Upper St. Clair falls to Perkiomen Valley in PIAA final
Lady Panthers end successful season at 23-7
Upper St. Clair ended one of its best seasons in girls’ basketball on a sour note when the Lady Panthers succumbed to Perkiomen Valley, 58-27, March 28 in the PIAA Class 6A basketball championship game played at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“My hat’s off to the other team. They were really, really good,” said USC floor boss Pete Serio.
“We ran into a really good team and once things started going poorly, we never seemed to recover. We didn’t get that momentum boost that we needed. That’s the way the ball bounces.”
Everything bounced the wrong way for the Lady Panthers. As factors to the lopsided loss, Serio pointed out how well the Vikings shot and how poorly the Panthers passed the ball, committing, an uncharacteristic amount of turnovers.
The Vikings converted 47.2 percent of their field goal attempts, 25 for 53, and connected on 33.3 percent of their 3-point tries, 6 of 18, while the Panthers shot a miserable 23.7 percent. They were 9 of 38, and three of those shots came from long range on 17 attempts.
In addition to eight turnovers, USC lost the battle of the boards to the taller Vikings, 32-17. On the offensive glass, Perkiomen out rebounded USC, 10-3. The Vikings held the edge, 22-14, defensively.
Navy recruit Quinn Boettinger, who stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall, fired in 16 points for the Vikings. Grace Galbavy followed with 14 markers while dishing up five assists.
“You can’t get around 33 (Boettinger) and 35 (Galbavy). She jumps out of the gym on top of being probably with her arms, she’s probably like 6-6,” Serio said. “(Boettinger) is a BCS post. She really is and she gets you the three and her free throws are really good.”
Lena Stein added 11 tallies and Bella Bacani pitched in with seven.
“They have four scholarship players,” Serio added. “Two division one and two division two players. I just think we ran into a really good team. It wasn’t because we were just happy to be here and it wasn’t due to a lack of effort.”
USC’s own scholarship player, Rylee Kalocay, led the way. The Kent State recruit finished with 10 tallies.
Ryan Prunzik finished with five points and led the Panthers with three assists. Olivia Terlecki scored six points on two, 3-point field goals. Ekaterina Polstyanko (4) and Grace Howell (2) completed the scoring.
Though USC trailed, 11-7, after one frame, the Vikings outscored the Lady Panthers, 19-5 and 20-7, in the second and third quarters to evoke the Mercy Rule.
The loss did not negate an otherwise successful season for the Lady Panthers. They finished 23-7 and won a WPIAL championship.
“What a season,” Serio said. “Only one other team in school history got this far so it’s a season worth celebrating.”
Not only did the game see the close to the careers of senior players: Kalocay, Howell, Terlecki, Meredith Huzjak, Peyton McGregor and Claire Rosenberry, it also saw the end of the coaching career for Serio, who decided to retire.
“It’s been a blast. A lifetime of memories for sure,” Serio said. “It’s been my honor to do this with them. I appreciate all of them and how hard they play. It’s been a great ride.”