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fy LARRY HARTON New s-Herald Staff WriterSThere was no way Oil City could beat Sharon Kennedy Christian in the girls’ DistrictTen basketball championship Saturday at Edinboro StateCollege.Kennedy was bigger (almost 3 inches per girl), much stronger, and faster (two girls outran Jodi Gault on a fast break). Resides that, Oil City plays in a league in which they are able to win games by 30 and I iC points. Kennedy plays in a league that is so competitive, tbe gymnasiums are filled when they play.So, when Oil City was down by a £8-1.4 score midway through tbe second quarter, it wasn’t too surprising. Kennedy was doing tbe job.Row then, did coach Dixie Agnew’s Oilerettes come on for a 51-50 win and by doing so take home Oil City’s first-ever District Ten title in basketball?Man was it exciting.We in the area have seen good basketball teams, good football teams, good wrestlers, good track stars, etc. How many get this far? Sure, it’s one thing to be great, but it’s another thing to have been there.Prom now until the day they die, the 1974*75 Oil City Oilerettes will know what it was like to have been there.If they don’t win another game, they still have done more than they should have done. They will try, however, one more time, Wednesday at Edinboro again, in a 6 p.m. game with WPIAL runner-up Baldwin. That game is part of the triple-header to be played that night.Saturday’s hero, again, was Jodi Gault. She did it in the Hickory game with two 20-footers in the last 30 seconds to pull out the one-point victory and she did it again against Kennedy.Gault was held to just two points over the first three quarters. Part of that was due to an injured right elbow that required a huge bandage and part was due to a tremendous defensive effort by one Carol Lally. Lally, perhaps the game’s most valuable player, was directly responsible for at least 25 of Kennedy’s 50 points, either by her scoring or her stealing the ball and passing for two.Anyhow, to show what the great ones are made of, Gault scored 8 of Oil City’s last 12 points in the final four minutes — and the decisive two-pointer at the 30 second mark (a 25-footer ) to put Oil City ahead for only the second time in the game, 40-48.When the pressure is there, Jodi turns on — you can almost bet your life on it. She didn’t do a thing (by her standards) theentire game until Oil City At any rate, the scoring went game from Trish Erickson who needed it. Then, as if she had 42-37, 44-39, 48-39. The score scored 12 points, got several key some mystical power, she was became that at the 6 minute rebounds, and made one of the able to defy all logic and do the mark and stayed that way until key fouls of the game. With 56 impossible. Swish! the 3:40mark. However, during seconds to go, I.ally stole theThe Oilerettes started slow. In the first period, they were down from the outset, 10-4,16-4, and 16-10 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter wasn’t any better as they went further down, 24-10,28-14,30-20, and 31-26 at the half.The second half started out to be the Oilerette surge as PegMcDougal was able to completely dominate play. She scored bucket after bucket on turn-around jumpers underneath and also grabbed 9 rebounds in that 8 minutes to pump some life into the Oil City side. They were able to take the lead in that period as the scoring went 31-28, 31-30, 33-32, 33-34, and then Kennedy came on to pull away 37-34,40-34- 42-35 at the end of the quarter.The final period showed that the game was meant to be Oil City’s. Fans on the Oiler side were complaining over the first three quarters about the calls by the officials (Gault getting called three times for carrying the ball?) as both McDougal and Sue Preston (Oil City’s board strength) picked up their third fouls at the beginning of the second period. Well, that began to equalize in the fourth period as Kennedy became victim to some questionable calls and they also missed a ton of layups (all of which they were making over the first three periods).that stretch, I^ally made a beautiful twisting layup which didn’t count because she was called for walking (a questionable call). Then it went 48-41 at the 3:25 mark on a 20-footer by Gault; 48-43 on a 15-footer by Gault, at the 3 minute mark; 48-45 on a jumper by McDougal at the 2:30 mark; 48-47 at 1:43 on a rebound by Trish Erickson; and the 25-footer by Gault at the 30 second mark to make it 49-48 Oil City.In the last 30 seconds, Gault was also fouled twice (once on a defensive rebound and once on an in-bounds play), the first time making both ends of a one-and-one to put the score at 51-48 and out of reach for Kennedy.But you must ask yourself, how did the shortest girls on the floor (by 3 inches) get a rebound and then get the foul?There were several keys to the game. First was the defensive ability of Lally. Great, great defense as they played a box-and-one on Gault. Second was the shooting ability and speed of Cindy Diatko. She led Kennedy in scoring with 17 points. Then there was the superior athletic ability of Peg McDougal, who was able to completely control the boards (23 rebounds) and serve at will against a fairly mobile girl (Mary Ann Bralich) three inches taller.Then there was the great floorball and had no one between her and the bucket, only to get fouled by Erickson as she dove for the ball. Score at the time was 48-47 Kennedy. Lally missed the one-and-one and Oil City got the ball back.Then there was Jodi Gault’s flat-out dive to deflect a layup attempt by Diatko early in the second period, which saved two points and Oil City managed to get the ball again.Sue Preston, who made a few mistakes, and missed a couple of easy layups, nevertheless played a good enough game to definitely contribute to the rebounding and pass stealing totals. The same holds true with Lynn Petulla.All-in-all, it was a good team effort from both sides. Oil City raised their season record to 20-0, while Kennedy Christian fell to 24-1.RESULTS Sharon Kennedy Christian —Cindy Diatko 7 3-4 17, Carol Lally 6 0-2 12, Mary Ann Bralich 1 0-0 2, Gloria Paesi 4 4-5 12, Ginger Marenchin 1 3-4 5, Carol Baumbeek 10-0 2. Totals 20 10-15 50.Oil City - Jodi Gault 4 2-4 10, Lynn Petulla 1 1-2 3, Trish Erickson 5 2-412, Peg McDougal 11 2-4 24, Sue Preston 1 0-0 2, Beth Hale 0 0-0 0, Cathy McDonald 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-14 51.Oil City 10 16 9 16-61Sharon KC 16 15 11 8-50
Newspaper Details
Franklin News Herald
Franklin, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Mar 10, 1975
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Oil R.
PA, USA 24 Mar 2023
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