Deer Lakes wins tournament title [The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa.]

Dec. 31--Deer Lakes girls basketball coach Dana Petruska preaches the importance of making free throws.

On Friday night, her team found out why.

Deer Lakes connected on 20 of 24 free throws to insure a 45-30 victory over St. Joseph in the St. Joseph Tournament at the Walter Dlubak Center in Harrison.

Tournament MVP Danielle Kearns scored 14 points and nabbed eight steals for the Class AA Lancers (5-3), who held the Class A Spartans (4-3) to 13 second-half points.

Nichole Kearns scored 10 points and was named to the all-tournament team.

Shayna Panchik, led the Spartans with 14 points. She was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Amanda Klawinski.

» Avonworth 54, Springdale 46 -- Springdale (3-6) fell in the consolation game of the St. Joseph Tournament despite Maddy Glamp's 12 points.

Lauren Mayernik scored a game-high 31 points for Avonworth (6-2), and broke the 1,000-point mark for her career in the third quarter.

Boys basketball

» Jefferson-Morgan 57, Cheswick Christian 37 -- Cheswick Christian'sTyler Knupp scored 16 points in the consolation game of the St. Joseph Tournament.

Ian Swartz added nine points for Cheswick (5-5).

Nolf pulls shocker

>> Kittanning sophomore Jason Nolf stunned the state's No. 1 ranked wrestler at 120 pounds, North Star'sNick Roberts, 11-6, in triple-overtime to win a championship at the Southmoreland Tournament.

An Ohio State recruit and the country's top-ranked wrestler at 120 by Intermat, Roberts won the 112-pound state title last season as a junior. Nolf was a PIAA champ at 103.

Nolf still has not lost a high school match. He is 59-0 in his career.

Deslauriers wins

>>Burrell's Dakota DesLauriers sat out one of the biggest wrestling tournaments of the year, the Walsh Ironman, earlier this month with an elbow injury.

He made up for the missed time by winning one of the country's toughest tournaments.

DesLauriers, a junior, defeated Hempfield senior Kyle Spangler, 5-1, in the 182-pound championship bout Friday at the Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament at Canon-McMillan.

"It was tough getting back at the start of the season, getting back in shape," DesLauriers said. "It felt good, though, being out there, getting in my groove."

DesLauriers lost in the Powerade 171-pound final last year to current Pitt wrestler Nick Bonaccorsi of Bethel Park. He turned the near success into a third-place finish at the state tournament.

"I'm really excited for the rest of the year," he said. "Steamrolling right into states, it's exciting."

Tursky nearing mark

Veteran Kiski Area wrestling coach Chuck Tursky needs two victories to pass Connellsville's Tom Dolde (Sr.) for the all-time wins mark in the WPIAL.

Tursky, in his 34th season, has compiled a record of 447-132-2, with 401 of those wins coming at Kiski Area.

He has coached the Cavaliers since 1986.

If Kiski Area (8-0) beats Franklin Regional (6-1) on Wednesday in Section 1-AAA (B) play, Tursky can break Dolde's mark on Friday when Kiski Area hosts non-section rival Burrell (3-4) -- the school where Tursky began his coaching career.

Tursky won 46 times while at Burrell from 1979-85.

Under Tursky, Kiski Area won 102 straight section matches from 1993-2003. It also claimed WPIAL titles in 1997 and 2003.

Dolde and Tursky are the only WPIAL coaches with more than 400 wins.

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