PGH VHSL Finals: Heritage Wears the Crown

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A game where the tone was set on the defensive end got close but ultimately Heritage pulled it out at the end and this was what happened!<br><br><br>From the beginning of the game Heritage's game plan was very clear: stop [player_tooltip player_id='731303' first='Gabby' last='Crawley']!<br>The tone was set right off the back with Keira Stanford face-guarding Gabby from the start of the game! As a whole Heritage team pressured Salem into multiple tie-ups and 5 turnovers in the 1st quarter. Not to be outdone by Heritage Salem fought back with some good defense as well despite getting off to a slow start. Heritage outrebounded Salem 20 to 4 in the 1st quarter but only shot 3-18 including 0-6 from three and ended the quarter leading 8-4 with [player_tooltip player_id='985809' first='Alyssa' last='Stanford'] leading the way with 6 points shooting 3-6 from the field!<br><br>Salem's slow start continued in the beginning of the quarter after a missed shot [player_tooltip player_id='985809' first='Alyssa' last='Stanford'] had a great baseline drive and kick to Rachel Stewart for three! Rachel Stewart went on a small run on her own she had two steals that lead to layups including a nice dish to Keira Stanford for two and that was followed up with a drive to the basket by [player_tooltip player_id='1213227' first='Riley' last='Makitka'] and lead jump to 19-7 with Salem only scoring 2 points in this stretch of the game. [player_tooltip player_id='731303' first='Gabby' last='Crawley'] and Emma Custer stepped up for their team with two big time buckets including a free throw jumper by Gabby at the end of the frame and Salem was down 22-11 at halftime!<br><br>After a quick Heritage score Emma Custer got a big and 1 basket to get Salem and the crowd going then she followed that up with an offensive rebound putback to bring the score to 25-18. After a bad missed foul call Salem coach got a technical foul that allowed Heritage to go on a 5-0 run which got  [player_tooltip player_id='985809' first='Alyssa' last='Stanford'] isolated on a smaller play for a layup and [player_tooltip player_id='1213227' first='Riley' last='Makitka'] to end the frame with a backdoor layup for a 32-18 lead after 3 quarters.<br><br>Salem started their best quarter scoring 19 in the frame that was more than they scored the entire game! It got started with an Emma Custer layup but that was 3 by Heritage! Then after two offensive rebounds [player_tooltip player_id='985809' first='Alyssa' last='Stanford'] got a big time putback alone with a pullup at the free throw line jumper! Salem started to fight back with big corner 3 and steal and 1 bracket by [player_tooltip player_id='731303' first='Gabby' last='Crawley'] to cut the lead to 39-32! But at the end it was too much [player_tooltip player_id='985809' first='Alyssa' last='Stanford'] she sealed the game with a and1 basket and two free throws at the end for a 46-37 victory for Heritage!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Three Key Takeaways:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1.Salem should have went to a big line up with two 6 footers on the roster that play minutes it could have wore Heritage down. Heritage did not make not one sub the entire game starters played all 32 minutes!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> 2. Free throw woes Salem shot 8-20 from the line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3 Heritage made [player_tooltip player_id='731303' first='Gabby' last='Crawley'] the primary ball handler and took her away from being the primary scorer; she only had 6 shots the entire game! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->