By Shawn Fox
New Castle News

IMPERIAL — Alexa Williamson and Jala Youngblood were too much last night for the Mohawk High girls basketball team.

Turning the ball over 24 times didn’t help much, either.

Tenth-seeded Chartiers-Houston made use of its underclassman duo and a tough zone defense to a 54-37 victory over the seventh-seeded Lady Warriors in a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High.

Williamson, a freshmen, led all scorers with 19 points, despite picking up her fourth foul of the game with 1:27 remaining in the first half and sitting out the entire third quarter. She also grabbed eight rebounds.

“Williamson is just almost unstoppable,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said. “The only thing that stopped her tonight was herself. She’s just so tough. I cannot believe she’s a freshman. ”

Youngblood, a sophomore, scored 18 points and pulled down a whopping 16 rebounds, as the Lady Bucs held a 40-23 rebounding edge in the game.

“I told them that their job tonight was to get every single rebound,” Chartiers-Houston coach Laura Montecalvo said. “I explained to them that all rebounding is is heart and effort. They both showed both of those things tonight.”

That tandem made their presence felt right from the opening tip. The 6-foot-1 Williamson scored seven points and Youngblood chipped in with six as Chartiers-Houston (16-7) grabbed a 14-5 lead after one quarter.

The Lady Bucs’ lead ballooned to 23-5 less than three minutes into the second quarter, before Aliya Gage ended the Lady Warriors’ four-minute scoring drought with an old-fashioned three-point play. Gage paced Mohawk with 11 points.

Gage’s bucket sparked her team, as Erin Giancola converted 3 of 4 free throws and Samantha Carr buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to cut the deficit to 23-14 with 2:05 remaining before the half.

Mohawk was able to draw to within seven points with 39 seconds remaining on Madison Shiderly’s jumper. But, two free throws from Jalynn Myers gave the Lady Bucs a 27-18 lead at the break.

With Williamson on the bench to start the third quarter, the Lady Warriors were primed to draw even closer.

Gage’s two foul shots and a free throw from Giancola cut Chartiers-Houston’s lead to 27-21 with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter.

However, the Lady Bucs held a 14-2 edge the rest of the quarter to take a 41-23 lead into the fourth quarter. Myers scored nine of her 14 points in the third quarter.

“I knew we were going to have to survive the third quarter without (Williamson),” Montecalvo said. “It a huge credit to the rest of our team to carry us through the third quarter and go into the fourth with an 18-point lead. My senior Jalynn Myers really pulled it together tonight.”

Mohawk managed just five points with Williamson on the bench, and turned the ball over eight times.

“We thought with Williamson out we could make a run,” O’Lare said. “But, we went the other way. We got a couple of good looks early in the third quarter, but didn’t make anything. Then we turned the ball over. ”

The Lady Warriors held a 14-13 edge in the fourth quarter to set the final.

“It’s always scary when you start that many young kids,” Montecalvo said. “But I felt like we were extremely prepared for what they were going to do. We knew that they were a great defense team, and that we had to protect the ball and move the ball of offense. I think my kids really performed tonight. It’s a credit to them.”

The loss ended Mohawk’s season at 16-6. It was the final game for seniors Carr and Melissa Yerlotte.

We just have two seniors, and they played a ton of minutes,” O’Lare said. “I’m proud of what they accomplished this year. We thought we could get to the second round. They play hard and are good kids. I’m sad it ended for them, but we’ve got a lot of young kids who played a lot of minutes this year. The future’s bright.”

Chartiers-Houston will face No. 2 seed Burrell, a 60-19 winner over Freedom last night, in Friday’s quarterfinals at a time and site to be announced.

(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com).