Kylie Lavelle scored the last 5 of her game-high 25 points in the final 17 seconds Monday night to rally Riverside to a 57-53 victory over host Holy Cross in a Lackawanna League Division 3 game.
The Lady Crusaders had the Lady Vikes on the ropes in the game matching two of the top three Small Schools in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
“I’m really proud of how we executed down the stretch,” Riverside coach Jack Mekilo said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we made enough plays to pull it out.”
Kaci Kranson hit a pull-up, 12-foot jumper with about a minute left to put Holy Cross, the No. 3 Small School girls team in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, ahead of No. 1 Riverside, 53-51.
The Lady Vikes then scored the game’s final six points.
Riverside got three straight offensive rebounds on the ensuing possession, leading to Alese Karpinski getting to the foul line to hit the second of two shots and cut the deficit to one with 40 seconds remaining.
Karpinski forced a turnover with 28 seconds left.
Lavelle drove the left side for the go-ahead, three-point play with 17 seconds left.
Holy Cross was in danger of a five-second violation on the in-bounds play coming out of a timeout.
The resulting errant pass was picked off by Bella McKeefery, who immediately got the ball to Lavelle.
Lavelle was fouled and made both shots with 12.7 seconds remaining.
Karpinski had 6 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter for Riverside and grabbed 6 rebounds.
Abbey Lentowski led Holy Cross with 19 points. Kaci Kranson and Krista Carachilo added 14 each.
Lentowski scored 10 and Kranson had 6 to give Holy Cross an 18-16 lead after one quarter.
The Lady Crusaders remained in front, 30-27 at halftime and 43-41 going to the fourth quarter.
Carachilo hit two 3-pointers and scored 9 points in the third quarter to help offset 11 points by Lavelle.
Riverside is 5-1 in the division and 12-1 overall. Holy Cross dropped to 3-3 and 5-3.
Elsewhere Monday night:
Lake-Lehman 43, Wyoming Area 35
Claire Dougherty scored 15 points to lead the way when Lake-Lehman took over the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 lead with a win at Wyoming Area.
The teams went into the game tied for second in the division, but the Lady Knights took advantage of a loss by Nanticoke.
The Lady Knights held the Lady Warriors to four points in the third quarter while extending a 25-21 halftime lead to 35-25.
Morgan Janeski led Wyoming Area with 12 points.
Tunkhannock 47, Nanticoke 44
Tunkhannock scored 10 of the game’s last 12 points, including 6 straight in the last 18 seconds, to hand Nanticoke its first WVC Division 2 loss.
Anna Williams hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 18 seconds left.
Maci Iddings then came up with a steal in the backcourt. Her shot was blocked, but Iddings got the rebound and sent the ball from the left baseline out to Williams at the foul line.
Williams then zipped a pass to Stephens under the basket on the right side. Stephens was fouled while scoring the game-winning basket, turning it into a three-point play with 4.2 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Nanticoke got off a shot from just inside midcourt, but it fell well short.
For the second straight game, Tunkhannock disrupted the division race by handing a leader its first loss in the division.
The Lady Tigers put the Trojanettes into sole possession of first place Friday by knocking Wyoming Area out of a first-place tie, then beat host Nanticoke to knock them out of that spot.
Nanticoke was 7-for-10 from the line in the final 2:52, but Tunkhannock combined backcourt steals and offensive rebounds into the extra chances it would need to put together the 10-2 run over the final 1:24.
Alaina Ritz started it with a steal and layup to cut the deficit to 42-39.
Stephens continued her strong play during Tunkhannock’s three-game winning streak in a four-game stretch. She had 5 of her 14 points in the final 34 seconds, including a putback to pull the Lady Tigers within 43-41.
Riley Baird, who led Nanticoke with 14 points, made one of two free throws to put the lead at three before Williams made her tying shot.
Lake-Lehman is 4-1, Nanticoke 3-1 and Wyoming Area 3-2. Surging Tunkhannock (2-3) and defending champion Holy Redeemer (1-2) are also within striking distance.
Wyoming Valley West 44, Dallas 42
Kalia Saunders scored 11 points to lead the way for host Wyoming Valley West, which knocked Dallas out of a share of the WVC Division 1 lead.
