By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
Olivia Ciullo’s team needs her now more than ever and she is responding.
Ciullo, a returning Class 2A all-state player at Old Forge, has scored at least 35 points in three of her past four games. Dating back to last year’s state tournament, she also has 35 points in each of her past two postseason games.
A senior and four-year starter at Old Forge, Ciullo moved to center when Angelina Rios went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and, in the four games since her teammate’s knee injury, Ciullo is averaging 30 points per game.
Coming off a precautionary break to observe COVID-19 protocols, Ciullo shook off any issues of not being able to practice together by scoring her 35 points in the first three quarters as the Lady Devils opened defense of their District 2 Class 2A title with a 58-18 romp over Mountain View.
That effort has landed Ciullo the Brucelli Advertising District 2 Girls Basketball Player of the Week award.
It is the second straight playoff game that has produced a District 2 Player of the Week award for Ciullo. She was honored a year ago after scoring her then career-high of 35 in a 67-51 victory over Steelton-Highspire in the second-round of the state Class 2A tournament, the last round that was played before the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association shut down the event because of the pandemic.
Ciullo has since topped that mark, scoring 36 and 37 in the first two games following the Rios injury.
“It’s just how the game’s have been going,” Ciullo said of the scoring increase that has pushed her season average beyond 23 points per game. “We lost one of our best players recently. When Angelina Rios tore her ACL, we lost a lot of rebounding, a lot of really good defense and some points in the games that really helped us out.
“I just felt like I have to step it up a little bit more now that she’s out.”
The Lady Devils have long known that they can count on Ciullo, a Susquehanna University commit, for tough inside play and steady scoring with her mid-range game. A second-team Lackawanna League Division 3 all-star as a freshman, Ciullo moved up to being a first-team pick by NEPABasketball.com each of the past two seasons. The website also named her second-team, all-District 2, for all classifications, following a junior season that included her 1,000th career point.
After losing one of the team’s other three seniors and replacing her with freshman Talia Piragas, Ciullo has tried to help support the newcomer on the inside as much as possible.
“I have to help out a lot more in the middle and play more in the center position now that Angelina is out,” said Ciullo, who prepared for her senior year by joining the bulk of the district’s top players on the NEPA Elite 17U Clark AAU team that won the Hoop Group Girls Showcase League title.
Old Forge stormed through the quarterfinals of the district tournament, returning from its layoff to build leads of 21-5 after one quarter, 40-10 at halftime and 53-12 going into the fourth quarter, earning Ciullo the rest of the night off.
“We were off for seven days, so we were really hyped up to get back on the court as a team,” Ciullo said. “Its districts and we really want to get going at this time of year.
“We were ready.”
Ciullo said Old Forge was a little sloppy to start out, but fixed it quickly.
“Not playing for a week can do a lot to a team, so I was a little worried,” she said, “but I thought we played with a lot of energy.”
Olivia is the daughter of Mike Ciullo and Rose Ungaro of Old Forge.
Crestwood’s Julia Glowacki and Lakeland’s Colby White also received consideration for the award.
Glowacki hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points to help make Crestwood the only District 2 girls team to win a quarterfinal game on the road with a 46-41 victory at Wyoming Valley West in Class 5A.
White had 21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocked shots when Lakeland defeated Mid Valley, 52-38, in a Class 3A quarterfinal.
