York Suburban girls shut down Gettysburg
York Suburban has rebuilt its girls' basketball program to become a contender in YAIAA Division II.
On Friday night, the team faced an opponent that's in a spot similar to where the Trojans were three years ago.
Suburban used strong second-half defense to fight off an improving Gettysburg squad, 46-36.
Tied at 26 entering the third quarter, Suburban held Gettysburg to three field goals while receiving balanced scoring from four players in the second half.
"We had a lapse in York Suburban defense in the first half, but I told the girls that you're gonna have these games," Suburban head coach Jess Barley said. "We knew that once we got back to playing York Suburban defense, we were going to be OK."
"(Suburban's) switch to zone defense really stifled us," first-year Gettysburg head coach Max Laing said. "The great looks we often get against the zone weren't there today."
Suburban was 0-of-8 from the field to start the third quarter when Molly Day created her own look for a 15-foot jumper 2:17 into the third.
Cierra Brown drilled a 3 from the left wing 33 seconds later, and Gettysburg pushed ahead to 29-28.
The Trojans went into their four-out, one-in motion offense and hit Parker Faircloth-Henise with a lob for a layup a minute later.
Day scored another identical jump shot, and Faircloth-Henise stole an errant pass for a layup as Suburban closed the quarter on an 8-0 run, taking a 36-29 lead.
Faircloth-Henise scored on another lob in the fourth, and Ali Reinecker drove for a three-point play, offsetting a jumper by Brown and a spectacular spinning layup by Devetche Johnson.
"They have some tall players, and we had two people there most of the time," Laing said. "(Faircloth-Henise) did a nice job of catching the ball between two people. I wish we had a one-handed catch between two people in our playbook."
Gettysburg scored as many points in the first half Friday as they did in four quarters against Suburban in early December.
Trailing 13-4 in the first quarter, the Warriors started a 13-4 run of their own on a push shot by Johnson in the lane.
Hanna James leaped to save an errant shot from going out of bounds, leading to a bucket by Brown to make it 13-10 early in the second quarter.
Johnson finally tied the score at 17 with a layup 4:10 before half.
"(My players) know York Suburban is legit, and they're not walking into games afraid," Laing said. "That's something you can't instill in your team."
York Suburban (46)
Dumars 1 0-0 2, James 0 0-0 0, Mooney 0 0-0 0, Bulgarelli 0 0-0 0, Ali Reinecker 7 1-1 15, Faircloth-Henise 3 2-4 8, Gettle 2 3-4 7, Molly Day 5 3-5 14. Totals — 18 9-14 46.
Gettysburg (36)
A. Bortner 2 0-1 4, Crushong 1 0-0 3, H. Bortner 1 3-7 5, James 0 0-0 0, Sanders 0 0-0 0, Devetche Johnson 5 0-0 10, Cierra Brown 6 0-0 14. Totals — 15 3-8 36.
York Suburban _ 13 _ 13 _ 10 _ 10 _ — _ 46
Gettysburg _ 8 _ 18 _ 3 _ 7 _ — _ 36
3-point goals — YS 1 (Day). Get 3 (Brown 2, Crushong).