Mt. Lebanon beats Peters Township in Class 6A girls playoffs
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Mt. Lebanon’s Reagan Murdoch keeps her eye on the hoop while being defended by Peters Township’s Journey Thompson during WPIAL Class 6A playoff action.
Peters Township's Journey Thompson is congratulated after returning to the bench.
Mt. Lebanon's Anna Streiff fends off Peters Township's Gemma Walker as she drives to the basket during WPIAL Class 6A playoff action.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Peters Township’s Gemma Walker is fouled by Mt. Lebanon’s Gina Smith while driving to the basket during WPIAL Class 6A playoff action.
Mt. Lebanon shook off the rust of a 13-day layoff and defeated Peters Township, 50-38, in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball tournament.
The Blue Devils trailed after one quarter, 11-7, but overtook the Indians midway through the second quarter when their shots finally started to fall.
Ashleigh Connor scored on back-to-back layups then Payton Collins (2) and Ava Dziubek buried 3-point field goals. The outburst propelled Lebo to a 28-16 halftime lead. The Blue Devils led, 35-25, after three quarters.
“We weren’t hitting our shots early and I credit that to the long layoff and their defense,” said Lebo coach Dori Oldaker. “I told the girls to keep shooting because they are going to fall. Those threes really did help us. They opened things up and got our team excited.”
Connor led the Blue Devils with 18 points.
“Ashley stepped up,” Oldaker said. “Usually she is a 3-point shooter but she did the little things; the rebounding, blocking out and getting to the rack. So we were really proud of the way she played.”
Oldaker was particularly pleased with her substitutes. Tori Petko came off the bench as did Dziubek to help the cause.
“Tori does a great job for us. She is fundamentally sound,” Oldaker said. “Ava came off the bench and gave us great minutes. She had that huge three and defended well.
“We have other kids and we try to use our numbers,” she added.
Reagan Murdoch scored 11 points for Lebo and Collins added 10.
With the win, Lebo moves on to the semifinals to face Bethel Park.
Journey Thompson finished with 12 points for PT. A Delaware recruit, she was a 1,000-point scorer in her career.
Natalie Wetzel totaled 10 points while Gemma Walker contributed nine to PT’s effort.
BP upends Norwin
Bethel Park overcame poor shooting and a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat Norwin, 42-36, in a Class 6A playoff game.
The Hawks did not make a field goal in the second quarter and trailed the Knights, 20-11, at halftime. BP was 3 of 24 from the field in the first half. Emma Dziezgowski had a pair of 3-pointers and Mary Boff had the other basket for BP in the first 16 minutes of action.
“Norwin is a great defensive team,” said BP coach Sam Loadman. “In the first half they forced us to turn the ball over and were blocking our shots.
“We made some key half time adjustments. We handled the ball much better in the second half and had more of a post presence. The girls really stepped up their defensive intensity and knocked down some big shots. It was a team effort all the way around.”
Dziezgowski finished with 10 points, while Boff had a game-high 15 points, 11 in the second half.
After Norwin scored on a hoop by Brianna Zajicek in the first nine seconds of the second half, BP went on a 14-3 tear to knot the contest at 25.
Though the Knights led, 34-31, after three quarters, BP surged ahead on a 3-pointer by Riley Miller, a transition bucket by Boff and a put-back by Ella Sabatos. BP sealed the win with four free throws in the final minute of play.
“Mary and Ella played huge roles and Riley hit that huge three,” Loadman said. “Big plays were made by multiple players. It was a great team win.”
BP converted 11 of 19 attempts from the field after its poor showing in the first half.
With the win, the Hawks improved to 12-9 overall and advanced to a semifinal showdown with top-seeded Mt. Lebanon. BP lost twice in section action to the Blue Devils by scores of 59-38 and 55-29.
USC advances
Upper St. Clair defeated Penn-Trafford, 47-32, in its WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal playoff contest.
The Panthers jumped ahead, 15-1, and stretched that first-frame advantage to 28-13 by intermission. USC held 10-9 edges in both second-half quarters.
Katelyn Robbins scored a team-high 17 points and and Rylee Kalocay had 14 for USC.
“It was a great defensive effort on everyone’s part,” said USC head coach Pete Serio. “Kate did a great job in the paint rebounding and scoring.Rylee took care of the ball and hit some very timely threes to stop a couple runs by Penn-Trafford.”
The Panthers improved to 19-4 overall and advanced to a semifinal showdown with North Allegheny (21-2), a 65-47 winner over Seneca Valley.
The Tigers defeated USC in last year’s WPIAL championship game.
This year’s WPIAL finals are set for 7 p.m. March 4 at the Petersen Events Center.
Mt. Lebanon played Bethel Park on Saturday, Feb. 26 at Robert Morris University while Upper St. Clair faced North Allegheny. The results of the games happened too late for publication in this edition of The Almanac.