Southern Fulton ready for states after earning 3rd place
Tuesday, the Southern Fulton girls basketball team walked off the court at Shanksville-Stonycreek heartbroken.
They had just been snubbed for a District 5 championship berth with a tough loss to the Vikings, and were without a few key components on the court - but luckily for the Indians that wasn't the end of the road.
Southern Fulton was back in action Saturday in the District 5 Class 1A consolation game, held at the University of Pitt-Johnstown, and was not prepared to have its season end just yet, especially with senior star Olivia Mottern still on the mend.
The Indians (16-8) stormed to a statement win over Shade with a 50-25 victory to take third place and punch their ticket to the PIAA tournament. Southern Fulton will play the second-place team out of District 3, Halifax (23-3), next Saturday, with time and location to be determined. And despite drawing a district runner-up, Southern Fulton is ready for the road ahead.
"We expect good competition, but it's not going to be as bad as going west like last year, which can be bad," Southern Fulton's Drew Gordon said. "I think we are in a good place if we work hard."
Gordon led the Indians with 11 points, eight of which came in the first quarter. Lindsey Hollenshead followed with 10 points, and Drew Hann put up nine, while Olivia Mottern, who played limited minutes, and Emily Bradshaw each scored eight for one of the most well-rounded scoring efforts of the season for the Indians.
"(Our scoring) needs to continue from this game and on," Southern Fulton coach Meagan Mellott said. "Everyone has to contribute, especially with Liv still not completely healthy."
"I think it's going to give us an advantage because we've been playing well," Hollenshead said, "and we were able to win without (Olivia). When she is back it's going to give us that extra person to score and is going to help a lot."
Hollenshead was a big factor in Southern Fulton's run in the second quarter as the Indians outscored Shade 13-7 before the half. She put up six points in the second quarter.
"We had a pile of tape on Southern Fulton and we had what we thought we wanted to do, but one of the things that hurt us was (Hollenshead) shot more than any of the tape that I saw," Shade coach Andy Muha said. "She got the thing rolling for them. She attacked our defense and we weren't prepared for her to take it the whole way to the hole. I think she changed the way we defended that and credit to her, she played a nice game."
"I think we have a lot to look forward to in Lindsey," Mellott said. "She has made some of her freshman mistakes here throughout the season, but she just has heart and pure adrenaline and she hustles and she works so hard that she makes up for some of that freshman inexperience."
Mellott said Mottern is still working to get back to 100 percent after her ankle injury, but hopes another week of rest will get her back on the court full-time.