Pittston Area’s Giuliana Latona (14) gets rejected by Dallas’ Odessa Kanton.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Dallas’ Odessa Kanton scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots in a victory over Pittston Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Dallas’ Mia DelGaudio scores easily on a fastbreak in the second quarter against Pittston Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Daniella Ranieli gets around Dallas Area’s Odessa Kanton.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Dallas’ Caitlyn Mizzer tries to save a bad pass with Pittston Area’s Daniella Ranieli defending.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
YATESVILLE — Dallas’ Odessa Kanton was the best player on the court Saturday afternoon.
The 6-foot-3 freshman scored a game-high 22 points, had nine rebounds and added five blocks.
A couple other Mountaineers, though, factored heavily in a 47-36 victory over Pittston Area in a District 2 Class 5A girls basketball semifinal game.
• Caitlyn Mizzer scored just six points, but her defense on Wyoming Valley Conference scoring champion Daniella Ranieli never let the Pittston Area senior get into a rhythm.
Ranieli finished with 12 points. She averaged 22.3 during the regular season, including 26 and 29 points against Dallas, and scored 44% of her team’s points.
“She’s my best defensive player,” Dallas coach Vince Bucciarelli said. “She’s a feisty little thing out there. Whoever we played last year and this year, she is on the best ballplayer. Last year, she split time with Elizabeth Viglone, so those two always took the better ballplayers.”
• Brianna Casey had just three points. She did her damage on the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds, some of which limited Pittston Area to one-and-done possessions.
“She knows the game,” Bucciarelli said. “She didn’t have a great game for us last game offensively, but I told her ‘You’re going to have a good game tonight.’”
Now third-seeded Dallas (15-9) will play top-seeded Crestwood (20-4) for the district title at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mohegan Arena. Dallas won its only district title in 2003 in Class 3A. Crestwood has never won a district championship. Both teams will advance to the PIAA 5A state tournament.
Second-seeded Pittston Area finished 17-8. Besides Ranieli, starters Grace Callahan and Maddie Karp played their final games in a Patriots uniform.
“Very special group, 78 wins in four years here at Pittston Area,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said. “I don’t know where that ranks, but that’s pretty good. It’s going to be a tough day, but the sun is going to come up tomorrow.
“We’ll miss them, but we appreciate everything they’ve done for our program. They certainly won a lot of games.”
Dallas lost the lead just once, 15-14 when Ranieli went coast-to-coast with a rebound with 1:31 left in the second quarter. The Patriots fell behind by 11 points in the third quarter, but Karp finished off the period with a steal for a basket and a 3-pointer to cut Dallas’ lead to 31-26.
Kanton, who averaged 21.5 points in the previous two games with Pittston Area, then showed why she was a matchup problem. She scored inside and off a rebound as Dallas opened the fourth with an 8-0 run. The Mountaineers led by double digits the rest of the way.
District 2 Class 5A Semifinals
Dallas 47, Pittston Area 36
DALLAS (47) — Izzy Evans 3 1-2 7, Caitlyn Mizzer 1 4-4 6, Mia DelGaudio 1 1-2 3, Odessa Kanton 9 4-6 22, Brianna Casey 0 3-4 3, Malaysia Shaw 3 0-0 6, Lucy Brunn 0 0-0 0. Riley Samanas 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 13-18 47.
PITTSTON AREA (36) — Daniella Ranieli 4 2-2 12, Maddie Karp 3 2-2 9, Grace Callahan 1 2-2 4, Lili Hintze 0 0-0 0, Julia Long 0 0-0 0, Giuliana Latona 2 2-2 6, Haley Pointek 0 0-0 0, Isabella Dessoye 1 0-0 3, Nora Callahan 0 0-0 0, Arianna McGarry 1 0-0 2, Leah Drozginski 0 0-0 0, Shawna Pugliese 0 0-0 0, Nevaeh Schneider 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 8-8 36.
Dallas`8`9`14`16 — 47
Pittston Area`2`13`11`10 — 36
Three-point goals: PA 4 (Ranieli 2, Karp, Dessoye).
