BETHLEHEM — Cardinal O’Hara’s Molly Rullo and Carly Coleman weren’t about to let Hazleton Area pull off a major upset in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament Tuesday night, so they decided to take control in the second half.
Rullo scored 13 of her game-high 17 points and Coleman added eight of her 13 after the break, leading O’Hara to a 55-46 win over the District 2 champion Cougars at Liberty High.
The junior Rullo and senior Coleman each drilled a 3-point field goal on successive possessions in the third quarter after Hazleton had trimmed its deficit to three and four points, respectively. O’Hara (23-4) had led by as many as nine points in the first half.
“I think that’s the difference between us and Hazleton, who are going to be back in this situation,” Lions coach Chrissie Doogan said. “We have a senior-laden team. Molly is basically a senior at this point; she’s played since she was a freshman. They embrace the moment. Molly struggled to put the ball in the basket early … but shooters shoot. She’s got a lot of confidence and did a great job.”
While Coleman was a key factor all game, Rullo was whistled for her third foul in the second quarter and had to sit the remainder of the first half. Not having the Drexel commit on the floor allowed a fast-charging Hazleton team of mostly sophomores and freshmen to hang around and make things a little too close for comfort for the experienced Lions, who won the Class 5A state championship in 2021 and 2022 and played in the Class 6A final four last year.
Super frosh Kaitlyn Bindas canned a triple at the end of the third quarter to pull the Cougars back to within three points, 39-36.
“They’re a bunch of hustlers and they don’t shut off, they just keep going and going,” Coleman said of Hazleton. “They play hard and we knew they were going to be a really good team. We just had to play well on defense and make shots.”
Doogan was not pleased with her team’s lack of communication late in the third quarter, which enabled Hazleton to get too many good looks at the basket.
“We switched all of our screens on defense and they made three open shots in the third quarter because we weren’t talking,” Doogan said. “And you can’t play defense silently and I just felt like we really stopped talking on defense. I wanted them to dig in and play O’Hara defense and get some stops.”
After shooting 35.1 percent (13-for-37) in the first three quarters, the Lions converted 54.5 percent (6-for-11) of their tries in the fourth. Coleman and Rullo combined for all six buckets.
“Carly was huge. She really puts the pressure off of me and (senior guard) Joanie (Quinn),” Rullo said. “She’s always just there and she plays tough and it’s good to see players who play hard get rewarded.”
Coleman drove to the basket in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to put the Lions up four. It was the beginning of a 10-0 run.
“It comes down to who’s talking and who’s keeping their composure in a tight game,” Coleman said. “I knew we would stay together and finish strong.”
Hazleton (24-5) was relentless with its full-court press, even though O’Hara found ways to blow past it time and again. The Lions made the Cougars pay on the break. Rullo hit a 3-pointer and drove the lane for an easy deuce, courtesy of passes from her sophomore sister Megan.
Ultimately, it was veteran poise and experience that carried the Lions to the finish line.
“We have an older team this year, a lot of seniors and juniors such as myself with a lot of state playoff experience,” said Molly Rullo, who made six of her final eight shots from the floor. “So definitely going against a younger team, a very competitive, tough and younger team, just knowing our experience, taking the time to score and then going from there.”
Coleman is the Lions’ de facto big, so most of her points come from inside the paint. But she has worked tirelessly to improve her outside shot and when given the chance Tuesday, she made it count.
“I was working on it with (assistant coach) Steph Garafolo in practice and, you know, it’s just about applying it to the game what you do in practice,” Coleman said. “I saw that I was open and in that situation you just have to let it go.”
Quinn tallied 10 of her 13 points in the second quarter. She led the Lions with three steals. Megan Rullo added nine points, five rebounds and five assists.
