Patriots end Lady Comets’ season in district playoff

The Crestwood girls saw their basketball season come to an end last Thursday night at the hands of Wyoming Valley Conference rival Pittston Area in the opening round of the District 2 Class 5A Tournament. The top-seeded Patriots got off to a fast start, and rode the 19-point game from Kallie Booth to a 41-30 quarterfinal victory that ended the Lady Comets’ campaign at 8-14.

Pittston Area (23-2) went on to defeat number 5 Scranton 47-42 Saturday night to punch its ticket to the championship game this week at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Patriots opened a 17-9 lead through one quarter, though could not extend that against the eighthseeded Lady Comets, who outscored the Patriots 7-3 in the second to close the gap to 20-16 at the half. Pittston Area used a 10-7 third quarter to maintain its lead, then closed things out with an 11-7 fourth to finally put away Crestwood. Daniella Ranieli added 13 points for the Patriots, and combined with Booth for all five of their team’s 3-pointers.

Senior Cadence Hiller paced Crestwood with 13 points, and freshman Keira Dougherty followed with 10. Hiller and fellow seniors Julia Glowacki (3 points) and Katelyn Bozinko played their final games for the Lady Comets.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023