Jan 12, 2017 4 min read

McMURRAY – The girls basketball teams at Peters Township and Mt. Lebanon entered Thursday night’s WPIAL Class 6-A game unbeaten in Section 3.

Both teams showed why during a hard-fought game.

A bad third quarter doomed Peters Township as a valiant comeback effort fell short in a 63-59 home loss.

“We have no quit,” Peters Twp. head coach Bert Kendall said, after his team nearly erased a 13-point fourth quarter deficit. “We have to learn not to dig ourselves a big hole, but we showed we will play until the final whistle.”

Trailing by two points coming out of the locker room at halftime, Mt. Lebanon (4-0, 11-2) took control of the game to start the third quarter. Kate Sramac scored five quick points and Alyssa Hyland knocked down a three-point shot as Mt. Lebanon began the quarter on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 37-27 lead.

Peters Township (3-1, 8-4) came up empty on its first eight possessions of the quarter as the Blue Devils ultimately outscored the Indians 23-7 to take a 48-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We did a lot of good things,” Mt. Lebanon head coach Dori Oldaker said. “They are a very good team and I don’t want to downplay and say it is not a big win, because it is. We know we are going to have to see them at least one more time and possibly in the playoffs, so we know we still have to play better.”

The Blue Devils took control of the game by crashing the offensive glass in the third quarter, which led to multiple second-chance opportunities.

They also had success in getting Sramac the ball around the free-throw line, where she was able to find an open McKenzie Bushee down low. Bushee finished with a game-high 23 points for the Blue Devils, while Sramac added 18.

“We didn’t rebound,” Kendall said. “Too many missed opportunities and we didn’t guard the post very well. They were able to run Sramac to the foul line and once our post came out, she was able to dish it to Bushee. We didn’t get it fixed. We tried some different things, but weren’t able to stop it.”

Just when you thought Mt. Lebanon was going to turn the game into a rout, the Indians stormed back.

Alyssa Young knocked down a three to make it a six-point game with just over four minutes left and Makenna Marisa hit a jumper to make it a 54-50 game with 3:48 left as PT opened the fourth quarter on a 16-2 run.

Young, who finished with 13 points, hit another three with one minute left to make it, 56-53, but that was as close as PT would get as the Blue Devils sank their free throws.

Isabella Mills kept the Indians in the game with a couple of late threes, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

Mills gave the Indians a nice spark off the bench with 16 points, including four three-pointers.

“The way they shoot the three, we knew they weren’t out of the game,” Oldaker said. “Lucky for us, we stepped to the line and made our free throws. We talk about it all the time and we struggled from the line early in the year, but we did a good job tonight.”

The discrepancy in free-throw attempts was huge as Mt. Lebo got to the line 24 times while PT only made eight. The Indians only made two of those attempts.

“In a close game, missing free throws is a killer,” Kendall said.

The game was back and forth throughout the first half as both teams traded baskets playing an uptempo attack.

Marisa scored seven of her 11 first-half points during the first quarter that finished knotted at 13. She led all Indians scorers with 19 points.

Neither team held more than a three-point advantage for most of the second quarter until the final seconds, when Young knocked down a three-point shot. Alyssa Konopka followed with a steal and a layup to give Peters Twp. a 27-23 lead before Bushee made a late layup to send the game into the locker room with PT leading 27-25.

Peters Township will try and get right back on the winning track Monday, when they travel to Canon-McMillan.

“The good news is that all our mistakes are fixable,” Kendall said. “Free throws are fixable, so is guarding the post. Tonight was a good game and a good effort. It will turn into a positive learning experience for us.”