Dominant Archbishop Wood handles Danville in PIAA AAA 2nd round
LOWER PAXTON >> In Mike McDonald’s estimation, Bailey Greenberg has been on a mission since early January.
One look at the Archbishop Wood senior on Wednesday confirmed that. Whether it was rising up between two or more players for a rebound, surging through screens to double and trap or especially powering through contact on her way to the rim, Greenberg was on her game.
So were the rest of her teammates and it seemed like Danville didn’t know what hit it. A systematic and dominant effort by Wood provided a 58-30 win over the Ironmen in the second round of the PIAA girls Class AAA tournament at Central Dauphin East.
Bailey Greenberg powers in for a score 4:21 Q3 in Wood’s 58-30 win over Danville. Greenberg had 26 points. pic.twitter.com/ZjVChp6GjN
— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) March 10, 2016
“I really just want to make it back to Hershey with this team,” Greenberg said. “We’ve had a really good season so far and I just want it to keep going.”
Greenberg pumped in 26 points to go with nine rebounds in just three quarters of work, her signature moment coming with 4:21 left in the third when she barreled down the lane, got hit twice and still finished the layup, adding a free throw for emphasis. The Drexel-bound senior scored eight in the first quarter as Wood opened up 17-5 lead on the Ironmen.
Danville had no answer for Greenberg on offense and no solution to Kate Connolly on defense. The 6-foot-2 sophomore, who scored an efficient 14 points, put an early mark on the game with two blocks and four boards in the first quarter.
“Everyone was really working hard on defense and making sure they were up on their girl,” Connolly said. “If someone needs help, we know to call it out and just work together. We’ve stepped it up on defense and that creates our offense.”
Connolly and Greenberg scored 14 of the team’s first 17 points while guards Cassie Sebold (four assists, two steals, block) and Claire Bassetti (two assists, three steals) pressured Danville out of its element. Ironmen senior Amber Renz scored 20 points, but the rest of the team was shut down by Wood’s swarming, aggressive defense.
Renz didn’t have it easy, as she was forced into some tough, tough shots that she managed to put in.
“She’s a strong player and just puts the ball in the basket,” McDonald said of Renz. “Some stuff didn’t look like it had a chance and she just has a knack of putting it in. But we took away everything else and were able to get better things on the offensive end.”
Wood got good spacing on offense, some of it coming from Connolly stepping out and hitting her jumper to stretch the defense while Greenberg worked inside. The one issue the Vikings had was their tendency to overpass, giving up an open layup for a forced extra pass. McDonald called a timeout after it had happened one too many times and laid into his charges.
Wood only won the second quarter 12-10, so the halftime talk was pointed to making sure that the third quarter would be like the first. That’s exactly what the Vikings came out and did.
“I thought that was a little too close so I told them we didn’t want to give (Danville) hope and to start the second half we had to come out with energy,” McDonald said. “We tried to get after it defensively and the girls did that really well.”
Greenberg, who had scored eight of the team’s 12 in the second quarter, picked it right back up in the third. Katie May picked her out for a layup to start the frame, kicking off an 11-0 run that turned Wood’s 14-point 29-15 lead into a commanding 40-15 advantage with 4:35 left in the frame.
Katie May picks out Greenberg for a layup to start Q3 against Danville pic.twitter.com/L8ELOtZPtE
— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) March 10, 2016
After Renz stopped it with two foul shots, Greenberg came back with her driving and-1 then two free throws on the next possession for her final points of the night. The forward finished out a 10-point third as Wood capped a 20-7 frame and took a 49-22 lead into the final frame.
“We knew we had to pick it up and put the game away,” Connolly said. “We just had to play as hard as we could to keep putting the lead up and make sure there wasn’t a drop-off.”
Connolly also sat much of the fourth as McDonald emptied out his bench. The reserves kept the ball moving and scored a few points of their own, including a 3-pointer by Greenberg’s younger sister Nicole.
“They work so hard at practice so they deserve to play and they deserve for us to clap and cheer them on,” Bailey Greenberg said.
The Vikings advance to face District 1 champion Gwynedd Mercy Academy Saturday in the state quarterfinals.
Greenberg and Monarchs senior Erica DeCandido are the closest of friends and the Wood senior said it’ll probably be a little weird facing her for the right to continue their respective seasons.
But Bailey Greenberg has a goal to finish her season holding a trophy in Hershey. It’s her mission and she’s putting everything she has into it.
“She’s been on a mission since that sixth loss, she’s just been ready to go,” McDonald said. “It’s her senior year. She wants it, she doesn’t want to come in second again. She’s talked about it, she wants the whole thing.”
