COAL TOWNSHIP - Shamokin Area did a lot of things poorly enough against Shikellamy Saturday that it would not have been a surprise if the Indians had lost.
Yet they won the Heartland Conference Division I matchup by 10 points, handing the Braves their first division loss, 46-36, so they obviously did some things well, too.
Such as play defense, holding the Braves to 10 second-half points after falling behind, 26-24.
And cranking up their inside game. Steph Pancher and Olivia Bonshock combined for 30 points on 14-for-21 shooting from the floor, almost of which came under the basket, off feeds or on putbacks. Pancher scored 18 points, shooting 8-for-9, and Bonshock 12, shooting 6-for-12, and the Indians outrebounded the Braves, 32-20, with Pancher and Keena Zalar both grabbing nine rebounds.
Still, this is a team for which little is going to come easy.
The Indians turned the ball over 22 times, 13 in the first quarter alone (yet they somehow built an 11-7 lead) and shot 5-for-20 from the foul line.
"We got our inside game working, and I think we played real well defensively in the second half," said Shamokin coach Bill Callahan, whose team improved to 5-4 overall, 2-1 in the division. Shikellamy dropped to 4-6, 2-1.
Pancher, after foul trouble in the first half, scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half. Had she (and others) done better from the foul line, where she was 2-for-9, the Indians could have coasted home. Bonshock took up the slack when Pancher sat in the first half, scoring eight of her 12 points in the second quarter. Shamokin also did a good job spreading the ball around, with 14 assists on its 20 baskets. Sami Schiccatano had five assists and Bonshock four.
"We knew after the Lourdes game (in the Knights of Columbus championship game) that we weren't in our groove," said Pancher, the lone returning starter from last season's 22-2 team. "We need to play like we're at practice and not get so tense. If we learn to play like that, I think we'll be fine.
"It's my role to step it up. I'm the only player who was a starter on the varsity level last year, and I need to work to help the other girls get better, like the girls last year did with me."
"We talked a lot after the Lourdes game about taking a lot of pride in the program," Callahan said. "Now, we just need to work on some things. Against Selinsgrove the other night (a 36-31 loss) we were 4-for-16 shooting layups. But the one thing we do do is play pretty good defense."
The Braves never seemed to be in synch except for the second quarter, when they scored 19 of their 36 points and shot 50 percent (7-for-14). In the other three quarters, they shot 20 percent (7-for-35). Alexis Angstadt led the Braves with 13 points, but 10 of them came in that second quarter.
"I said at the beginning of the season if we could be 5-5 after 10 games, I think we'd be okay," Callahan said. "We're 5-4 now."
Game Summary
SHIKELLAMY (36) - Fatool 1 0-0 2, Angstadt 5 3-4 13, Smith 1 0-0 2, Chaney 0 1-2 1, Onessi 3 1-4 7, Yerger 3 1-2 8, Young 1 1-2 3. Totals 14 7-14 36.
SHAMOKIN (46) - S. Pancher 8 2-9 18, Foor 0 0-0 0, Schiccatano 2 0-0 5, Britton 0 0-0 0, C. Pancher 0 0-3 0, Bonshock 6 0-3 12, Yacko 1 2-4 4, Zalar 3 1-1- 7. Totals 20 5-20 46.
Shikellamy 7 19 4 6 - 36
Shamokin 11 13 10 12 - 46
3-point FGs: Yerger, Schiccatano.
JV game: Shamokin 37 (Shaylee Pesarchick 14), Shikellamy 31 (Andrea Artman 15).