Scranton girls advance in District 2 basketball
Mar. 5—SCRANTON — Lanee Olson never hesitated.
She took one strong dribble and darted toward the basket, threw up a shot, withstood a foul and banked it in for a basket. After a free throw, it turned into a momentum-shifting three-point play and fourth-seeded Scranton thwarted a comeback from No. 5 Delaware Valley, 55-46, in a District 2 Class 6A quarterfinal Thursday night.
The Lady Knights (5-9) advance to play at top-seeded Hazleton Area (12-7) on Monday.
Olson, a sophomore in a Scranton lineup that features five freshmen, played with poise down the stretch. She scored 16 points, including five in the final 1:16 of the game, and added five rebounds and three assists overall.
"I knew we had to have a momentum switch," Olson said. "I really thought, me being a sophomore, I had to be the leader out there and make a big change in the game and get our confidence back up to finish."
Twins Kennedy Bittenbender and Finley Bittenbender also provided a boost for the Lady Knights. In the first half, Finley made four 3-pointers to fuel the Scranton attack that established a 34-18 lead. She finished with 16 points.
"When I am open and I feel like I am on, I say give me the ball," Finley said. "I was making them and it felt good. We were able to knock down the shots and we focused on not turning the ball over to build that lead."
Kennedy had a big second quarter with 11 of her 19 points. She also knocked down a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter after Delaware Valley drew to within 47-44 with 3:21 to play.
"Throughout the whole season, I really haven't been that confident shooting," Kennedy said. "I just recently started shooting more and coach (PJ Hughes) is always telling me to shoot. I just had to take the 3 and make it. I watched it and I knew it was in. I knew we needed it."
Scranton played with confidence in the first half. Olson ignited a 7-0 run in the final 3:58 of the opening quarter to help the Lady Knights overcome a fast start by Delaware Valley's Brooke Acoveno. Finley Bittenbender followed with a 3-pointer and Aniyah Hebron, a fifth freshman who logged several minutes, had an offensive putback for a 12-9 lead.
Scranton had a strong finish to the second quarter. Kennedy Bittenbender took control with a pair of driving layups and a 3-pointer and her sister capped the surge with her fourth 3-pointer of the half and the Lady Knights closed on a 10-0 run for a 34-18 advantage. The Lady Knights' lead swelled to 41-22 in the first 2 minutes of the third, with Kennedy Bittenbender scoring five.
Then, Delaware Valley made a move. Sparked by Mackenzie Olsommer and 3-pointers from Meghan Byrnes and Erin Hartey, the Lady Warriors climbed back into the game and trailed, 43-32, after three quarters.
Delaware Valley also had a fast start to the fourth as Acoveno, who led the team with 17 points, finished a fast break and scored four more points, and Byrnes knocked down another 3-pointer to make it 45-41.
"I think in the second half, we talked about defensive adjustments and letting the defense fuel our offense," Delaware Valley coach Lindsey Baker said. "We saw that we had some opportunities to go inside-out with them collapsing on Acoveno and our shooters stepped up to make some big shots.
"Their second-quarter run really did us in, but I am proud of the way they battled back and executed the game plan at the end of the game."
That's when Olson grabbed the momentum back on her drive and three-point play, and after an Olsommer three-point play, Kennedy Bittenbender drilled her key 3-pointer as the Lady Knights were able to close out the win.
"It's really nice to have a good win," Olson said. "We played really hard. We played really well in the first half. We had a little stumble a bit in the third quarter. But since we are really young, we kind of pulled it together and pulled out a win."
Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter
