×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Madonna Takes Care of Valley

Martin supplies double-double

Photo by Andrew Grimm Madonna’s Rachel Boniti drives by Valley’s Shyanne Moore during a West Virginia Class A Region One, Section One semifinal Tuesday night.

WEIRTON — The ability to adapt to what an opponent is throwing at one is important. Doing so in the tournament is vital.

Tuesday night inside the Dube Dome, Madonna girls basketball team did just that, utilizing Kennedy Martin inside to build a big lead and open the Class A Region One, Section One tournament with a 59-26 victory over Valley.

“They surprised us a little bit,” Madonna coach Rodney Boniti said of Valley’s defensive strategy.

“They came out in a 2-3 set, but actually chased (Gia) Riccadonna around almost like a 2-3, box-and-one man-to-man set. It freed up the inside, and Kennedy (Martin) took advantage of it. The coaches had the girls really prepared.”

Martin had a double-double by halftime, finishing with 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds overall.

“Kennedy was a beast in the first half,” Boniti said. “Rebounding, blocking shots, getting putbacks, she dominated the inside. It gave us a huge advantage.”

Also reaching double figures for the Blue Dons (17-5) were Andy Alimario with a game-high 14 points and Gabby Staffileno with 12 points off the bench.

“Gab was sick earlier in the week,” Boniti said. “We weren’t sure how many minutes we could get out of her, but she played well.”

The Madonna bench contributed 18 points, led by Staffileno’s efforts.

“We’ve talked about it all year. These kids don’t care about points and rebounds, they want to go out and play as a unit,” Boniti said. “It was good to see (the bench step up). We had a few girls that don’t normally play a lot of minutes get valuable minutes and allow us to keep fresh.”

For Valley (12-12) coach Casey Sapp, said some of the problem was the number of fouls his team took.

Madonna went 16 of 25 from the line, while the Lumberjills got to the line four times in the game — all by Caitlin Underwood — and made three.

“We fouled a lot,” Sapp said. “Playing man, you’re going to do that sometimes. (Coach Boniti) had a good plan. They ran a lot of little screens and got us out of position, which got us into foul trouble.”

After Valley got off to a good start to keep it close early, the Blue Dons got rolling and never looked back. The Lumberjills held a 4-2 lead in the opening minutes, but Madonna outscored Valley 17-3 the rest of the way to open up a 19-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We haven’t played in 11 days, and I thought our ball movement was really good,” Boniti said. “In the first period, I thought we had them off balance. I thought we were seeing things well. It took a little bit of time to get in a rythm, but I thought we got things rolling pretty well.”

That lead was expanded further to 32-15 at the break. Martin had 12 points and 12 boards after the first two quarters.

“I thought we played fairly well in the first half,” Sapp said. “It didn’t feel like a 17-point game. In the second half, they just wore us down and kept getting us into more and more foul trouble, and it kind of got out of hand.”

The Blue Dons continued to pull away in the third and fourth quarters, advancing to Friday’s sectional title game with a 33-point victory.

Madonna will face Wheeling Central in the sectional final on Friday. The Maroon Knights defeated Cameron, 66-48, in the other semifinal matchup.

The location of that game is pending the teachers’ strike. If the strike ends before Friday, the game will be at Brooke, where the tournament was originally scheduled to be played before the strike came about on Monday. If the strike continues until Friday’s game, the contest will be at Madonna, again at the Dube Dome, since the Blue Dons are the higher seed.

“The road isn’t going to be easy,” Boniti said. “I think our girls are up to the task and are looking forward to this.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today