Trivelpiece, Hazleton Area girls basketball team get revenge on Berwick
With a twist and a twirl, Marissa Trivelpiece tiptoed through the paint, tossed in an underhand layup and drew a foul — which she promptly turned into a three-point play.
It seems Hazleton Area’s revenge was served in scoops, not heaving helpings.
Trivelpiece scored 23 points while putting up a double-double, Faith Grula proved key inside by scoring 13 Friday and the Cougars helped themselves to a dominant 52-36 victory over Berwick in a key Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls basketball game at Hazleton Area High School.
“We definitely had more energy coming into this game,” said Trivelpiece, who also pulled down 14 rebounds. “This was the team that gave us our only loss in the league.
“That kind of stings a little bit.”
Hazleton Area did most of the stinging in the rematch.
The Cougars never trailed after the opening minutes, built an eight-point halftime lead and moved into a 13-point advantage heading into a final quarter where they coasted the rest of the way.
“We made our shots, we played well, we worked as a team,” Grula said. “We passed the ball.
“This was a really big win for us.”
The victory enabled Hazleton Area to avenge a 32-31 defeat at Berwick on Jan. 5 and knock the Bulldogs to 6-3 in league play and into third place in the WVC Division 1, two games behind the 7-1 Cougars and a game in back of second-place Dallas, which is 7-2.
“It gives us a little bit of breathing room,” Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio said. “I still think they (the Bulldogs) can beat anybody in this division. They could have been undefeated.”
Now, the Cougars are unbeaten in their last seven divisional games following that early-January heartbreaker. Trivelpiece
Trivelpiece fouled out of the loss in the final minutes and watched from the bench as Berwick won in the final seconds.
Not Friday.
Trivelpiece scored nine points in the first half and Grula added seven as the Cougars carved out an eight-point lead by halftime.
Berwick was held without a basket for the rest of the second period after Katie Starr’s three-point play opened it by pulling the Bulldogs within 14-12 and Carley Krizansky’s 3-point shot near the end of the half boosted Hazleton Area into a 25-16 lead.
“It was a big thing, coming home and playing like this,” Grula said. “That (first loss) was very disappointing. We knew we could get them in the second game.”
The Cougars got revved up in the second half.
A Hazleton Area press that didn’t seem to affect Berwick much over the first two quarters was switched to one that did, and the Cougars were off and running.
“Different press,” Gavio shrugged. “We have bunch of them.”
Brooke Boretski, Olivia Wolk, Kyra Antolick and Trivelpiece bunched together buckets as Hazleton Area opened the second half on an eight-point run — and opened a 33-20 lead.
Berwick cut its deficit to 10 points midway through the third quarter, but Trivelpiece turned her scoop shot between two Berwick bodies into a three-point-play to restore Hazleton Area’s 13-point advantage.
“We attacked it inside better today,” Trivelpiece said. “The team passed the ball tremendously tonight. Overall, we played better as a team.”
Indeed, the Cougars limited opportunities and held Berwick’s big scorers Renny Murphy to 11 points and Katie Starr to eight.
“We worked the ball nice, passed good, got the ball inside,” Gavio said. “It was a big night — one they (the Cougars) thought they had to have.
“it was just a desire to win the game.”
Hazleton Area 52, Berwick 36
BERWICK (36) — Renny Murphy 3 5-7 11, Morgan Nevel 1 4-6 6, Sarah Steeber 1 2-2 4, Katie Starr 2 4-6 8, Emily Ouimet 1 0-0 2, Jackie Nevel 1 0-0 2, Rachel Whitenight 1 0-0 3. Totals 10 15-21 36.
HAZLETON AREA (52) — Brooke Boretski 0 0-0 0, Olivia Wolk 3 2-2 9, Kyra Antolick 1 0-0 2, Faith Grula 6 1-2 13, Marissa Trivelpiece 6 11-14 23, Carley Krizansky 2 0-0 5, Julie Mooney 0 0-0 0, Isabella Colyer 0 0-0 0, Lacie Kringe 0 0-0 0, Jaya Franek 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 14-18 52.
Berwick`9`8`11`8 — 36
Hazleton Area`14`11`16`11 — 52
Three-point goals — BER 1 (Whitenight); HAZ 2 (Krizansky, Wolk).
