Big performance from Ranieli leads Pittston Area girls basketball to win

Dec. 14—KINGSTON — Wyoming Seminary's size and physicality provided a tough test for the Pittston Area girls basketball team early in the season, but Daniella Ranieli came prepared.

Ranieli scored a game-high 27 points and guided the Patriots down the stretch in a 44-35 victory over the Blue Knights at the Carpenter Athletic Center on Wednesday.

There was no quit from Seminary, which had the lead down to six points midway through the final quarter and continued to blitz Pittston's ballhandlers with a full-court press, looking to create turnovers.

But Ranieli knew just how to beat it — whether it be shaking defenders off the dribble or finding open teammates through double-teams.

"We just had to move the ball quickly and play as a team," Ranieli said. "They had a pretty good press, so we had to move the ball."

A slow-tempo game controlled by the two defenses, Wyoming Seminary used its size advantage early to win the battles on the boards and keep the defending district champion Patriots close, trailing Pittston Area by just two after the first quarter.

Then, Ranieli got cooking — scoring 20 of her teams' 22 points across the second and third quarters, knocking down a couple of threes and building just enough of a cushion to keep Seminary out of it.

"I just play, I let the game come to me," Ranieli said.

She also created a number of turnovers on the defensive end, and the Patriots defense as a whole did a good job keeping Seminary from finding open looks or easy baskets at the hoop.

"They had a little bit of a size advantage but I thought defensively, we just played outstanding," Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said. "I was proud of our performance."

While Ranieli was firing on all cylinders for Pittston, it was freshman Ella Stambaugh who played a massive part in keeping Wyoming Seminary in the game.

Stambaugh had 22 points, knocked down four three-pointers and created some matchup issues for the Patriots with her versatility, equally adept at scoring down low as she was with her jump shot.

Pittston Area led by 10 heading into the final quarter, but Sem made some tough shots to cut the lead to six. That's as close as they would get, however, as the Patriots were able to get through the full-court press with Ranieli at the helm, finding open teammates for layups and running a lot of clock.

"We have an outstanding point guard. ... (Ranieli) could get to the basket, she could get other people shots, she could handle the ball against pressure," Gregory said. "It was the difference in the game. ... What tonight came down to was getting the ball up the court against their pressure."

Maddie Karp was Pittston Area's next leading scorer at six points, with four of them coming in the final quarter to help ice the game. Lili Hintze and Ella O'Brien each scored four points, and Grace Callahan had three points to round out the scoring for the Patriots.

Outside of Stambaugh, Maya Gross had five points for Sem, while Clare Griffin had four points and was the only Blue Knight outside of Stambaugh to score in the final quarter.

The Patriots improved to 5-0 in non-league play with the win, while Wyoming Seminary dropped to 3-2.

H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL

Pittston Area 44, Wyoming Seminary 35

PITTSTON AREA (44) — Ranieli 9 7-9 27, Karp 2 2-2 6, Latona 0 0-0 0, Lazevnick 0 0-0 0, Hintze 2 0-0 4, O'Brien 2 0-0 4, Callahan 1 3-4 3. Totals 15 12-15 44

WYOMING SEMINARY (35) — Gross 2 0-0 5, Lichtenstein 1 0-0 2, Griffin 2 0-0 4, Stambaugh 7 4-4 22, Parra 0 0-0 0, Kersey 0 0-0 0, Smeraldi 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 4-4 35.

Pittston Area'12'13'9'10 — 44

Wyo. Seminary'10'6'8'11 — 35

Three-point goals: PA 2 (Ranieli 2), SEM 5 (Stambaugh 4, Gross).