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District 2 opens investigation of incident between Holy Redeemer and Carbondale girls basketball coaches

<p>YATESVILLE &#8212; The openings on the court and on the scoreboard were so slight, Kayla Aufiero&#8217;s eyes lit up when she saw a couple.</p><p>And in the blink of an eye, she opened Nanticoke Area&#8217;s path to the district semifinals.</p><p>Aufiero scored on one clutch shot after another to finish with 20 points Friday as Nanticoke Area finally broke away from Crestwood, 56-42 in a District 2 Class 3A girls basketball quarterfinal game at Pittston Area High School.</p><p>&#8220;We weren&#8217;t really doing that good of a job the first half, weren&#8217;t getting open,&#8221; Aufiero said. &#8220;The second half, we were getting open.&#8221;</p><p>But it was Aufiero who opened things up for the Trojanettes.</p><p>She popped a 3-point field goal near the third quarter to give Nanticoke Area a 33-28 lead, then hit another trey to start the fourth quarter and put the Trojanettes up 36-29.</p><p>And Crestwood never recovered from that seven-point gap.</p><p>&#8220;Kayla&#8217;s been doing that all year,&#8221; Nanticoke Area coach Alan Yendrzeiwski said. &#8220;Sometimes she&#8217;ll miss the first shot, miss the second shot. But she&#8217;s made big shots for us all year long.&#8221;</p><p>Her shooting Friday sent top-seeded Nanticoke Area into the district semis Monday against Scranton Prep in a rematch of last year&#8217;s District 2 third-place game won by the Classics. Just as importantly, it guaranteed Nanticoke Area two more games &#8212; either a spot in the district title game or a chance to get to the PIAA playoffs in the third place game &#8212; depending on what happens Monday night.</p><p>&#8220;It means a lot,&#8221; Aufiero said. &#8220;We want to do better than we did last year and hopefully win that.&#8221;</p><p>It was all 22-2 Nanticoke Area could do to win against the taller Comets.</p><p>Maddie Ritsick scored seven of her 11 points in the first half for Crestwood, but Gianna Roberts carried Nanticoke Area through the first two quarters with 10 points as the teams entered halftime tied 22-22.</p><p>&#8220;Roberts, she beat us inside,&#8221; Crestwood coach Ed Stepanski said.</p><p>But the Trojanettes were clinging to a two-point lead when Aufiero rifled home her first 3-pointer of the night with 58 seconds to play in the third quarter.</p><p>Then she kept hitting key shots through the fourth.</p><p>After her second 3-pointer produced a seven-point lead, Aufiero seemed intent on keeping Nanticoke Area&#8217;s advantage safe.</p><p>She swished two foul shots to boost the lead to five points with 6:20 to play, hit a key bucket for another five-point lead with 5:02 on the clock and finished her scoring with two free throws that took the Trojanettes advantage to double digits, 53-42, with 36 seconds to play.</p><p>&#8220;I prefer winning by a lot,&#8221; Aufiero grinned. &#8220;But it helps us to get in close games. It got scary there for awhile. But our coaches just said to calm down, do what we do and push through it and get the win.&#8221;</p><p>Roberts wrapped it up, hitting eight foul shots in the final quarter to share game-high scoring honors with Aufiero with 20 points.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not always pretty,&#8221; Yendrzeiwski said. &#8220;It&#8217;s about getting the job done. Obviously, now we&#8217;re in the semifinals. We want to get the win and get a chance to play for the district championship, go to the Arena.&#8221;</p><p>Crestwood goes into the offseason off an 11-13 record under its first-year coach Stepanski.</p><p>&#8220;Nanticoke&#8217;s a tough team,&#8221; Stepanski said. &#8220;A quality team. They&#8217;re very talented and very well-coached. It came down to just hustling. If we shot like we did (in the first round), maybe it would have been a different story. Fourth quarter was when the wheels came off. I&#8217;ve got to hand it to Nanticoke, they did a great job.</p><p>&#8220;I hope they do well.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Nanticoke Area 56, Crestwood 42</strong></p><p><strong>CRESTWOOD (42) &#8212;</strong> Sarah Hopkins 1 1-2 3, Emily Shiplett 2 0-0 4, Julia Makowski 5 2-2 12, Abby Murphy 0 0-0 0, Maddie Ritsick 4 2-3 11, Abby Macko 2 2-2 8, Katie Snipas 0 0-0 0, Marlee Dillon 1 0-0 2, Andrea Shipton 1 0-0 2. <strong>Totals 16 7-9 42.</strong></p><p><strong>NANTICOKE AREA (56) &#8212;</strong> Kayla Aufiero 5 8-11 20, Amber Grohowski 1 2-2 5, Chaquanna Zendarski 1 2-2 4, Gianna Roberts 5 10-20 20, Katie Butczynski 2 0-2 4, Alexis Pyzia 1 0-0 2, Lisa Radziak 0 1-2 1, Miranda Dunn 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 15 23-39 56.</strong></p><p><strong>Crestwood`9`13`7`13`&#8212;`42</strong></p><p><strong>Nanticoke Area`8`14`11`23`&#8212;`56</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals</strong> &#8212; CRE 3 (Macko 2, Ritsick); NAN 3 (Aufiero 2, Grohowski).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Gianna Roberts of Nanticoke, left, bulls her way around Crestwood&#8217;s Abby Murphy in the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_crestwoodnanticoke03.jpg</photo0><caption0>Gianna Roberts of Nanticoke, left, bulls her way around Crestwood&#8217;s Abby Murphy in the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_crestwoodnanticoke02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke&#8217;s Amber Grohowski regains control of the ball while Crestwood&#8217;s Sarah Hopkins looks on during the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_crestwoodnanticoke02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nanticoke&#8217;s Amber Grohowski regains control of the ball while Crestwood&#8217;s Sarah Hopkins looks on during the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_crestwoodnanticoke01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Maddie Ritsick (42) battles for a rebound with Nanticoke&#8217;s Katie Butczynski, left, and Chaquanna Zendarski (33) in the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_crestwoodnanticoke01.jpg</photo2><caption2>Crestwood&#8217;s Maddie Ritsick (42) battles for a rebound with Nanticoke&#8217;s Katie Butczynski, left, and Chaquanna Zendarski (33) in the District 2 quarterfinal at Pittston Area High School on Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6397 or on Twitter @ TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Kayla Aufiero helps Nanticoke Area shoot into District 2 Class 3A semifinals