Apr 13, 2019 4 min read

History.

The Peters Township High School girls basketball team just didn’t make it for its school but for all of Washington County.

First, the Indians became the only girls team to finish a WPIAL regular season undefeated.

Continuing their dominance into the postseason, the Indians became only the fourth Washington County school to win a WPIAL girls basketball title. Peters Township joined Immaculate Conception (1986), Washington (1992) and Chartiers-Houston (2017) as district champions.

The Indians then put the finishing touch on their piece of history with an unforgettable run to the PIAA Class 6A title, defeating Garnet Valley, 62-49, behind 29 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists from Makenna Marisa. They became the first girls basketball team from Washington County to win a state basketball championship.

It was the first district and state title for the school.

And the Indians did it with a 30-0 record.

“It’s sunk in a little bit more now than right when it happened,” said Peters Township coach Bert Kendall. “It was a great accomplishment for those girls and our school. It was focus, execution and determination.”

For Peters Township’s accomplishments, the Indians will receive this year’s Observer-Reporter Sports Headliner award cc

In the Indians’ pursuit for history, they wrote the final chapter against Garnet Valley in similar fashion to so many of their first 29 wins. Of Peters Township’s 30 victories, 26 were by double digits. The Indians’ average margin of victory was 27.4 points.

They didn’t forget how to win close games, outlasting North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 6A finals in overtime, 43-40. It avenged a loss to the Tigers last year in the same title game.

Welcome aboard

The three starters remaining from last year’s WPIAL runner-up – Isabella Mills, Jordan Bisignani and Marisa – got a much-needed infusion of help with three players who weren’t on the Indians’ roster one season ago.

Freshmen starting center Journey Thompson and sixth-player Avana Sayles, along with Division I lacrosse recruit turned basketball player Mackenzie Lehman, paid dividends all season, especially down the stretch.

Sayles checked in to help lead a second-half comeback in the WPIAL championship. Lehman picked off a pass at half-court at the Petersen Events Center and scored the game-winning layup in overtime.

In the PIAA semifinals against Upper Dublin, Thompson, who sat out most of the game because of foul trouble, made the free throw that sent the game into overtime with nine seconds left in regulation.

“Our team theme every year here has been, ‘Our team,’ Kendall said. “We talk all the time about how every girl is a component of our team and it’s not just one person. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit. This team, more than anything, trusted each other like I’ve never seen. We don’t win without their efforts.”

A road rarely traveled

Rolling through a regular season undefeated, Kendall and the Indians knew one slip up in the postseason would end their season.

There could only be one team left standing in Class 6A, and despite how impressive Peters Township’s run in the regular season and district playoffs was, completing an undefeated season and receiving PIAA gold medals had only been done by three other WPIAL girls basketball teams before this year.

The Indians became the fourth.

“It was a real exercise of staying focus and not looking ahead,” Kendall said. “The accumulation of those events and wins was remarkable. When you are in the middle of it, you only think of the team on hand. Harrisburg had a 1,000-point scorer going Division I. That’s over and we have our rival Bethel Park, which it was just a matter of executing in that game. Then onto Norwin, when they just kept coming at us.”

The win over Norwin meant Peters Township was the only WPIAL team remaining in the Class 6A state playoffs, along with three District 1 teams.

The Indians overcame their worst shooting performance – 13-for-51 from the field (25 percent) – to rally and upend defending state champion Upper Dublin.

“I have a plaque that says 30-0 state champions in my office at home,” Kendall said. “I walk by it multiple times a day to stop and look at it.”