The Lady Spartans handed the Mountaineers both of their losses this season.
Saunders had five points in the first quarter when Wyoming Valley West took an 11-6 lead.
Haylie Oliphant hit three 3-pointers in the first half, including two in the second quarter to help offset a Bella Hill-led push by Dallas.
Hill had 9 of her game-high 16 points in the quarter, but Dallas was only able to cut the deficit to 26-22.
Trinity Johnson, who matched Oliphant with nine points, and Claudia Siegfried had five points each in the third quarter. The Lady Spartans went to the fourth leading 38-32.
Wyoming Valley West used the win to jump from fourth to second in Division 1.
Hazleton Area, which had the night off, leads at 3-1. Wyoming Valley West is 4-2. Berwick, Wilkes-Barre Area and Dallas are all 3-2.
Berwick 46, Wilkes-Barre Area 39
The Wilkes-Barre Area girls are 7-0 against everyone else this season, but 0-2 against Berwick by the same score each time.
The latest win for the visiting Lady Bulldogs was led by Katie Starr and Renny Murphy.
Starr had 17 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 5 steals. Murphy had 14 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.
They helped control Gloria Adjayi and offset the damage done by a pressing defense led by Vanessa Luna.
Adjayi had her usual double-double, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
Luna had 11 points, 5 steals, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The Wolfpack forced the Lady Bulldogs into 16 turnovers in the middle two quarters.
Berwick is 2-0 since returning from a break related to COVID-19 protocols, even though it is proceeding without a starter and two valuable reserves at this point because of various health reasons.
Crestwood 45, Pittston Area 33
Helena Jardine scored 21 points to lead Crestwood to the WVC Division 1 win at Pittston Area.
Brianna Wickiser added 11 points in the win.
Abington Heights 73, West Scranton 30
Clair Marion scored 19 of her 24 points while helping Abington Heights open a 50-17 halftime lead at West Scranton in the Lackawanna Division 1 game.
Rachel McDonald had 13 of her 16 points in the first half.
The win was the 100th of her career at Abington Heights for sixth-year coach Deanna Klingman.
Valley View 44, Honesdale 22
Skylar Bianchi scored 21 points to lead Valley View to the win in the Lackawanna Division 1-2 crossover.
Alexa Evangelista added 10 points.
Scranton Prep 83, Delaware Valley 25
Unbeaten Scranton Prep piled up 58 first-half points while winning easily at home in the Lackawanna Division 1-2 crossover.
Western Wayne 59, Scranton 45
Kaeli Romanowski scored 26 points to lead Division 2 leader Western Wayne to the win over visiting Scranton in the Lackawanna Division 1-2 crossover.
Kathy Shepherd and Jacque Morris added nine points each.
North Pocono 63, Wallenpaupack 36
North Pocono raced out to a 20-4 lead after one quarter of the Lackawanna Division 2 game at Wallenpaupack.
The defending division champion Lady Trojans snapped a three-game league losing streak.
Dunmore 55, Mid Valley 17
Dunmore opened a 44-4 halftime lead to remain in front of the Lackawanna Division 3 race.
Moriah Murray finished with 17 points to lead the way.
Ciera Toomey added 11 points and Mia Blume had 10.
Old Forge 49, Carbondale 21
Old Forge opened a 16-2 lead after one quarter in the Lackawanna Division 3 game and cruised from there.
Elk Lake 38, Lackawanna Trail 33
Elk Lake fought off a challenge from visiting Lackawanna Trail, holding the third-place Lady Lions to six fourth-quarter points while holding on to a share of the Lackawanna Division 4 lead at 5-0.
Montrose 47, Mountain View 30
Montrose went on the road and posted its fifth straight victory by a double-figures margin to remain unbeaten and keep pace with Elk Lake for the Lackawanna Division 4 lead.
Susquehanna 52, Blue Ridge 21
Meghan Kiernan scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Sabers to the Lackawanna Division 4 victory.
Kerstin Dooley added 10 points.
BERWICK/WILKES-BARRE AREA GAME: https://nepabasketball.com/2020-21/articles/BerwickWBAGGame.
