COAL TOWNSHIP — Paul Brutto is the perfect picture of composure on the bench.
But the 24th-year Marian Fillies basketball coach allowed himself to flash a few smiles after his team’s 44-29 win over Shamokin on Friday in the Lourdes Tip-Off Tournament.
He had good reason to smile.
The win was Brutto’s 500th at Marian — his 642nd overall — and, on top of all that, it came on his birthday.
“And we’re 1-0. That’s a big key, too,” Brutto said. “It’s a great day, there’s no taking away from it.”
The 1-0 record shouldn’t be overlooked amidst the milestone victory given Marian’s situation in this newly-arrived girls’ hoops season.
The Fillies graduated three starting guards and lost junior forward Savanna Krusinsky for the season due to injury. Junior guard Vanessa Whitecavage was also unavailable for the Fillies on Friday.
“I’m really happy for our kids,” Brutto said. “We’re facing a lot of problems in terms of injuries and playing some young kids. In a game that got close at times, they hung together and won.”
The Fillies play tournament host Lourdes in today’s championship at 3 p.m. The Red Raiders beat Sunbury Christian 57-30 in the other semifinal Friday.
Marian opened on a nine-point run after the Indians committed six turnovers in the first four minutes. The Fillies turned that lead into a 12-4 advantage at the end of the first quarter on 10 Shamokin turnovers.
“Turnovers hurt us, but we’re young and we’re going to adapt,” first-year Shamokin coach Jordan Rickert said. “That’s something we really have to work on, being in control under pressure, making smarter passes.”
Ashley Fannick jump-started the Fillies’ offense with nine first-half points. She finished with a game-high 13 points, seven steals and four assists.
“We definitely have a young team this year. You could see it from the six seniors that we lost last year, but playing with them it didn’t feel any different,” Fannick said. “We’re still a family and the chemistry ... I was really happy with our team.”
Shamokin narrowed its halftime deficit to 20-14 on the backs of guard Shaylee Pesarchick and 5-foot-10 forward Gabriann Lahr.
Pesarchick tallied half of the Indians’ 10 points in the second quarter and finished with 10 points. Meanwhile, Lahr dominated the boards to finish with a double-double at 13 points and 12 rebounds.
It looked like a different team, however, when Marian came out of the locker room following the intermission. The Fillies committed 15 second-half turnovers and looked frantic through much of the third quarter.
Marian was only able to set up its offense three times in the third frame, and only two points came from those possessions. The rest of the quarter was chaotic and featured a series of scrambles for the often-loose ball.
“We expected that because we’ve got a couple new starters and we were subbing a couple young kids,” Brutto said. “I thought that showed at times but we were able to pull it together in the long run and do what we needed to do.”
Brenna Karnish helped turn things around in the third with six of her eight points and an assist on a Tina Capparell basket that saw the Fillies go up 34-21 headed to the final frame.
An Abbey Whildin 3-pointer and buckets by Fannick and Jillian Correale gave Marian the buffer it needed to withstand Lahr’s seven fourth-quarter points and seal the victory.
“One area we’re definitely focusing on is poise and we did not come out poised in the second half at all,” Fannick said. “But once we calmed down, stayed poised, we picked it up and got everything under control.”
For Brutto, who is in his 29th overall season as a head coach, it had been a long time since his first win at Marian, the specifics of which he didn’t quite remember. Though he did recall his first win as a coach at Shenandoah Valley, a victory over Williams Valley.
He also recalled his first game coaching at Marian, a loss to Shenandoah that he called “a downer.”
“We’re just ecstatic to be 1-0 and be playing for a championship tomorrow,” Brutto said. “That’s great for this group. We’ll take it from there.”
Game Summary
Lourdes Tip-Off Tournament
At Lourdes High School
SHAMOKIN (29) — Erdman 0 1-4 1, Erb 0 0-0 0, Bonshock 1 1-2 3, Pesarchick 4 2-5 10, Lahr 6 1-5 13, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Nazih 0 0-0 0, Hasuga 0 0-1 0, Shoff 1 0-0 2, Eby 0 0-0 0, Pope 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 5-17 29.
MARIAN (44) — Whildin 3 2-4 10, Fannick 5 2-6 13, Correale 2 0-0 4, Shaud 0 1-2 1, Karnish 4 0-0 8, Raabe 0 0-0 0, Mahon 0 2-2 2, Capparell 1 0-0 2, Agosti 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 7-14 44.
Sham. (0-1) 4 10 7 8 — 29 Marian (1-0) 12 8 14 10 — 44
3-point FGs: Whildin 2, Fannick