Anderson stands tall in South Fayette’s win
South Fayette’s Mikayla Fetchet celebrates after the Lions beat Hampton, 57-49, in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals Wednesday night at West Allegheny High School.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter South Fayette’s Emily Anderson struggles to keep hold of the ball while trying to get a rebound during the second half of Wednesday night’s game against Hampton.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter South Fayette's head coach Matt Bacco cheers after the Lions beat Hampton 57 to 49 on Wednesday, February 24.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter South Fayette's Sam Kosmacki shoots during first half of Wednesday night's game against Hampton.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter The South Fayette Lions rush to celebrate after beating Hampton 57 to 49 on Wednesday, February 24 in the WPIAL AAA seminfinals.
Observer-Reporter
After 10 years as South Fayette’s girls basketball coach, Matt Bacco resigned after the Lions’ WPIAL Class 5A playoff loss to Oakland Catholic.
IMPERIAL – Last March, the South Fayette girls basketball team felt the loss of someone it relied on all season – Emily Anderson.
A junior at the time, Anderson was nowhere to be found after a knee injury in the WPIAL semifinal game against Elizabeth Forward forced her to gut out a 17-point, 12-rebound performance in the championship game, an injury that would eventually end her season.
When the Lions looked for help in Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class AAA semifinal game, they had no trouble finding the 6-4 forward. Anderson’s triple-double of 27 points, 16 rebounds and 13 blocks led South Fayette to a hard-fought 57-49 victory over Hampton at West Allegheny High School.
The victory advances the Lions to the WPIAL championship game against section rival Trinity at the Petersen Events Center Saturday (3 p.m.).
“We needed every bit out of her,” said South Fayette head coach Matt Bacco. “She struggled in an earlier game in the playoffs against Ringgold. I told her after that it is a team game and she will have plenty of opportunities to pick them up later in the tournament.”
Not only did Anderson pick up the Lions, she put them on her back and carried them.
The Talbots held the lead in the middle of the third quarter before Anderson collected her own rebound and converted on a turnaround layup to put South Fayette ahead 29-28, a lead it would never surrender.
“Going off the last few games, I needed to step up,” said Anderson, who found herself on the bench because of foul trouble in the Lions quarterfinal game against Chartiers Valley. “It was the worst. I always want to be on the court. Tonight, I was able to stay out of foul trouble, thankfully.”
Having Anderson take control like that was not part of Bacco’s plans.
“I told her before the game to go for 20 (points) and 12 (rebounds),” he said. “I did not know what she finished with but she played a heck of a game. We went through plan A, B, C and D against a really good basketball team. I knew this was not going to be easy.”
Hampton’s Alison Collins made it that way for the Lions. The 5-7 sophomore scored five, unanswered points to bring the Talbots within two points, 44-42, with 5:03 remaining.
That would be as close as the Lions would allow Hampton to get, as they made nine of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“Every time I look at this group of kids, I see a championship fiber,” said Bacco. “It has less to do with how they handle the ball, how well they shoot or how good they play defense. It is about their commitment to each other. It is about their mental toughness. We have kids who are injured and are working so hard to get back, and we have kids who stay 30 minutes after practice until we have to throw them out.”
Collins scored a team-high 19 points for a beaten up Hampton (19-6), who failed to have another player score in double figures.
“The faster we play, the better she is,” said Tony Howard. “We had a couple of injuries tonight. Laryn (Edwards) has a chipped bone in her foot and that is an unbelievable effort to just be out there. Jenna (Lafko) might have a broken finger that happened Monday in practice. We had to pick and choose where and when to press. We would like to press for a full 32 minutes, but ultimately with foul trouble and injuries, it just was not feasible to do all game long.”
Anderson led the six-man attack for South Fayette (21-3), while Autumn Mozick finished with nine points, and Mikayla Fetchet scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds.
“At the end of the day, our kids had the guts to pull it out,” said Bacco. “That championship character and love for each other, that is why they are going back to the Pete.”