Rochester wins, will look to repeat
Rochester had never even played for a WPIAL championship until last season. The Rams are now a win away from capturing consecutive titles.
Rochester’s Robison sisters, Alexis and Mekenzie, combined to score 35 points, and the Rams used a stout defensive performance to defeat Clairton, 57-37, in a Class 1A semifinal at Moon.
Alexis, a junior, scored a game-high 19 points, and sophomore Mekenzie added 16. They vaulted the defending champion and topseeded Rams (23-1) into Friday’s final, where they will take on unbeaten West Greene (24-0) at 3 p.m. at Petersen Events Center. The Rams beat West Greene in last year’s final.
“I’d be kidding if I said I wasn’t thrilled,” said Rochester coach C.J. Iannini. “We’re super excited for our program. Its huge for our town and huge for our community.”
Rochester’s high-powered offense never did get on track against Clairton — the Rams shot 35% (22 of 62) from the field — but because of the way the Rams played defense, it wasn’t a problem Tuesday.
After limiting Aquinas Academy to six first-half points and 24 overall in the quarterfinals, Rochester stymied Clairton (20-4), particularly in the first half when the Bears were just 4 of 28 from the field and committed 14 turnovers as they fell behind, 29-12.
For the game, the Bears shot 26% (15 of 56).
“Coach C.J. preached at the beginning of the season that defense is going to win everything for us, and he’s right,” Mekenzie Robison said.
Other semifinal
In a game in which points were at a premium, West Greene sank three 3-pointers in the third quarter to escape with a 46-45 victory against Sewickley Academy.
Brooke Barner netted 14 points and Jersey Wise had 13 to spark the Pioneers.
West Greene was held scoreless for the first 4:18 of the third quarter before Wise nailed back-to-back 3s 30 seconds apart. Elizabeth Brudnock dropped in another as the quarter was winding down.
In the fourth, Barner hit another 3 and Brudnock got three points the old fashioned way as she was fouled while making a close-range shot.
“We shoot a lot of 3s,” said West Greene coach Jordan Watson. “Jersey had two daggers and Elizabeth had one in the third. Brooke Barner hadn’t hit one in a long time — she’s a four [position] — and she had a big dagger in the fourth.”
A poor shooting effort from the floor and the freethrow line doomed the Panthers (14-11). They were just 2 for 17 from the free-throw line.
In the final 30 seconds of the game, they missed five shot attempts from inside the paint. That included a missed layup and putback with 6.8 second remaining while trailing by one point.