Troy Rallies Past Mt. Carmel To Take Third Place At Districts

By: Chris Manning  /  March 1, 2026  /  Photo: Chris Manning

MONTOURSVILLE - All season long the Troy girls basketball team worked on late game situations, and for two months they never got a chance to use it. Finally, in the District IV, Class AAA consolation game they found themselves in a white knuckle, nail-biter they hadn't been in since the Josh Palmer Fund Tournament back in December. Despite all that the Lady Trojans couldn't have executed the final quarter-and-a-half better as they made their free throws, took care of the ball, and hit their lay-ups, pulling away for a 34-26 win over Mt. Carmel to claim bronze.

"They haven't had close games all year, and they had a close game," said Troy coach Steve Renzi. "They were down - I didn't think we were going to score 10 points for three quarters in that game - but they showed Grint, and then came back and fought, and did a great job."

The Trojans found themselves down 16-8 halfway through the third quarter, but wound up out scoring the Red Tornadoes 26-10 in the final 11 minutes of the contest.

"It feels really great, especially since they ended our season last year," Giana Renzi remarked, noting that Mt. Carmel rallied to beat Troy in the quarters a year ago. "The first half we were definitely very slow, it was like we weren't attacking and scoring like we needed to. And then in the second half we came out with more intensity, and brought it to them."

Early on Mt. Carmel’s length gave Troy some fits. They were nabbing offensive rebounds to extend their possessions, while defensively they kept the Trojans out of the paint.

“We weren’t running our offense like we should have, like we had been,” said Kyah Renzo. “I think we just needed to work the ball inside, and we weren’t doing that.”

The Trojans always like to work inside-out, with their guards getting a few drive and dishes starting the third quarter.

“When they started picking up speed, and not turning the ball over, and not second guessing their moves to the basket,” coach Renzi said about when they took control of the game.

Regardless of the outcome it was going to be one of their best defensive performances of the season.

Red Tornadoes had just eight field goals the entire game and none in the second and third quarters. Most of their offense was at the free throw line, where they went 10-for-12.

The Trojans forced 15 turnovers, nine of them on steals, with a couple of those takeaways leading directly to lay-ups.

“It was tough,” Raelyn Woodward said about keeping their defensive effort up in the first half when they weren’t scoring. “We definitely had to keep the level of our energy up, and just keep pushing.”

The one area they didn’t struggle in offensively, though, was free throws. They shot 13-for-16 as a team, and 10-for-12 in the fourth quarter.

“That’s how you finish games,” coach Renzi said.

Renzo led the way with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting, to go with four steals, while Giana Renzi had seven points - all on free throws as she went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe - to go with three assists.

Izzy Renzi went 2-for-4 from deep for six points while adding two steals, with Woodward adding four points, and four boards.

Emma Mickley had four points to go with five rebounds, as Haidyn Watson netted two points.

Raina Pauson and Hannah Fourspring had eight points each to lead Mt. Carmel, while Tesssa Fourspring netted six. Samantha Siegrist added four points.

It was a rough start for Troy, who didn’t score until 3:30 into the game when Izzy Renzi hit the first of he two 3-balls. A Renzo free throw, and a Woodward bucket scored the rest of the Trojan points as they found themselves down 10-6 at the first horn.

Both offenses had a rough go of it in the second quarter with only two points scored between the two, and those on a pair of Tessa Fourspring free throws with 6.5 seconds left before the half.

"We really talked a lot of about how we need to play at halftime," Renzo said.

A Hannah Fourspring free throw made it 13-6 Mt. Carmel early in the third, while a Mickley free throw off a Renzo helper cut it to 13-8.

The Red Tornadoes then went 3-for-4 from the line to push their advantage to 16-8 with 4:01 left in the third quarter.

Izzy Renzi’s second 3-ball with just under three minutes left in the quarter seem to give them the spark they needed.

“She, as a freshman, she really stepped up,” Giana said about her sister. “I’m really proud of her.”

A Renzo lay-up on the next possession cut it to a 3-point game.

Tessa Fourspring would hit a pair of freebies at the 1:51 mark, but Giana came back with a pair of free throws of her own, with four seconds left in the frame Renzo got a steal and breakaway lay-up to cut the deficit to 18-17 going into the final frame.

“I think it definitely hyped up our team,” Renzo said about the late quarter spurt. “It got us going to keep scoring to come back and win the game.”

The Trojans took their first lead on a Mickley lay-up at the 6:27 mark.

“I just knew that we had to just keep,” Woodward said once they got over that hump. “Don’t stop, and just keep pushing.”

Mt. Carmel answered with a pair of buckets from Paulsong and Hannah Fourspring to go up 22-19 with just under six minutes to play.

A Renzo 3-ball 10 seconds later tied the game back up, then on Troy’s next possession a pair of Giana Renzi free throws put them up 24-22 with 4:54 left.

Renzo got another steal and lay-up for a five point lead with less than four minutes to play.

A Hannah Fourspring lay-up at the other end made it a one possession game again, but that was followed by another perfect trip at the line from Giana Renzi.

Paulson would hit a runner with 2:30 left for a 29-26 contest.

Troy’s next possession ended in a miss, while at the other end MCA saw two lay-ups rim out before they turned it over.

Giana Renzi would get fouled with 1:05 on the clock, and make 1-of-2 for a 30-26 score.

Troy got a stop at the other end with Woodward going to the line this time, sinking both for a 32-26 contest with 49.4 left to play.

She backed that up with a steal, then passed it to Watson, who was fouled. She sunk both free throws for what proved to the be the 34-26 final.

“That was very important,” Giana Renzi said about their performance from the line. “Myself, Haidyn, and Raelyn, that was very important. That’s why we shoot free throws in practice.”

It felt even better to get this win after they dropped the semifinal to Loyalsock earlier in the week.

“It feels really wonderful to do this with my team,” remarked Woodward. “Honestly, we wish we would have won (the semifinal), but we’re here now, and just do the best with what we have. It just feels really good with all these young girls. We’ll be back next year.”

Before next year comes, though, they still have this year, and a state game to play.

They’re going to take the long trip out Region II in the west bracket - either District V or District VI.

It’ll be new territory for the Trojans, literally and figuratively.

“It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be exciting,” Woodward said. “I’ve never been there before, so we’ll see how it goes.”