HOMETOWN — Consider the race for the Schuylkill League Division III girls’ basketball championship officially on.
On Saturday night, Shenandoah Valley pulled into a first-place tie with perennial frontrunner Marian, as the Blue Devils turned back the visiting Fillies 47-38 in their second showdown of the season.
With four games to play, the Devils (15-2 overall, 7-2 league) and Fillies (11-5, 7-2) are in a dead heat atop the division.
“We needed a win like this. It’s the best we’ve played, for sure this season, and maybe in a long time,” Shenandoah Valley head coach Chris Conroy said. “We just needed to get over the hump, the mystique of Marian.”
The win avenged a 35-26 loss at Marian on Dec. 16, and gave Shenandoah Valley its first victory over the Blue and Gold in seven years. The last time the Devils beat Marian was in the 2008-09 season, Conroy’s second as head coach. No current player has ever tasted a win against the Fillies.
“My seniors have lost to them every game. It’s nice that they’re going to go out and at least say they beat them one time,” Conroy said.
“Shenandoah Valley played well,” Marian coach Paul Brutto said. “I think they played like the game meant more to them and they wanted it more.
“Our defense stunk the whole game,” Brutto added. “We let them do too many things comfortably, driving right when we talked about forcing them left. To Shenandoah’s credit, they did it. But our defense was way below our standards for 32 minutes.”
The Fillies inched out to a four-point lead (8-4) in the opening quarter on the strength of two Abbey Whildin drives, a Tina Capparell runner in the lane and an inside feed from Whildin to Brenna Karnish.
Shenandoah’s Alaina Demalis, who had made just one 3-pointer all season, banged home a pair of triples late in the quarter, the second one pulling the Devils even (10-10) after one.
“You need everybody to play well against Marian to win,” Conroy said. “Alaina hitting those two 3s, that just kind of put us in a calm, I think. It just relaxed our whole team. You need your role players to give you some points.”
Shenandoah Valley scoring leader Abigail Snitzer hit a pair of free throws early in the second quarter to give her team its first lead of the game, sparking a 10-4 run that put the Devils ahead to stay.
Shenandoah Valley has the tougher road to travel to win the division, going to Minersville on Monday and Nativity on Thursday before closing out league play at home with Mahanoy Area (Feb. 2) and Weatherly (Feb. 5).
Marian hosts Mahanoy Area on Monday and Weatherly on Thursday, then finishes with road games at Nativity (Feb. 2) and Williams Valley (Feb. 5).
“We’re still there,” Conroy said. “We have a little bit of a tougher road ahead, but there’s a lot of basketball left. We’ve just got to try and do our part.”
Snitzer finished with a game-high 17 points to go with six rebounds, and Kristina Nieddu contributed 10 points and five rebounds as part of her stellar floor game for the winners.
For Marian, Whildin had 14 points and seven rebounds and Karnish 10 points and seven boards.
Game Summary
MARIAN (38) — Salerno 0 0-0 0, Whildin 7 0-0 14, Whitecavage 1 0-0 3, Shaud 0 0-0 0, Agosti 0 0-0 0, Mahon 2 0-0 4, Capparell 1 0-0 2, Karnish 3 2-7 10, Stoyer 2 1-2 5. Totals 16 3-9 38.
SHENANDOAH VALLEY (47) — Demalis 2 0-0 6, Nieddu 1 8-10 10, Teaschenko 3 2-4 8, Creasy 1 1-2 3, Wargo 0 0-0 0, Snitzer 6 4-6 17, Michalik 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 15-22 47.
Mr (11-5, 7-2) 10 4 10 14 — 38 SV (15-2, 7-2) 10 10 12 15 — 47
3-point FGs: Whitecavage, Karnish 2, Demalis 2, Snizer, Michalik
JV score: No game