Hairston banks winning shot, sends Penn Wood to states

LANSDOWNE >> Penn Wood senior guard Gabrielle Hairston and Patriots head coach Monique Boykins weren’t on the same page at Tuesday afternoon’s practice as the Del Val champion Pats prepared for their Class AAAA district playback game against Council Rock North.

“She was mad at me, and practice turned out to be hard for her,” Boykins said. “She’s a shooter, but I told her we needed her to be our point guard. I said the offensive opportunities were going to come if she would play where the team needed her.”

Hairston, who missed her first five field goal attempts in the fourth period, connected when it counted, banking in a 3-point shot with just under 10 seconds to play as Penn Wood earned a 44-43 decision over Council Rock North Wednesday night.

With the win, the 2015-16 Patriots became the first girls basketball team to earn the opportunity to represent the school in the state tournament.

“It took a long time for us to get there,” Boykins, the leading rebounder – male or female – in Penn Wood basketball history, said. “I thank God (the players) believed in me and put in all of that hard work.

“We had the biggest crowd for a game we’ve had all season, and I appreciate the support the community showed in us.”

Penn Wood will host Abington Friday in the game that will determine which team represents District One as its ninth seed in the state tournament

and which team goes to states as a No. 10 seed.

While they might not admit it, there might have been a few Patriots fans who were wondering if they were watching their favorite team’s last game of the season Wednesday.

Council Rock North used a 10-point run in the third period in building a nine-point lead. The 28th-seeded Indians, who shocked No. 4 Mount St. Joseph in their first playback game, relied on 6-1 sophomore McKenzie Tinner in the second half, when she scored 14 of her 16 points and got six of her eight rebounds. In the fourth period, when Rock North got only one field goal, the Indians missed five free throws.

At the other end of the floor, Patriots All-Delco Dahyne Redd, who was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the last eight minutes, came up with 15 of her 20 points and eight of her 13 rebounds after the halftime break. Her two foul shots with 1:37 to play cut the Pats’ deficit to one point, before CRN soph Becca Margolis went 1-for-2 at the foul line with 21.4 seconds left.

Hairston brought the ball up the court looking for teammate Carle Andrews.

“She was closely guarded,” Andrews said. “After I passed the ball (to Redd) I curled around, and when I got the ball back from her I just shot it.

“My coach has been telling me I need to shoot the 3-pointers. We knew at halftime we had to listen to everything (Boykins) had to say and then go out for the second half all fired up.”

Hairston, Redd and their teammates raced back up-court trying not to allow Council Rock North to get a chance to spoil their state tournament dreams as the game’s final seconds were played.

“We couldn’t let them make this our last game,” Redd said.

Joy Morton fouled out with 1:02 to play after scoring four points, grabbing six rebounds, making four steals and dishing off a pair of assists for Penn Wood.

“We changed our offense and our defense at halftime,” Morton said. “And we did what our coach asked us to do.

“And now we’re going to states.”