Semifinal win over Mt. Lebanon bittersweet for Upper St. Clair
Those were not tears of joy in the Upper St. Clair locker room after the Lady Panthers defeated Mt. Lebanon, 58-33, to advance to the WPIAL finals for the third year in a row.
They was genuine sadness because USC had to compete for a basketball championship without one of their beloved players.
During USC’s breakaway third quarter against the Blue Devils, Sam Prunzik broke her left wrist in multiple places while driving to the hoop for a layup. A four-year veteran, she is the team’s point guard.
“She’s the heart and soul of our team,” said USC floor boss Pete Serio.
“Right now, sadly enough, we are not happy. We are really bummed. The girls have tears in their eyes or basically are crying.”
Since fourth grade, the seniors have played together, successfully. They had been WPIAL runner-ups the past two seasons.
This year, they avenged one of those defeats as Lebo had beaten USC in last year’s championship game, 55-44.
The triumph on Feb. 27 at Bethel Park also marked the third time this season the Panthers were on the winning end of their battles with the Blue Devils. They captured an undefeated section banner thanks to regular season wins against Lebo, 57-39 on Jan. 5 and 52-44 on Jan. 30.
“We had the jitters,” said Serio. “It’s a playoff game, yes, but it’s hard playing a team for a third team.”
The tentative Panthers opened up an 8-3 advantage before expanding the margin to 23-10 by intermission.
“Absolutely, I was pleased with how we played,” Serio said. “Defensively, we did a great job. We held them to 10 points that first half. We really responded.”
Mia Brown responded in the third quarter as USC further separated itself from the Blue Devils. Her back-to-back 3-point plays propelled the Panthers to a 33-21 lead. Brown finished with 11 markers.
“Mia gave us a big spark in that stretch,” Serio said. “She did a great job there. Changed the momentum,” he added.
Paige Dellicarri plunged the dagger further into Lebo’s spirit when she buried a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer. The bucket pushed USC’s advantage to 44-27. Dellicarri finished with 12 tallies.
“That definitely was a big 3,” Serio said.
Kate Robbins and Rylee Kalocay joined Brown and Dellicarri in double figures. They finished with 10 and 13 tallies respectively.
Payton Collins led Lebo (17-7) with eight points
USC’s opponent in the WPIAL Class 6A championship was North Allegheny, a 38-36 winner against Norwin. The Class 6A final was played March 3 at the Petersen Events Center.
(Results were too late to be published in the print edition of the March 5 Almanac.)