YATESVILLE — There were two pictures Crestwood could have looked at prior to Friday’s meeting with Pittston Area.
The Comets chose a third — just winning — and they barely did that.
Charlie Hiller sank a free throw with 8.2 seconds left and Crestwood survived one more trip downcourt by Pittston Area for a 34-33 victory in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls basketball game.
The win served two purposes, neither of which mattered at least on the surface.
First, Crestwood (6-1 Div. 1, 13-2 overall) kept on the tails of division leader Hazleton Area (6-0, 15-0), although the Cougars handled the Comets 73-46 on Dec. 23. Secondly, and probably more important in the long run, the Comets maintained their lead over Pittston Area (3-4, 11-4) for the top seed in the District 2 Class 5A playoffs.
“To be honest, I’m not looking ahead,” Crestwood coach Mary Mushock-Namey said. “I’m looking one game at a time. Without Keira (Dougherty) we struggled at the beginning at point guard, but we are getting better and better each game.”
Dougherty, a two-time Times Leader All-WVC selection, suffered a season-ending injury in the summer. As for getting better, Crestwood has won eight in a row.
Friday’s win was the second by two points or less in the streak. Pittston Area tied the game 33-33 with 15.1 left on a free throw by standout Daniella Ranieli. Hiller was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit a free throw, but missed the second. Pittston Area’s Grace Callahan rebounded.
Pittston Area had the ball knocked out of bounds while racing down for a potential go-ahead basket. An inbound attempt with 1.3 seconds left was tipped in the air by Crestwood’s Kate Gallagher to end the game.
“Our kids did a great job. They hung in their tonight,” said Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory, who was honored prior to the game for his 100th career win. “We did what we needed to do to have a chance to win. And we did have a chance to win. We just didn’t finish the game.”
Unlike the first meeting won by Crestwood 55-42 on Dec. 18, the Comets changed their strategy on three-time All-WVC selection Ranieli. They decided to limit her chances, with Jordan Andrews shadowing her most of the game and Cameron Vieney taking over briefly.
“Last time we were going to let her get her points and stop everyone else,” Mushock-Namey said. “But tonight, right from the first quarter, we kind of changed tune a little bit. She had 13, 14 in the first half so our goal was to try to stop her.”
Ranieli, the Division 1 scoring leader, had to work hard at times as Crestwood switched defensively when Andrews was screened off, yet finished with 20 points. Crestwood’s Kendall Petrosky led her team with 12.
After an early lead, Pittston Area finally caught Crestwood with three minutes left in the third quarter. A pair of free throws by Ranieli gave the Patriots a 25-23 lead. From there, neither team built a lead of more than three points.
Crestwood 34, Pittston Area 33
CRESTWOOD (34) — Charlie Hiller 3 2-4 8, Kendall Petrosky 4 1-2 12, Jackie Gallagher 1 4-4 6, Jordan Andrews 0 0-0 0, Kate Gallagher 4 0-1 8, Cameron Vieney 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-11 34.
PITTSTON AREA (33) — Daniella Ranieli 7 4-6 20, Julia Long 2 0-0 4, Maddie Karp 0 2-2 2, Lili Hintze 3 0-0 7, Grace Callahan 0 0-0 0, Giuliana Latona 0 0-2 0, Haley Pointek 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 6-10 33.
Crestwood`8`13`7`6 — 34
Pittston Area`7`10`10`6 — 33
Three-point goals: CRE 3 (Petrosky). PA 2 (Ranieli).