. For tickets, click here.
