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Truiett relishes role as Lions' stopper


When she takes the floor for tonight's YAIAA girls' basketball championship, Gisselle Truiett won't be the most high-profile player on the court. The Red Lion senior is hardly the leading scorer on her own team. But if you listen to Lions' coach Don Dimoff, she might be the most underrated player in the league. That's because Truiett's value to her team can't be measured by her 12.6 points per game average. Truiett is, in equal measures, Red Lion's best defender, its most experienced player and its team leader. She's a big reason the Lions (22-0) will play in their second straight YAIAA championship game, tonight at 7 p.m. against York Catholic (24-0) at York College's Grumbacher Center. "There's a lot talked about Sierra and Kady and rightfully so, but I'll tell you what, Gisselle Truiett is one heck of a player in her own right," Dimoff said after Red Lion's 51-48 semifinal victory against Delone Catholic on Tuesday. Truiett took on the towering task of slowing down Delone's Sierra Moore on Tuesday. And while Moore still poured in 25 points (a shade above her average) she had to work for them. With Truiett face guarding Moore and her Lions teammates helping out, Moore found few open lanes to the basket. The junior ended up settling mostly for mid-range jump shots. For all her lung-searing effort, all Truiett got was five points in the box score and a fat lip. Not that she was complaining afterward. "My main focus was to play defense," she said. "I wasn't even worried about scoring, because I had my team to score." Her coach, meanwhile, lavished on the praise. "She made so many big plays," Dimoff said. "I just told her in the locker room, she didn't score much tonight, but she made so many big plays both defensively, steals, rebounds, she just played a phenomenal game. "A lot of people look at the box score and see how many points you scored. She played a dominating game and didn't score a whole lot tonight. "I won't say she can 'match up,' (with Moore) but she can give her problems. And I thought she gave her problems tonight." And if Truiett was matched up with Moore on Tuesday, you'd have to think she draws York Catholic ace Kady Schrann tonight. That will be a matchup worth watching as the game goes on.