Lady Raiders win battle at Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE 鈥 Aierra Jenkins鈥 quest for 1,000 points had to wait one more day but the Uniontown senior still poured in 23 points to lead the Lady Raiders to a 44-41 victory over host Brownsville in a non-section girls basketball battle Wednesday night.
Jenkins, who made seven 3-pointers in Uniontown鈥檚 win over Beth-Center on Monday, added two more from beyond the arc and played a strong all-around game against the Lady Falcons to help the Lady Raiders improve to 3-1.
Uniontown coach Dierre Jenkins, who also is Aierra鈥檚 dad, admitted the 1,000-point milestone was likely on her mind.
鈥淪he got off to a slow start and you could tell she was thinking about it,鈥 coach Jenkins said. 鈥淚f you watched the game Monday, she had a phenomenal game shooting the ball but she wasn鈥檛 quite the same tonight so she scored in other ways.鈥
There were four 1,000-point scorers or soon-to-be 1,000-point scorers involved in the game. Dierre Jenkins topped the 1,000-point milestone during his career playing under the late coach Dave Shuck at Uniontown and Brownsville senior center Skyler Gates reached 1,000 points as a junior last season. Aierra Jenkins needed only four more points to reach 1,000 going into Thursday night鈥檚 Section 4-5A opener at Albert Gallatin and Lady Falcons senior Ava Clark ended the game 130 points away from the milestone.
Clark led the way for Brownsville with 16 points and Gates dropped in 15 along with three blocked shots.
Charley Murtha followed Jenkins in scoring for Uniontown with a trio of 3-pointers for nine points.
鈥淏attle in the 40s, I expected that,鈥 coach Jenkins said. 鈥淭he girls were a little jittery at first. Sometimes when you play a rival game the emotions get going and your game gets off a little bit.鈥
The momentum shifted back and forth in the first half.
Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring and a free throw by Ambree Long gave Uniontown a 4-0 lead.
Brownsville (1-2) answered with a seven-point run on a 3-pointer by Ciara Horabik sandwiched between baskets by Clark and Gates.
A spinning drive and basket by Jenkins and consecutive 3-pointers by Murtha, the second after she came up with a steal, put the Lady Raiders back on top 12-7. Uniontown鈥檚 Lyric McLee added a three-point play late in the quarter which ended with the Lady Raiders up 15-10.
Brownsville regrouped and reeled off the first 10 points of the second quarter on four consecutive baskets by Clark followed by a Gates bucket for a 20-15 lead.
Jenkins nailed a late 3-pointer to pull the Lady Raiders within 22-20 at halftime.
Uniontown鈥檚 defense started to take its toll in third quarter by forcing a slew of turnovers to help the tide turn the Lady Raiders鈥 way.
鈥淭hat was definitely the difference,鈥 Brownsville coach Patty Columbia said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 probably the area of the game where we鈥檙e struggling the most right now. We worked on it in practice and I thought we did a better job against Uniontown than Chartiers-Houston (a 48-30 loss last week at Brownsville鈥檚 Falcon Fest) but it鈥檚 still not good enough. We鈥檝e got to reduce the turnovers.
鈥淏ut give Uniontown credit. I thought they played really well defensively.鈥
Uniontown outscored Brownsville 11-8 in the third quarter for a 31-30 lead.
鈥淥ur defense is playing really well,鈥 coach Jenkins said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 given up more than 50 points this year. I challenged the girls at halftime to not let them score 10 points in the third and they meet that challenge.鈥
Two consecutive baskets by Gates helped the Lady Falcons reclaim the lead, 34-32, early in the fourth quarter.
Uniontown took control at that point, holding Brownsville scoreless for the next five minutes during a 12-point run for a 44-36 advantage with 1:17 left.
Jenkins started the run with a pair of free throws to tie it at 34-34 and Khloey Wakefield hit a baseline jumper for her only points of the game to put the Lady Raiders ahead to stay. Long followed with a steal and a layup before Jenkins scored the next six points to cap the run.
鈥淎ierra was the leader but we had a lot of girls play really well tonight, especially defensively,鈥 coach Jenkins said. 鈥淜hloey, who played the whole game, Ambree, who is a freshman. Lyric played really well, too, and Charley was knocking down shots.鈥
Clark snapped Brownsville鈥檚 drought by scoring with 1:06 left. Horabik made it a one-possession game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Knowing Brownsville was out of timeouts, Uniontown wisely didn鈥檛 inbound the ball as the clock dwindled to zeroes.
Gates fouled out with 21 seconds left and Clark ended the game with four fouls.
鈥淭his is the second game in a row where we got ourselves in a little bit of foul trouble,鈥 said Columbia. 鈥淥verall, I was very pleased with how we played defensively but I still feel we have to be a little bit more disciplined because we don鈥檛 want to keep being in that situation at the end of the game.
鈥淪kyler and Ava always rise to the challenge but they had to pull back a little because they both had four fouls early in the fourth quarter and that hurt us. If we don鈥檛 commit those unnecessary fouls, that doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥
Uniontown extended its winning streak to three in Jenkins鈥 first year as a head coach. He was an assistant under Rick Hauger on Laurel Highlands鈥 WPIAL Class 5A championship boys team in 2020.
鈥淭he girls are learning how to win,鈥 coach Jenkins said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all still learning though. I鈥檓 still learning, they鈥檙e still learning, we鈥檙e trying to get better every game.鈥
Jenkins chuckled when asked about his vocal way of coaching during a game.
鈥淚 try not to,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 go into a game and I鈥檓 like I鈥檓 not going to yell so much today but it never works out that way. I got a little bit of Shuck in me. I think he comes down from heaven and gets me to yelling.鈥
Jenkins commended the Lady Falcons.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a couple great players over there,鈥 he said. 鈥淪kyler plays well. Ava is good. We wanted to try to take those two away as much as we could and make somebody else beat us. But Brownsville played well, too. It was a really good game.鈥
Columbia saw plenty of positive signs in her team鈥檚 performance despite the loss.
鈥淲e improved in a lot of areas,鈥 Columbia said. 鈥淭hey rallied and didn鈥檛 give up. We played a good team to try to get ready for section. That was our goal.鈥
Brownsville was scheduled to host Waynesburg Central in its Section 3-3A opener Thursday night.