WPIAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFF COVERAGE
Uses it as springboard to win, berth in championship against Bethel Park
All year long, North Allegheny and Upper St. Clair have been two of the best defensive teams in the WPIAL, with each allowing less than 40 points per game.
Things were no different when the teams met Tuesday night with a berth in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game on the line. But it was the Tigers (21-3) who took their shutdown defense to a whole new level to earn a trip to the title game for the fifth year in a row, as North Allegheny blanked the Panthers (14-8) the second quarter on its way to a 39-27 win.
“It’s definitely special, and I’m excited,” Tigers coach Spencer Stefko said. “Those kids over there — I don’t want to see them again this year. You’re supposed to have to wait to be good, and they’re impatient. They’re good this year.”
North Allegheny star junior Lizzy Groetsch, who recently committed to play college ball at Penn, led all scorers with 17 points while converting 10 of 11 attempts at the free-throw line.
“We’re all super excited. It feels great,” Groetsch said. “Last year we couldn’t quite get it done, so we’re really excited about our chance this year.”
Katelyn Robbins, one of four freshman starters for Upper St. Clair, and fellow freshman Paige Dellicarri each nailed a pair of 3-pointers to stake the Panthers to a 12-11 lead after the opening quarter. That’s when the Tigers defense clamped down and held Upper St. Clair without a point for more than 11 minutes to take control of the game.
North Allegheny stretched its lead to double digits in the third quarter
before the Panthers ended their scoring drought. Upper St. Clair cut the deficit back to seven, but couldn’t get enough shots to fall and Groetsch’s clutch free-throw shooting helped seal the win for the Tigers.
“We have the state tournament coming up, and we really have to get better and work harder and try to seize the opportunity we have in front of us,” Panthers coach Pete Serio said. “If we can play good defense like that in the state tournament, maybe we can make some shots.”
North Allegheny senior forward Kat Balouris will make her fourth appearance in the WPIAL championship game at Petersen Events Center Saturday night. Balouris helped the Tigers capture titles in 2017 and 2018 before suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss against Peters Township in the title game last year.
“I think we definitely wanted to come back and get to this point and redeem ourselves, but with our team, we think game by game,” Balouris said.
Other semifinal
Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon are no strangers to each other after two close matchups already this season.
When the Class 6A Section 2 rivals met in a WPIAL semifinal at Canon-McMillan with a shot at the district championship on the line, it was more of the same. Bethel Park had a big first quarter and knocked down its free throws in the fourth to ride out a 35-29 victory.
Black Hawk standouts Olivia Westphal and Maddie Dziezgowski were held to four and eight points, respectively. The Blue Devils’ Ashleigh Connor, the top scorer in Class 6A, was held to seven.
“They know us, we know them,” said Bethel Park coach Jonna Burke.
“They’re trying to take our best kids out, we’re trying to take their best kids out. It was a lot of familiarity there, and we just hung on long enough.”
Down the stretch, it was Riley Miller and Lauren Mullen who sealed the win by combining to knock down 6 of 8 free throws in the final minutes.
Those two players helped earn their squad a trip to the final to meet North Allegheny.
“Everybody talks about that since you’re a little kid,” said Burke. “You step up to the line and you imagine being in those situations.”
Late in the game, the Blue Devils were forced to foul and continued to put Bethel Park on the line.
“It’s tough to lose, but you have to give credit to Bethel Park,” said Mt. Lebanon coach Dori Oldaker. “They knocked down shots and hit free throws at the end of the game. They had composure.”