Peters Township streaks past Bethel Park, into WPIAL finals
Lillian Young of Peters Township battles with Bethel Park's Kam Lach and Ashley Spence for the rebound.
Makenna Marisa of Peters Township dribbles down court, despite the defensive efforts Emma Papalia.
Eleanor Bailey
Peters Township’s Isabella Mills averaged 13 points and eight rebounds last season.
BALDWIN – The Peters Township girls’ basketball team leads a charmed life. The Indians did not allow the fact that they had already beaten Bethel Park twice this season from preventing them from winning their biggest encounter with the Black Hawks.
For the third time this year, Peters Township defeated Bethel Park, 55-39, in a semifinal game Tuesday night at Baldwin and advanced to the WPIAL Class 6A championship. The Indians (20-3) will face top-seeded North Allegheny (24-0) in the finals set for 7 p.m., Saturday at the Petersen Event Center.
“The only one that matters is the one that you are playing,” said Bert Kendall of his team’s winning streak, which has now stretched to six games against the rival Hawks. “The important one was tonight.”
The Indians understood the importance of the contest because they had not been to a WPIAL final since losing to Upper St. Clair, 69-40, at the Palumbo Center on Feb. 23, 2008.
“We haven’t been to the Pete for years,” said Makenna Marisa. “We wanted this so bad.”
Marisa epitomized the Indians’ desire. She was everywhere on the court, making baskets, grabbing her own rebounds, and directing the offense. She went for a game-high 25 points, contributed five assists and pulled down five rebounds.
“She’s a super player. A special player,” Kendall said. “We are happy she goes to Peters Township High School. She makes us go.”
Marisa went on a 10-point tear in the third quarter as the Indians stretched their halftime lead of 30-19 into advantages of 42-21 and 46-25. She scored 12 points in the first half as Peters Township expanded a first-quarter lead of three points, 15-12, to an 11-point edge by intermission.
“We wanted this bad,” Kendall said. “We talked about playing four, eight-minute games. We were going to try and win every eight-minute game. That desire was there to win each game so that was effective for us.
“And, we won the rebounding war. Often at times that is important. We rebounded the ball really, really well.”
Isabella Mills dominated the boards. She pulled down 11 rebounds and just missed a double-double, finishing with nine points. She scored two big 3-pointers to end each of the first two quarters, including a buzzer beater before intermission.
“Isabella is our shooter,” Kendall said. “If she’s open, then she’s going to hit it.”
Lillian Young also came up some big plays. She tossed in 14 points, buried three, three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.
“It takes five,” said Kendall, acknowledging the play of Jordan Bisignani, Olivia Ziegler and Erin Gummersbach. “They all executed.
“If you just had one (good player), then good coaches find a way to stop her. It takes a lot of hard effort by our other players. Run the offense and not get caught up and standing and watching. Sometimes that is a tendency when you have a special player like Makenna.”
Marisa agreed.
“We all were just playing great and it continued all game,” she said. “We all rebounded so well. We all played great defense. We are really clicking and our desire was it. We just wanted to go to the Pete so bad.”
The Indians also wanted the rematch with North Allegheny, which defeated Mt. Lebanon, 34-20, in the other semifinal game. During the regular season, Peters Township dropped a 67-54 game to the Tigers.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” said Marisa about the team’s desire to play NA again. “We are ready. We are very confident. We are looking for revenge this time.”
Kendall, who is assisted by his daughter, Katie, and Samantha Loadman, both Bethel Park products, is excited about the encounter, too. While he admitted that it’s a new experience for the Indians, he said, “I think we are loose and confident. We have nothing to be nervous about. We’re not undefeated. We are going to go out there and play as hard as we did tonight and see what happens.”
BP had no players in double figures. Kamryn Lach and Maddie Dziezgowski each chipped in nine points.