Cendroski helps Peters Township to win over Butler
Peri Cendroski came off the bench and scored 16 points to propel Peters Township past Butler, 62-49, in a first-round WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball playoff game played at AHN Arena in McMurray.
“Peri was great,” said PT coach Steve Limberiou. “She played with great confidence.”
Cendroski entered the game late in the first quarter and promptly buried a 3-point field goal. After back-to-back treys in the second stanza, the Indians opened up a 10-point advantage they stretched to 30-18 by halftime.
When the Golden Tornado threatened to make it a game, closing the gap to under 10 points early in the fourth frame, Cendroski responded. She converted a pair of free throws on an intentional foul at the 6:57 mark in the final quarter and then cashed in with another 3-pointer to provide the cushion for PT to proceed to victory.
“Peri came in and immediately took the first three and it went in and then in the second half, she was great too. When Butler go the lead to seven, she scored six points quickly,” Limberiou pointed out. “On defense, she was really good, too.”
Natalie Wetzel enabled Cendroski to shine. The 6-3 sophomore center did the job of distributing the ball once the defense collapsed on her. Wetzel finished with 17 points.
“Natalie creates so much attention in the post and when she kicks the ball out, other people are open, and Peri was the recipient of that,” Limberiou said. “She did a great job of taking shots.”
Sami Bewick took her shots, too. She equaled Wetzel’s output. She fired in 17 points.
“We have two girls who are in the top 10 in the WPIAL in scoring,” Limberiou noted of Wetzel (19 ppg) and Gemma Walker (20 ppg). “So to get contributions from other people like Peri and Sami was huge for us. It’s hard to win playoff games with only two people scoring 75 percent of your points so the balance was huge for us.”
Having played in Section 2 contributed enormously to PT’s success against Butler. The Indians have faced players the caliber of Amelia McMichael, who finished with 22 points and Syd Patterson, who provided 12 tallies.
“They have been through so many close games in the regular season.That helped us because our section is hard and all of our games were close with scores within 10 points. So when Butler cut the lead, the girls did a great job and played through it,” Limberiou said.
“They responded and played well, particularly during the momentum swing with the technical. Not only did we make the free throws but we scored on a three. After that it was hard for them to comeback. That put distance between us.”
With the win, PT (13-10) advanced to play No. 1 seed Upper St. Clair in the quarterfinals that were to be played Feb. 23.
USC is Limberiou’s alma mater.
“I have fond memories of there,” he said.
Limberiou then paid his respects to the Panthers. “I think they are one of the best teams in 6A in the past five to 10 years. They have five to seven kids who can score double digits and they are obviously well-coached,” he said.
“If you are going to win a championship, it’s going to go through the best teams and everyone in 6A is good.”