Peters Twp. (25-0) wins girls 6A title
Move over, North Allegheny. Peters Township’s girls basketball team is the new class of Class 6A.
The Indians (25-0) survived their toughest test of the season in a backand-forth affair with the Tigers (23-2), hanging on for a 43-40 overtime win to capture their first WPIAL title in school history. Peters Township avenged a 79-48 defeat in last year’s title game as North Allegheny came up short in its bid to win its third WPIAL crown in a row.
Makenna Marisa led all players with 17 points, and the Indians’ other
star senior, Isabella Mills, made three clutch free throws in overtime to help secure the win. But unsung junior forward Mackenzie Lehman made the biggest shot of the game, converting a score-tying layup with seven seconds left to send the game to overtime.
“Not bad for a lacrosse player,” Peters Township coach Bert Kendall said about Lehman, who didn’t play basketball while focusing on lacrosse during her first two years of high school.
Marisa took over right from the start, showing why she’s a contender to win her second consecutive Post-Gazette Girls Basketball Player of the Year award.
After missing her first two shots, Marisa stole the ball underneath the basket and put up a layup while drawing a foul to give the Indians an early 5-3 lead. She then made three consecutive mid-range jumpers followed by a 3pointer, scoring 12 points in a row to stake the Indians to a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko decided enough was enough and had his players double-team Marisa as soon as she crossed half court with the ball — and the strategy paid off.
Marisa didn’t score in the second quarter and Peters Township’s offense faltered, scoring only four points total. Meanwhile, sophomore Lizzy Groetsch and senior Brynn Serbin led the Tigers back to a 19-18 halftime lead with 6 points apiece.
After Peters Township took a 4-point lead in the fourth quarter, senior guard Rachel Martindale drew back-to-back fouls and made four free throws to put North Allegheny back on top, 38-36. The Tigers missed three consecutive free throws in the final minute, though, and Lehman banked in the score-tying layup after a pass from Marisa to send the game to overtime.
“I have had trouble finishing my shots,” Lehman said. “She would have blocked the layup, so I just jump-stopped and put it up. That was a great pass. [Marisa] has a really good sense of where everyone is on the court, and it just happened to be me who was open.”
Lehman scored the first bucket of the extra period on a layup after a steal, and that would turn out to be the Indians’ only made field goal in overtime — but it was the only one they needed.
North Allegheny junior forward Katerina Balouris made a layup to cut the deficit to 4140 with a little more than a minute left, but the Tigers didn’t score again. Mills made two free throws with less than 30 seconds left, and Martindale’s desperation 3-pointer came up short at the buzzer.
“It feels so good, but I definitely could not have done it without them,” Lehman said. “We play as a team, and that’s all you can ask for.”
With the win, Peters Township became the 18th girls team to win a WPIAL title with a perfect record. Marisa and Mills said they haven’t yet thought about finishing their high school careers with an undefeated season, even though they’re now just five wins in the PIAA playoffs away from doing just that.
“This game was the first step. It was super important,” Marisa said. “But tomorrow we’ll definitely be thinking about it.”