The fun-filled buildup to another appearance in the WPIAL finals ended with a crashing letdown for the Burrell girls basketball team.
Sixth-seeded Bishop Canevin, wide-eyed and learning with no seniors in its starting lineup, clipped No. 2 Burrell, 32-30, in the WPIAL Class AA semifinals Tuesday night at Hampton.
The Crusaders (16-9) advance to play No. 1 Seton-La Salle (18-7) at 5 p.m. Friday in the championship game at Petersen Events Center. It will be their third trip to the finals in four years.
Burrell (21-4), in the semifinals for the third straight time, was seeking its second straight spot to the finals. “They executed well, but they didn't do anything that we hadn't see on film,” Burrell coach Meghan Ziemianski said of Bishop Canevin. “We walked around, didn't step out on their stand-still shooters. We were flat.”
Burrell had been waiting for another shot at Bishop Canevin for two years. In 2013, the Crusaders beat the Bucs, 55-19, in the WPIAL semifinals, and 41-29 in the PIAA quarterfinals.
Burrell had won its two previous playoff games by scores of 60-19 and 66-38, so Bishop Canevin provided a new test for the Bucs, not to mention some frustrating deficits.
“This means a lot for our young kids and our program,” Bishop Canevin coach Tim Joyce said. “Our kids have grown up with the schedule we've played this year.
“We didn't play great, but we played well enough to win. And that's what matters in the playoffs: Survive and advance.”
The Crusaders, in the semifinals for the sixth straight time, played Burrell man-to-man on defense and challenged their Division I tandem of senior guard Sydney Bordonaro (Pepperdine) and junior forward Natalie Myers (Youngstown State), as well as the Bucs' young supporting cast.
Sophomore Sarah Green gave Bishop Canevin a spark on both sides of the court. Besides scoring a team-high 11 points, she guarded Myers and held the 1,000-point scorer to five points in the first half and none in the third quarter. Myers finished with eight points.
“We didn't pass well and didn't look to (Myers) enough,” Ziemianski said.
Bordonaro, Burrell's all-time leading scorer with more than 1,600 points, finished with a game-high 15.
“Sarah has really come on for us and is becoming the player we expected her to be,” Joyce said. “Sarah did a great job on (Myers),” Joyce said. “And (freshman guard Brionna) Allen, I thought, did a great job on Syd.”
Bordonaro averages 20 points and Myers 18.
Bishop Canevin won without making a free throw.
In the back-and-forth final quarter, Myers converted a three-point play to give Burrell a 28-27 advantage, but Green connected from 3 and hit a short jumper to put the Crusaders in front, 32-28, with 1:21 remaining.
“Twelve of their 32 points were on 3-pointers,” Ziemianski said. “We had to defend their shooters better.”
Down 32-30, Burrell still had a chance after a Crusaders turnover on a side-out play with 11.3 seconds left. But Burrell also gave the ball away on an inbounds play from under its basket. Bordonaro tried a lob pass to Myers, but Green knocked the ball away and junior Gina Vallecorsa stole the ball, and the Crusaders held on for the final 8 seconds.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com .
