NA stays undefeated
Tigers will meet Peters Township for Class 6A title
When both teams tally about 25 points fewer than their season averages, it’s safe to say a game was a defensive battle.
The North Allegheny and Mt. Lebanon girls basketball teams combined for 12 firstquarter points before the Tigers hit three 3s in the second quarter, waking up their offense in their 34-20 WPIAL Class 6A semifinal victory Tuesday at Fox Chapel.
“That was more us, because we’re scrapping for loose balls, we’re moving the ball,” North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko said of the second quarter. “We were kind of letting them do to us exactly what they wanted to do defensively, so I think the second quarter was important. It was important for us, not because time was running out, but to be ourselves.”
The defending WPIAL champion Tigers (24-0) will face Peters Township for the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center.
They don’t look at it as a chance to repeat, Stefko said, but just a chance to win.
“It’s cool, but we don’t talk about it, and it doesn’t really feel like that,” Stefko said. “And that might sound cliche, but we came into the year consciously trying to put together a completely different puzzle, because we knew that we couldn’t replace [the team’s lone senior a year ago] Haley Zeise.”
North Allegheny trailed, 9-3, before its 13-point second quarter allowed it to pull ahead, 16-11, at halftime.
A late third-quarter layup by North Allegheny senior Madelyn Fischer gave the Tigers a 22-14 lead heading into the fourth. Senior Piper Morningstar, who led all scorers with 12 points, knocked down a 3-pointer and Fischer added a layup to makeit 29-18 with 4:21 to play.
Junior guard Rachel Martindale, who finished with eight points, added three free throws and a layup to seal the win.
The slow start didn’t worry Stefko.
“That’s just the way basketball goes,” Stefko said. “Mt. Lebanon’s a good team, and you expect them to play well. If their 9-3 spurt just happened to be at the beginning, hopefully, we weren’t going to lose our mind.”
Junior Jamey Napoleon led the Blue Devils with nine points.
Other semifinal
Peters Township and Bethel Park were tied late in the first quarter. By early in the second half, Peters Township had opened a 21point lead.
Peters Township used a strong second and third quarter to blow past Bethel Park, 55-39, in the other Class 6A semifinal at Baldwin.
Isabella Mills hit big 3pointers at the end of the first quarter and just before halftime. Lillian Young and Makenna Marisa hit 3-pointers early in the third — and suddenly it was a rout with Peters Township (21-3) ahead, 42-21.
Marisa, a juinior point guard, was impressive in many facets, scoring a gamehigh 25 points. Young added 14. Peters Township won all three meetings against Bethel Park (17-6) this season.