By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
MOUNT CARMEL – Dani Rae Renno took over in the last two minutes of her final Mount Carmel home game, allowing the Red Tornadoes to recover from a fourth-quarter comeback by Holy Cross and escape with a 50-47 victory Friday night in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 2A girls state quarterfinal.
Holy Cross ran off 12 straight points to erase a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit and wound up ahead by 3 before Mount Carmel scored 7 of the game’s last 8 points.
The Lady Crusaders contained Renno, a 6-foot-2 center who was an all-state selection last season, for much of the night.
“We worked so hard,” Holy Cross coach Barry Fitzgerald said. “The kid didn’t exist in the first half. I thought we did a great job inside, but occasionally there’s going to be a breakdown where the size is the difference.”
Renno made sure those occasions were more frequent late in the game. She scored six points in the final two minutes, including the tying and winning points in the last minute. She finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
It was a frustrating final minute for the Lady Crusaders.
The game-winning points came on a possession extended by a dead ball rebound that was awarded to Mount Carmel under its basket when an official ruled Holy Cross had touched the ball last. The Lady Crusaders thought otherwise.
With Holy Cross down by two, Kaci Kranson drew at least some contact on a baseline drive, but was charged with traveling.
“I think they deserved a little better there at the end,” Fitzgerald said. “There were a couple of possessions down there on the Mount Carmel end and I’ll leave it there at that; I think we all know what I’m talking about.
“ … I don’t think I question a lot. Some of the explanations I got late in the game were things I’ve never heard before.”
After Mount Carmel outscored Holy Cross 30-14 in the middle two quarters to open a 39-31 lead, it did not appear the game was headed for a dramatic finish.
“At 39-31, people are putting their coats on,” Fitzgerald said. “I love these kids. It’s unfortunate. We fought so hard. And, we got it back to where we had a three-point lead. To get themselves back in the game, they played so hard.”
The Red Tornadoes led 41-31 when Kranson ended a Lady Crusaders offensive drought and started a comeback.
Kranson’s 3-pointer accounted for the team’s first points in 6:27 and first field goal in 7:28. She drove the right side 20 seconds later and suddenly the deficit had been cut in half.
With Mount Carmel’s offense temporarily silenced, Holy Cross kept charging.
“We had to go man in the fourth quarter and that actually helped us a little bit,” Fitzgerald said.
Abbey Lentowski spun off a hit to find herself open with room to nail a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:48 left. The first points by a Lady Crusader other than Kranson in 10 minutes reduced the Mount Carmel lead to 41-39.
Caitlyn Bestrycki tied the game on a 10-footer from the left side with 2:50 left.
Kranson made both ends of a one-and-one with 2:11 left to complete a 12-point streak and put Holy Cross in front, 43-41.
Renno’s putback of her own rebound tied the game.
With Fitzgerald trying to instruct his players to reset the offense out front, Emily Ferguson launched a quick 3-pointer that went in to put the Lady Crusaders ahead, 46-43.
It turned out to be their last field goal.
Lauren Ayres, Mount Carmel’s second-leading scorer with 11 points, drove the right side to make it 46-45 with 1:06 left.
Ferguson hit the front end of a one-and-one and Holy Cross carried a two-point lead into the final minute.
Mount Carmel had 21 offensive rebounds, 6 in the fourth quarter and half of those in the final minute.
That eventually took its toll on Holy Cross.
Renno tied the game with 47.4 seconds left and had a chance to complete a three-point play, only to miss. Instead, consecutive rebounds, including the one that went out of bounds, went to the Red Tornadoes.
Lentowski blocked a Renno shot, but when Renno got the ball back on the rebound, she was fouled.
This time, the all-stater made both free throws for a 49-47 lead with 29.1 seconds left.
Ayres made one of two free throws with 4.8 seconds left and a hurried attempt on the move, from just inside midcourt at the final buzzer was off the mark.
“It’s tough to go out this way because we had an opportunity on their floor,” Fitzgerald said.
Krista Carachilo hit two 3-pointers in the first six minutes and Holy Cross took a 17-9 lead after one quarter.
Kranson also had six points in the first quarter and grabbed eight rebounds in the first half. She finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Lentowski added 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.
Ferguson had seven points, going 2-for-3 from 3-point range where Holy Cross was 7-for-13.
The Lady Crusaders forced the Red Tornadoes to make many first attempts from beyond the arc, but were hurt by too many second chances.
Mount Carmel was 6-for-23 from long range.
“They ended up with (six) 3s for the game,” Fitzgerald said. “We certainly weren’t expecting that.”
Lauren Shedleski added 10 rebounds to Mount Carmel’s 45-25 advantage on the boards.
Ayres finished with five assists.
