Hopewell Girls Basketball Season Ends With Loss to Greensburg Salem in WPIAL Playoffs

Heading into tonight’s 1st round WPIAL Playoff game, the Hopewell Girls Basketball team knew that the size of Greensburg Salem was going to be a challenge as they had four players on their roster that were 5’11” and taller.

Unfortunately, that size differential and their physical style of play was just too much for this young Vikings team to handle as they Hopewell loses tonight to Greensburg Salem by the score of 43-20.

Hopewell started out well but as the game went on, Greensburg Salem had too much for Hopewell to handle in the paint and defensively, Greensburg Salem made things very difficult as they seemingly contested every Hopewell shot. The Vikings were unable to take any shots without a GS defender in their face.

Regardless of the outcome, this was a great learning experience for Coach Homziak’s young team as they got to experience WPIAL playoff basketball. The next step for this program is picking up a win. The exciting part is that Caylee Sundy (sophomore), Avery Boyd (freshman), Maya Richburg (sophomore), Allison Ramaley (sophomore), Marlee Page (freshman) and Alyssa Spang (junior who was injured all season) all return, along with a talented group of 8th graders.

Here are some highlights on tonight’s playoff game:

1st Quarter:
-Caylee Sundy converts a reverse layup to get Hopewell on the board. 2-2

-Sundy drives the lane and is fouled shooting. She knocks down both FT’s. Hopewell 4-2.

-Next possession, same thing as Sundy gets fouled. Makes 1 of 2 from the line. Hopewell 5-2.

-Impressive freshman guard Avery Boyd hits a foul line jumper. Hopewell 7-3.

-With less than 2 minutes in the quarter, Boyd gets a defensive rebound and drives the court and is fouled shooting.  Avery would make both shots. Hopewell 9-7.

-With :20 seconds left, Sundy hits a spinning shot from the lane. Hopewell 11-7.

End of 1st Quarter: Hopewell 11 Greensburg Salem 7

2nd Quarter:
-Maya Richburg hits a 3-pointer from the wing. Hopewell 14-9.

-After this basket, Greensburg Salem scored the next 15 points of the quarter.

HALFTIME: Greensburg Salem 24 Hopewell 14

3RD Quarter:
-In one of the few times Hopewell was able to get out in transition, Boyd drove the length of the court for 2. GS 32-16

-Later in the quarter, Richburg does the same thing as she goes right down the middle of the lane for 2. GS 34-18

-Then the prettiest hoop of the night, Boyd drives the lane, spins and almost backward, throws a shot up and connects, plus is fouled. GS 34-20.

End of 3rd Quarter: Greensburg Salem 38 Hopewell 20 

Congratulations to Coach Homziak, his staff and of course the players who battled hard all year and were able to get past depth issues to have a nice season.

I’m sure they’re going to work hard in the offseason and HSN looks forward to covering you next season.

Go Vikings!