Seniors lead Mooney past Fitch

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Dayna Daltorio
and Sarah Pelini each had 15 points in the 46-29 win.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

YOUNGSTOWN — Mooney High girls basketball coach Jack Bermann was not surprised that seniors Dayna Daltorio and Sarah Pelini were the Cardinals' leading scorers in a 46-29 victory over Fitch High Thursday night. The pair scored 15 points each for Mooney (3-1).

"Those are my two leaders," Bermann said. "Between the two of them and Edna Robinson — Edna's had some good games, tonight she was a little off — that's where we get our points. The big two played very well tonight and that's what they're expected to do."

Pelini added 11 rebounds and Daltorio six steals to the Mooney effort. Sophomore Dominique Zordich contributed six assists and five steals and Jamie Farragher had three rebounds and three steals. Robinson finished with four points and three rebounds.

"I like where we're going," Bermann said about his team's quick start. "This stretch is going to say a lot. We play tonight, we play Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. The kids that are on the bench, Angela Stana, Allison St. George, Katie Hughes, they're going to have to come in and produce. Tonight they did a good job."

Mooney led 9-8 after one quarter and 17-13 at halftime. After the Falcons (1-3) closed to 17-15, the Cardinals ran off 13 straight points. Mooney's lead was 30-18 at the end of the third quarter and was as large as 44-20 with 3:38 left in the game.

Fitch shot under 25 percent (11-for-45) for the game, including a 5-for-25 effort in the first half.

"Obviously, our shots early on, we had some good looks inside and we have to finish those," Fitch coach John Hudson said. "Give Mooney credit, they played great defense. But when you're not making layups ... ."

Senior Rachel Rouan and freshman Erica Braxton scored seven points each for Fitch. Cassie Banfield had seven rebounds and Kayla Hanuschak had five points and five rebounds.

"I like where we are headed, I don't like where we're at right now," Hudson said. "But we'll get there. I'll never doubt the kids I have, their work ethic. They will come back ready to go tomorrow. We play Saturday and we play Monday and they're going to practice through that, and we'll take something from this game and be ready to go."

Bermann said Mooney won't look quite the same as it has in the past.

"We basically told the girls we want to play at Mooney speed," he said. "That's taking advantage of what we can offensively, and defensively getting after it. We're not going to do some of the things we've done in the past, but we're going to do what's best for us. There have been seasons when we've played run and gun, 94 feet of man-to-man, but tonight we were in the zone all night. That's been our M.O. for four games and that probably will be for the next 16 games."

Friday, December 7, 2007