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Abinbton Heights center Alessia Brunori. Jake Danna Stevens / Staff Photographer

Feature photo of Abinbton Heights center Alessia Brunori. Jake Danna Stevens / Staff Photographer

Before the season started, Abington Heights senior Alessia Brunori knew she would be shouldering more responsibility.

The MRI results told her that.

First, the Lady Comets found out that senior guard Nicole Getz suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Two weeks later, Brunoris partner in the low post and leading scorer Cassie Ksiazek suffered the same injury.

It kind of hurt everyone, said Brunori, who is coming off a fourth quarter to remember in the District 2 Class 5A championship game win over Wyoming Valley West. We all took a

step back and said, Whats my role going to be now? Two major people with injuries. It

was sad they were hurt, and disappointing, too.

As summer league play and eventually the season wore on, Brunori worked harder on her offensive game, knowing it would be needed.

Lessi is the one who really took over the responsibility inside, head coach Deanna Klingman said. Not only rebounding last year she was our best rebounder but also to score. A lot of games she had some double-doubles, and Liv (Baker) and her have played together a long time, so they worked really well in the high-low situation.

That played out Saturday, as Brunori hit a pair of mid-range jumpers when the team desperately needed a bucket in the final 2 minutes.

I wanted my role to change this year, Brunori said. I worked really hard in the summer to improve my offensive game. Now, with Cassie out, I needed to pick up the slack, defensively, offensively.

I worked hard over the summer to get those moves down, and get that jumper down. I really worked hard to nail that.

Then she blocked the potential game-winning shot with just a few seconds left.

I was thinking about that after and said, I cant believe that happened, Brunori said. I was watching the videos that were posted and I still couldnt believe that actually happened. It was crazy, crazy.

But not unexpected.

We had some good practice with some penetrating guards this season, and we didnt want to let them get to the rim, Klingman said. She was our person who we said had to step up and deter the guards.

She did that against Valley West, too. She also defended their big exactly as we wanted her to.

Since going to a 2-3 and matchup zone defenses, Brunori has been studious in her defensive responsibilities and what expectations were.

Lessi has worked really hard to understand it and to be in the right position, Klingman said. Every day we work it, and she wants to know exactly where she needs to be, and she will do her best job to be there.

We know were going to get her rebounding every night. Shes very aggressive going to the ball and now she is adding the scoring dimension and that is really going to help the team.

Contact the writer:

mmyers@timesshamrock.com @mmyersTT on Twitter

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GIRLS BASKETBALL: Brunori develops into force for Lady Comets - Scranton Times-Tribune