Tigers race past District 10 champion
Jump to 13-0 advantage in opening state victory
North Allegheny wasn’t a very gracious host to visiting McDowell when the two met Friday night in the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball quarterfinals.
Not only did the Tigers take advantage of every situation, they hurried the Trojans out the door and unceremoniously sent them back to District 10.
North Allegheny (25-1) opened the game with a 13-0 run and never let up as Emma Fischer and Jasmine Timmerson led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points apiece as the Tigers rolled over McDowell, 60-30, in a mercy rule quarterfinals victory.
“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of when you can watch them play like that,” North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko said. “I’m a really lucky guy to have kids like this. We’re very blessed, we’ve got to enjoy this until midnight, then we’ve got to get ready for Monday.’
North Allegheny took control from the opening tip when Fischer opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the corner just 52 seconds in. To make matters worse for McDowell, Timmerson came up with two steals and converted them into assists on baskets by Lizzy Groetsch and Kellie McConnell on consecutive Trojans possessions to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead before McDowell could even react.
“I said we’re not playing McDowell basketball and against good teams, respectfully so, we have to play more composed, we have to play more disciplined and we just weren’t executing what we talked about the last two days,” McDowell coach Megan Hoffman said. “That was disheartening. I think our girls are better than that.”
By the time McDowell guard Jessica Hetz got the team’s first basket with 3:13 left in the first quarter, though, the Trojans only cut the deficit to 11. That basket didn’t come close to slowing down the Tigers, though, as North Allegheny closed the quarter on a 12-4 run and took a 25-6 lead into the second quarter.
“I think we shot it well and we did a nice job distributing the ball, passing very shootable balls that let us get in a rhythm” Stefko said. “That let us get into our press and let us dictate some of the tempo and that may have taken them pout of their tempo a little bit.”
North Allegheny led by 32 (40-8) on a Fischer 3-pointer with 3:11 remaining in the first half, but the mercy rule was not enacted at that point as the team has to have a 30-point lead after the intermission. It took a little while for that to happen though, as McDowell came out firing in the third quarter and cut the North Allegheny advantage to 43-23 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
“I’m still asking myself that question,” Hoffman said. “You’ve got to be able to put the ball in the hole, you’ve got to break their pressure and defend and we
just failed to do that.”
McDowell then took advantage inside when Groetsch picked up her third personal foul with 5:56 left in the third quarter. Emina Selimovic had 12, while Hetz hit a clutch 3-pointer to get her into double figures with 10.
“I feel like they came out very assertive and they were attacking the rim,” Stefko said. “They weren’t looking to do anything fancy. They were looking to put their heads down and get to the rim and, give them credit they took momentum for a while.”
North Allegheny next will take on Cumberland Velley (21-1) Monday at a site and time to be determined. The Tigers lost their most recent meeting between the two, 43-42, in the 2016 semifinals.
Cumberland Valley knocked off Wilkes-Barre, 67-23, in a running-clock victory in its quarterfinal.
“The teams are so different and the world is so different that I don’t know if this feels like anything we’ve done before,” Stefko said. “Were just lucky to have a group of kids we love and another few days to enjoy the journey.”