Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Bellwood-Antis’ Lilly Gerwert drives by Keystone’s Bella Brandon.
DuBOIS — The Bellwood-Antis high school girls basketball program is not far removed from back-to-back state championships in 2018 and 2019 and still being alive to possibly play in a third before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 PIAA tournament.
Since that point, the Lady Blue Devils have made a run to the PIAA semifinals and had a couple other appearances in the state bracket, including last season.
That makes games like Tuesday’s subregional play-in game against District 9 third-place finisher Keystone more of a business trip.
Consider business handled with a 55-27 victory at DuBois High School.
“If that’s not your goal every year, you’re missing the mark,” Bellwood-Antis coach Kyley Longo said. “That’s been part of our goal all year long. You set goals on reaching state title games and district title games and the state playoffs. If you’re not doing that, you’re selling yourself short. It feels great to get back there. We have a giant in front of us, and we’ll be ready and prepared for them. We’re looking forward to seeing what we can give them.”
The giant Longo was referring to will be Bellwood’s opponent on Friday in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A tournament — District 5 champion Berlin Brothersvalley.
Berlin just won the Inter-County Conference championship on Monday night and owns victories over District 6 Class 2A champion Bishop McCort and District 6 Class 4A champion Forest Hills.
“Anything can happen for anybody at this point of the season,” Longo said. “It’s why basketball is fun to be a part of. We’ll certainly make sure we have our ducks in a row. We’ll make sure we’re ready for them, and I’m sure they will be ready for us. It’s fun this time of year, and it’s all about survive and advance.”
That’s certainly what Bellwood-Antis did on Tuesday, but it wasn’t always pretty.
Keystone got off to a cold start, and 3-pointers by Karlie Sweigert and Marissa Cacciotti to end the first quarter put the Lady Blue Devils ahead, 15-4.
Unlike Bellwood-Antis, Keystone came into the game with nearly zero big-game playoff experience.
“Usually, we’re a good shooting team,” Keystone coach Andy Traister said. “Tonight, we were just flat. I think there were some nerves. We have never gotten this far before. This is the farthest we have ever gone, and that was part of it. You could tell their legs were a little tight, and their shots were a little tight.”
B-A freshman Isabella Sloey scored the first four points of the second quarter to give the Lady Blue Devils a 15-point lead, but with 5:02 to play in the half, Bellwood junior Lilly Gerwert picked up her third foul and came out of the game.
Keystone responded with a full-court press and a 10-0 run that made it 19-14 at halftime.
“We got stuck with some foul trouble that we didn’t really want to see,” Longo said. “We went on our heels when we have become a much better team at breaking the press. We went on our heels a little bit, but once we started getting square to them and sending someone to the middle and advancing the basketball, things started to open up for us.”
Five different Keystone players scored during the run.
“We were getting after it defensively,” Traister said. “We were getting some turnovers on our press. We were making some shots. We got into a little bit of a flow there.”
Gerwert returned to begin the third quarter and immediately connected on a 3-pointer. Senior Jenna Norton followed shortly after with two of her own to bring the lead back to double digits. After Bella Brandon’s 3-pointer with 5:01 to play in the quarter made it 28-21, Bellwood scored the final 12 points of the quarter to put the game out of reach.
“There’s going to be gut checks, especially in the playoffs,” Longo said. “Everyone is playing with nerves. Officials are working to move on to the next round. We’re playing to get to the next round, so it’s always high pressure. You always have to have a next-play mentality with that. For us to rebound off that, I thought was excellent.”
Gerwert, who scored a game-high 14 points and had 11 rebounds, picked up her fourth foul late in the third, but this time Bellwood simply continued to add to its lead.
“I have to give credit to my teammates, because when I went out, they stepped up,” Gerwert said. “They got rebounds. They got points and were amazing.”
Brandon finished with seven points and 11 rebounds, and Peyton McElravy also added seven points for Keystone, which finished its season at 16-9.
Bellwood-Antis got 11 points from Norton, nine from Sloey, eight from Cacciotti and seven from senior Leigha Clapper. The Lady Blue Devils improved to 14-12.
“Last year, we made the state playoffs but didn’t make it very far,” Clapper said. “I’m hoping we can go back to the same place we were my freshman year — making the final four. We have had a lot of ups and downs, and I don’t think that defines us completely.”
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (55): Clapper 2 2-2 7, Gerwert 5 3-5 14, Norton 4 0-0 11, Sweigert 1 0-0 3, Cacciotti 3 0-0 8, Sloey 4 0-1 9, Turek 0 1-2 1, Waite 0 0-0 0, Plummer 0 0-0 0, Campbell 1 0-0 2. Totals — 20 6-10 55.
KEYSTONE (27): Say 0 0-0 0, Albright 1 0-0 3, Brandon 3 0-0 7, Patrick 1 1-2 3, Winters 0 0-0 0, McElravy 2 3-3 7, Bell 2 2-2 6, Taylor 0 0-0 0, McGiffin 0 0-0 0, Shumaker 0 1-2 1. Totals — 9 7-9 27.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 15 4 21 15 — 55
Keystone 4 10 7 6 — 27
3-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 8 (Norton 3, Cacciotti 2, Gerwert, Sweigert, Sloey); Keystone 2 (Brandon, Albright).
Records: Bellwood-Antis (14-12); Keystone (16-9).
Officials: Bryan Harlon, Leslie Blair, Dan Boyer.