One round of the PIAA playoffs is now over and, of the three area teams that entered, two remain, but everything went pretty much as expected.
Karns City's girls' basketball team put up a valiant effort against Cranberry Area but eventually fell in the final seconds while the Karns City boys blew out Maplewood and the Ford City girls came from behind to beat Martinsburg Central.
As far as the area teams did against the spread, all three teams covered in the first round, even the Lady Gremlins who were a 7 1/2 point underdog against the Lady Berries. That makes me 3-0 straight up picking games, but things will get a lot more difficult in the next round where the rim tightens up just a little bit more and the expectations rise with every trip down the floor.
GIRLS' HOOPS
Ford City (23-4) vs. Washington (23-3)
If there was ever a team that was true parody of itself it's Ford City.
The Lady Sabers have played three postseason games so far and have come out overly emotional in each, which has led to the team throwing the ball around, missing shots and falling into huge holes early in games. In the second half, by virtue of some miraculous pep talk by the coaching staff or a sense of desperation Ford City comes out of the locker room with more intensity and focus than at any time in the first 16 minutes.
That type of play cost them a shot at a WPIAL-AA title after they went into a 23-point first half deficit in a 16-point loss against eventual champion Vincentian and could have haunted them in wins over Seton LaSalle and Martinsburg Central. It can't happen in this game, not against a defensive-minded opponent like Washington that has a player like Amber Harris that can make the Lady Sabers pay for sloppy ball-handling in the first half.
This is a big if, but IF Ford City head coach Al Davis can find the right dose of verbal valium to get his very young Lady Sabers calmed down enough to take the court and play from the opening tip with the voracity they showed in the second half of their first three playoff games, the Lady Prexies don't have a prayer. That being said, Ford City has come out of the chute poorly in its first three games and bad habits die hard.
Ladies, I hope you prove me wrong, but...
Washington by 4 1/2.
BOYS' HOOPS
Karns City (26-1) vs. North Star (27-1)
There are two things that you learn from covering basketball over the years.
First and foremost, never overestimate a team from District V on record alone because there's really no school in that part of the sticks that can put together a quality team. Second, no team should get cocky because they are playing a District V team because, though they may not have the most talent in the world, they will never quit working.
Karns City should look to its girls' basketball team for inspiration in this game - the 2000 Lady Gremlins to be exact. Karns City won the state title that year, but got their biggest scare in the second round against Everett, the District V champion. The Lady Gremlins had much more talent than the Lady Warriors, but still trailed in the third quarter of that game.
There is little question that Karns City is the more talented team - even with a team-wide shooting slump the Gremlins were still able to beat Maplewood by 15 in their opening game - but after going up 21 at the end of the third quarter Karns City committed 10 turnovers in the fourth, the type of sloppy play that a hard-working team can take advantage of.
It won't happen in this game. Karns City's guards are just too quick defensively for a team that hasn't played against top-flight competition all year. The gremlins may call the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference home, but they dominate it the way a championship team should, not squeak by like North Star did against Windber in the District V title game. A Karns City win is a lock.
Karns City by 11.
