Knoch prevails over Seneca Valley in hard-fought struggle
FOX CHAPEL — After the first few minutes of Friday afternoon’s matchup with Seneca Valley, the shots weren’t going down like they usually do, but that didn’t deter Knoch’s Nina Shaw, Hattie McGraw, and Naturelle Ewing from continuing to put them up.
Persistence — and stout defense — paid off, as Shaw’s pair of free throw makes untied the contest with four seconds to go and locked up a 34-32 win for the Knights at the Peter Sauer Memorial Tournament at Shady Side Academy. Her side hadn’t held the lead since nearly 30 minutes before that.
Knoch (4-4) was quick out of the gate, as buckets by Naturelle Ewing and Megan Vasas gave the team a 5-0 edge just 0:30 in. The Raiders went on a 14-4 run during the remainder of the opening frame.
Over the first half, the Knights could only knock down seven of their 23 field goals — a 30.4% clip — but entered the midway point knotted up after Adah Fuller laid the ball in 0:10 before the horn sounded.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, Andreassi said. Well, not in those exact words.
“You can’t play out of fear,” he cautioned. “I tell them, ‘Don’t think about it.’ You’ve got to have a short memory in this game, no matter who it is out there. They can all shoot the ball. Just miss one, you get it back and shoot it again.”
