DALLAS — With the scene staged for another slugfest, the Dallas Mountaineers made a sudden switch.
It turned on a light that allowed their defense to shine.
Meanwhile, Maddie Kelley scored a season-high 29 points Saturday as the Mountaineers mauled Wyoming Seminary, 72-38 in a non-conference high school girls basketball game at Dallas High School.
“We needed a game like that,” sighed Dallas coach Kelly Johnson, whose team typically takes most of games down to the wire.
For much of the first half, it look like Dallas was in for another dogfight.
Paige Allen scored all eight of her points over the game’s first 12 minutes and Miranda Pace added seven more as the Blue Knights hung within six points less than five minutes before halftime.
Then the Mountaineers made a move that changed everything.
“We changed the defense part-way through the second quarter,” Kelley said.
It worked.
Dallas allowed just seven points and one basket through the whole second half — when Annemaaike Reitsma hit a layup with 2:15 remaining in the game.
By then, the Mountaineers had turned a 13-point halftime advantage into a 30-point lead.
“I feel like we often change defenses in our games,” Kelley said. “We’re always torn between two defenses. It’s like, ‘If this one doesn’t work, we’ll switch more to this.’ “
The switch Saturday took Dallas away from packing the lanes to deal with Allen inside to playing Sem’s shifty guards on the perimeter. In doing that, the Mountaineers also took away some passing options for the Blue Knights.
“I thought the change in the defense made a little bit of a difference,” Johnson said. “We talked a lot about increasing the defensive intensity.”
The offensive firepower for Dallas came straight from Kelley.
She burst out of the gates by pouring in 15 points during the opening quarter to put the Mountaineers in a six-point lead, then erupted for eight more in the second quarter to get Dallas out to a 44-31 halftime lead.
“I haven’t been too happy with my performances the past two or three games,” said Kelley, Dallas’ leading scorer. “The starting five talked about it, how none of us were really happy with it. We realized we need to get that spark back that we had the first two games of the season.
“It got us really fired up.”
And just in time for what could be a pivotal week in Dallas’ season. The Mountaineers, currently locked in three-way tie for first place in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1, play one of those teams they’re tied with when they travel to Pittston Area on Monday. Then, Dallas squares off with a Wyoming Valley West team on Thursday that’s just one game behind the division leaders.
“We have a rough week this week,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to add some more stuff to expand our repetoire. We added a couple plays this week. Today (Saturday) was a good opportunity tfor us to work on our execution of them.”
Springford 62, Holy Redeemer 60 (OT)
Rebecca Prociak scored a team-high 21 points, but the Royals dropped an overtime game in the Athletes for Better Education Classic at Springford High School.
The battle went back and forth, with Springford holding a 10-point lead at one point and Holy Redeemer taking an 11-point lead in the second half.
But Prociak, point guard Lydia Lawson and Meghan Corridoni all fouled out in the fourth quarter, and Redeemer was out-scored 9-7 in the overtime period.
Talia Kosierowski added 10 points for the Royals, and Kayla Hons joined her in hitting a pair of 3-point field goals.
Panther Valley 60, MMI Prep 23
Kryslyn Postupack scored 11 points and Maddie Perchak finished with nine to make up most of the Preppers’ scoring in defeat.
Chloe Markovich led Panther Valley’s win with 17 points, while Christina Oday scored 14.
Dallas 72, Wyoming Seminary 38
WYOMING SEMINARY (38) — Annemaaike Reitsma 2 0-0 4, Maya Kornfeld 3 4-5 10, Paige Allen 4 0-0 8, Mary Theresa Lehman 2 0-0 6, Miranda Pace 2 4-7 8, Brenna Satkowski 1 0-0 2, Olivia Meuser 0 0-0 0, Julia Gabriel 0 0-0 0, Julia Iskra 0 0-0 0, Christina Kilyanek 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 8-12 38.
DALLAS (72) — Kendra Saba 2 0-0 4, Sara Lojewski 5 1-1 11, Maddie Kelley 13 1-2 29, Courtney Hoats 1 0-0 2, Nikki Wren 6 1-1 13, Olivia Johnson 2 0-0 5, Hanna Johnson 0 0-0 0, Leah Gorr 0 0- 0, Maria Bednar 1 3-3 5, Hannah Doran 1 0-0 2, Sam Kern 0 0-0 0, Angelina Allen 0 1-2 1, Sydney Strickland 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 7-9 72.
Wyoming Seminary`21`10`3`4`—`38
Dallas`27`17`21`7`—`72
Three-point goals — SEM 2 (Lehman 2); DAL 3 (Kelley 2, O. Johnson).
Springford 62, Holy Redeemer 60 (OT)
HOLY REDEEMER (60) — Lydia Lawson 1 1-2 4, Rebecca Procziak 4 13-15 21, Meghan Corridoni 1 6-8 8, Sara Flannelly 0 1-2 1, Talia Kosierowski 3 2-2 10, Kayla Hons 2 0-0 6, Sam Rajza 4 1-2 10, Julia Andrejko 0 0-2 0. Totals 15 24-33 60.
SPRINFORD (62) — Wagner 7 8-9 22, Alessandroni 1 0-0 2, Renfch 0 0-0 0, Haynes 5 0-3 11, Roth 0 2-5 2, Walker 6 1-2 13, Haney 1 6-6 9, Marte 1 0-1 2. Totals 21 17-26 62.
Holy Redeemer`10`11`15`17`7`—`60
Springford`16`7`7`23`9—`62
Three-point goals — HR 6 (Kosierowski 2, Hons 2, Lawson, Rajza ); SPR 2 (Haynes, Haney).
Panther Valley 60, MMI Prep 23
MMI PREP (23) — Kryslyn Postupack 4 1-3 9, Maddie Perchak 4 2-3 11, Jessie McClellan 0 1-2 1, Bailey Slusser 1 0-0 2, Jessica Smith 0 0-1 0, Emily Mundorf 0 0-0 0, Maddie Dryfoss 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 4-9 23.
PANTHER VALLEY (60) — Bailey Dudicello 0 0-0 0, Brianna Strachle 1 0-0 2, Rachel Knoblauch 0 1-1 1, Brianna Pichk 4 1-2 10, Sara Giardano 0 0-0 0, Richelle Filer 1 1-2 3, Caroline Markovich 1 0-0 3, Molly Sheridan 1 0-0 2, Christina Oday 5 3-7 14, Chloe Miller 0 2-2 2, Chloe Markovich 6 1-2 17, Tia Ketchledge 1 2-2 4, Robin Krajar 1 0-0 2, Samantha Williams 1 0-0 2, Abigail Hoban 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 11-18 60.
MMI Prep`10`6`2`5`—`23
Panther Valley`15`22`13`10`—`60
Three-point goals — MMI 1 (Perchak); PV 7 (Ch. Markovich 4, Pichk, Ca. Markovich, Oday).
