Konek injured as Southmoreland girls fall to No. 4 Keystone Oaks

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 19, 2018 | 9:56 AM

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Southmoreland showed it's more than just Cali Konek — at least for a quarter and a half.

Konek injured her knee just 16 seconds into the game Thursday night, and her teammates rose to the occasion against visiting Keystone Oaks, the fourth-ranked team in WPIAL Class 4A.

But the flame only flickered before Keystone Oaks snuffed it out.

A dismal second half cost the Scotties, and Konek was a nonfactor as Keystone Oaks earned a 56-30 win in Section 3-4A.

Southmoreland managed one field goal in the second half and was outscored 24-4.

Konek pulled up lame and clutched her right knee at the 7-minute, 44-second mark of the first quarter. The Division I prospect, who has more than 1,400 career points, left to receive treatment before returning with 6:30 to go in the second quarter. She played with her knee wrapped and in a brace but seemed uncomfortable and out of rhythm.

Coach Brian Pritts said Konek will be evaluated and will not play Friday night at Greensburg Salem.

“We hope she is OK,” Pritts said. “Our trainer thought it might have been an ACL. We'll have to see.”

While she was out, Southmoreland (8-6, 3-5) surprisingly played right with the first-place Golden Eagles, even taking a 5-4 lead as it got a spark from sophomore guard Charity Henderson, who finished with 12 points, all in the first half.

Keystone Oaks (12-3, 8-0) only led 17-16 after one quarter. A couple of and-1's by Maggie Moore and Carissa Cyphert helped Southmoreland.

Southmoreland continued to keep it close in the second quarter. Henderson's 3-pointer tied it at 19-19. But eight straight points by Gillian Piccolino pushed the lead to 32-21.

Piccolino finished with a game-high 17 points.

Jaylen Hoffman added 11, and Linda Washburn had 10 in the win. Keystone Oaks won its first section title last season with a 14-0 record. The Golden Eagles are well on their way to their second. The win was their 22nd in a row in section.

Konek connected on a 3-pointer with 54 seconds left until halftime to make it 32-24, her only points of the game.

Southmoreland was punchless after that.

“You can't score five points in the second half against anybody and expect to win,” Pritts said. “Our passing was poor and we froze up. We didn't execute on offense and got lazy.”

Southmoreland did not make another field goal until the 5:55 mark of the fourth quarter, a span of almost 12 minutes.

“They were hitting shots and No. 5 (Henderson) was on fire,” Keystone Oaks coach Ron Muszynski said of Southmoreland. “They played inspired with (Konek) on the bench and came together as a team.”

But so did the Eagles, who adjusted rather quickly and, despite missing a number of good looks themselves, outscored the Scotties, 17-1, over nine-plus minutes of the second half.

Keegan Brownlee's 3 off the backboard to beat the third-quarter buzzer gave the Eagles a 47-27 lead.

“It's very unfortunate to see (Konek) get hurt like that,” said Piccolino, who has more than 900 points for her career. “We weren't going to let her get 30 tonight. Defense was our main focus. The other girls played well, but we used that to our advantage.”

Muszynski said his team guarded Konek “over the top.”

“We didn't want her to stop and pop like she does,” he said. “She had 12 or 14 against us last time, including six in the last few seconds. Our girls did a nice job trapping. It was a team effort, defensively especially.”

Southmoreland began the night in fifth place in the section. The top four teams qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. The Scotties have not been to the postseason since the 2007-08 season.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Keystone Oaks, Southmoreland