Girls basketball: L-P pulls away from Hall in 2nd half

SPRING VALLEY – It was a night of individual accomplishment for Hall’s McKenna Christiansen, but La Salle-Peru ended up with the team acclaim in a 46-33 nonconference victory over Hall on Monday.

“I thought we started off a little slow,” L-P senior Addie Duttlinger said. “After we had our halftime talk, we just picked it up a little bit. We picked up the intensity. I thought as a team we did so much better moving the ball around, rebounding and just talking overall. I thought our energy was better, for sure.”

Despite her team ending up on the short end of the scoreboard, Hall’s Christiansen received a lob pass from teammate Haylie Pellegrini and scored a bucket in the paint with 3:34 left in the second quarter.

The basket gave Christiansen her 1,000th career point.

“It feels pretty good,” Christiansen said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my parents, my family, my grandparents, my siblings, my coaches and my travel coach as well.”

After reaching the milestone, the game was stopped as Hall coach T.J. Orlandi gave a short speech and presented Christiansen with a commemorative ball, which she gave to her mom in the stands. The Hall student section, which had been counting down to the feat, celebrated with several signs.

“That meant a lot,” Christiansen said about the support. “It shows how our school is. We really come together when it means the most.”

Christiansen is the sixth player in program history to score 1,000 points.

“She’s pretty much been a starter since she got here,” Orlandi said. “I really enjoy coaching McKenna. She’s a good teammate. She’s been a big part of our program, and to see her get 1,000 is pretty special. I’m really happy for her because she puts in a lot of work outside the season.”

The Cavaliers led 24-20 at halftime, then scored the first seven points of the third quarter to push their lead to 31-20.

Addison Urbanski scored a basket, Bailey Pode followed with a bucket in the paint, and Urbanski drained a 3-pointer.

“We started out slow but we figured it out,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “We made enough shots and plays in the end. We were settling for the first shot too much in the first half. We need a little more patience. We made a couple shots in the second half, a couple 3s and it opens everything up.”

After the initial run in the third quarter, the Cavs led by at least seven points the rest of the way.

“It definitely made us feel more comfortable,” Duttlinger said about the run to start the second half. “We were kind of feeling the pressure a little bit. I think once we got that lead, we relaxed a little bit, the weight was lifted off our shoulders a little bit and we could just play more free.”

Duttlinger led the Cavs (5-6) with 14 points, while Jasmine Garman scored 10 points and Elli Sines added eight.

Christiansen scored a game-high 16 points for Hall (4-6), while Charlie Pellegrini contributed 10 points, including eight in the first quarter.

“The first half was good,” Orlandi said. “I thought we had good energy. Charlie Pellegrini gave us a pretty good spark early. We needed that scoring in the first half. I was happy with the first half with everything else going on. We just ran into a little bit of a lull [in the second half] and just kind of had that quarter where we’re digging ourselves a hole and it’s just hard against good teams to get out of it.”