Bethel Park girls hang on for victory
Justina Mascaro goes up to the hoop for two of her points during Bethel Park’s 39-36 victory against Penn-Trafford in the first round of the WPIAL Class 6-A tournament. Mascaro finished with 14 markers, 12 of them came in the second half.
Penn-Trafford guard Kyle Grabowski ties up Bethel Park’s Maria Cerro as she drives to the basket during WPIAL Class 6-A girls’ basketball playoff action. The Hawks edged the Warriors, 39-36.
Bethel Park (17-6) survived the hardest part of the WPIAL girls’ basketball tournament. The Lady Hawks posted a slim win, 38-36, against Penn-Trafford in the the Class 6-A playoff opener at Baldwin.
“The first round is always so difficult because it’s one and done,” said BP floor boss Jonna Burke. “It’s a tense match-up.”
The contest didn’t shape up that way as the Hawks bolted to a 22-9 lead in the second stanza and settled into a halftime advantage of 22-13, before the Warriors rallied.
Kamryn Lach sparked BP in the first half while Justina Mascaro carried the team in the second half.
Lach exploded for 12 points, all on 3-point field goals, to vault BP into its large lead. Lach tacked on a free throw with 24.2 seconds to play and finished with 13 markers.
“She’s done that for us all season. She’s relatively accurate,” said Burke of Lach’s hot hand. “When she is hitting, her confidence is up as is all of players’ confidence.
“We were fortunate that we had a big enough lead and hung on,” Burke added.
Each time the Warriors closed the gap, however, Mascaro responded. She fired in 12 of her 14 points in the second half. Her three-point play enlarged BP’s lead to 35-29 with 4:57 to play. Mascaro also cashed in on two free throws to keep the distance at four points before Bella Long connected on two of three free throws in the last tenth of second to narrow the gap to the final score.
“They did what we thought they would do,” said Burke of P-T’s halftime adjustments.
“They clamped down on (Lach) in the second half after playing that zone in the first half and they got to the hoop on us. We were concerned about that and they did a good job of it and penetrated hard in the second half.
“But, Mascaro got her muscle points. Big baskets that kept us in it,” added Burke.
“We knew they would be ready for us. John (Giannikas) does a great job of getting his girls prepared and they played well,” Burke said of the Warriors and their head coach.
With the win, BP advanced to play Pine-Richland (21-1), the tournament’s No. 2 seed, at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at North Allegheny.
PT finished the season at 12-11 overall.
In other Class 6-A girls’ action, Peters Township eliminated Seneca Valley, 55-41, while Canon-McMillan succumbed to Hempfield, 65-47.
Makenna Marisa led the Indians (14-8) with 17 points. Lillian Young and Isabella Mills also finished in double digits with 14 and 12 tallies.
Peters Township now plays Penn Hills (20-2) at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at North Hills.
For the Lady Macs, who finished the season at 8-15 overall, Cheyenne Trest fired in 22 markers.
In boys’ basketball playoff action, Chartiers-Houston (19-4) defeated Leechburg, 60-52. Cameron Hanley pumped in 22 points while A.J. Myers followed with 14.