by Erin Hogan
When talking to assistant Coach Paul Slaver before the game he said, “This’ll be a tough one; St. Joe’s is never easy.” Slaver’s words rang true in the Lady Mountaineers’ match up versus the Saint Joseph Crusaders from Pittsfield, MA. The Mountaineers took an early 9-0 lead in the first quarter with scoring from Gabriella Ranellucci, Kayla Hawk and Victoria Muller. In the post Muller did some excellent rebounding and was cleaning up any missed shots. In period one, the Berlin ladies kept the Crusaders from scoring, only letting them have 5 points to their 13. But St. Joe’s didn’t give up even though they were down. They closed the gap to a more even 16-10. The half ended with a beautiful play from Erin Berschwinger and Kayla Hawk. Berschwinger made a perfect pass to Hawk who put it up for two. At half time, the score was Berlin 18, Saint Joe’s 14. With only a 4 point lead, the Lady Mountaineers still had two tough periods ahead of them.
Deanna Nash wasted no time letting the other team know how it was going to be. She squared up and slammed a deep three right down the throat of the hoop. St. Joe’s responded with a layup. The game started to get intense with great defensive pressure from the Lady Mountaineers. Scoring was back and forth with both teams hitting shots. Halfway through the third quarter Berlin still had a good lead of 30-18 with Muller owning the post. Kyah Stevens put up a shot for two and then next time down the court drew a foul and sunk both her foul shots. The third quarter ended with a 37-18 Berlin lead.
Once again, to start off the last quarter, Deanna Nash set the pace. She was in charge scoring the first 4 points of the quarter, not letting St. Joe’s respond this time. The Lady Mountaineers followed Nash’s example, and there was scoring from everyone on the team. The Crusaders never gave up and put up three more baskets making the score Berlin 49, St. Joe’s 21. For a third time Nash put her foot down and this time stole the ball from the opposing team and sprinted down the court for a layup which was followed by Berschwinger getting a basket, along with Stevens. The Crusaders scored three more times before the game concluded. The game ended with a shot from Berschwinger to put the icing on the cake.
This exciting game ended with the Lady Mountaineers walking away with heads held high in a 55-27 win.