Ketterer leads Ellwood to rare playoff spot

By Andrew Koob
New Castle News

It has been a long time since the Ellwood City Lincoln High girls basketball team has had a taste of the playoffs.

A very long 17 years, in fact.

The moment didn’t quite hit Karington Ketterer in the final moments of Ellwood City’s WPIAL Class AAA playoff berth-clinching 49-33 win over New Castle on Thursday.

“Right after the game, I was just thinking I’m glad we won,” Ketterer said. “But it didn’t really hit me how big that game was. When it ended, I didn’t realize it until everyone was jumping up and down. Then I realized and I started going crazy, too.”

Ketterer played a big role leading up to that on-court celebration. The junior scored 19 points in the win over the Lady ’Canes and 12 in a pivotal 50-40 victory against Hopewell last Tuesday.

Her performance earned her Lawrence County Athlete of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

“To be a part of it,” Ketterer said, “It’s huge to change the program from being known as one that’s never being in the playoffs to actually making it and proving a lot of people wrong.”

Ketterer has been the go-to scorer for the Lady Wolverines (5-7 Section 2-AAA, 12-10 overall), scoring 12.4 points per game. On top of her scoring prowess, the guard also is averaging 6.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.8 blocks per contest.

It’s her effort and growth on the defensive side more than anything that has helped propel Ellwood City to its current situation.

“She’s just been a lot more active defensively,” Ellwood City coach Jolene Servick said. “The beginning and middle of the season, our press wasn’t really gelling together very well. They were all doing this, but they were playing back and a little more safe. We told them they can’t do that, it has to be all out if you’re going to press.

“I think it finally clicked one game and Ket got so much more active in that game and picked up a bunch of steals to help boost her confidence. She just got so much more active on defense and finally came around. We knew she could do that all season and she had a few games here and there, but she’s been very consistent the last few games. That’s what we needed to win.”

Following an 85-33 loss to Blackhawk, the top seed in the Class AAA playoffs, the Lady Wolverines needed a response. They got one in the form of five-straight wins to close out the season, including three section games that forced a tie with Hopewell for the fourth and final playoff spot.

“At the beginning of those few games, we had to be very focused,” Ketterer said. “We had to win out those last four games, compete in every practice and focus for every single game. We went step by step and it worked.”

Added Servick, “If we were going to come together, those were the three games to do it. With this team, consistency has always been a problem. We’ll have a great quarter, then have a bad one. It’s just been up-and-down with this team and those last two games have been very consistent play. It was nice to see.”

The Lady Wolverines now face Ford City in a preliminary-round game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny High, with the winner going onto play Chartiers Valley. Ford City finished the regular season third in Section 1-AAA with an 11-3 record and a 17-3 overall mark.

Ellwood City has finally made it to the postseason, but now its attention shifts to advancing through the WPIAL Class AAA bracket.

“I’m very excited for the first postseason game,” Ketterer said. “I hope we do good. I think we’ll do all right.”

*****

The Karington Ketterer File
Position: Guard
School: Ellwood City Lincoln
Grade: 11
Parents: Laura and Jeff Ketterer
Known for: Scoring 12 points in a 50-40 win over Hopewell and 19 in a 49-33 win over New Castle.
Favorite pro team: Miami Heat. “I’ve just always liked Dwyane Wade.”
Favorite pro player: Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat. “When I was little, he was the first team I really watched when they went to the Finals (in 2006).”
Future plans: “I want to go to college and I want to play basketball. I have no idea what I want to major in yet, but I really want to go down South for some reason.”