Perfection: Peters Township makes history by completing undefeated regular season
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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s coach Bert Kendall talks to his team during a time out against West Allegheny at Peters Township High School on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.
Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s girls basketball coach Bert Kendall was 110-48 in seven seasons.
Peters Township’s Makenna Marisa makes a basket against West Allegheny during a game at Peters Township High School on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.
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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s Isabella Mills make a pass against West Allegheny during Monday’s game at Peters Township High School.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s Mackenzie Lehman has at least nine rebounds in each of the last three games.
Peters Township’s Journey Thompson takes a shot as West Allegheny’s Patience Ashaolu tries to block during a game at Peters Township High School on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.
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MCMURRAY – Taped outside of girls basketball coach Bert Kendall’s office in the bowels of Peters Township High School are team photos taken after victories.
Written on each picture is either the Indians’ record or number of their winning streak.
Never did Kendall expect there would be a picture where 22-0 needed to be written on it – until the Peters Township sixth-year head coach put his hands on his hips and joyfully watched the Indians celebrate history at midcourt.
On “Meaningless Monday,” when WPIAL playoff seeds have already been determined before many regular-season finales, there was still plenty on the line for Kendall’s group.
In another convincing performance, Peters Township became the first girls basketball team in Washington County history to go undefeated in the regular season, handling visiting West Allegheny, 83-49, in a nonsection game.
“It’s a special ride and this is a special team,” Kendall said. “It’s validation that the system that we brought to Peters Township six years ago is one that works. Our players are so excited and I couldn’t be happier for them. I knew we were going to be good, but I had no idea I would be standing here tonight saying we are 22-0. It never entered my mind.”
The season before Kendall became the Indians coach in 2013 they finished with three victories.
“The first year, my freshman year, we were pushing just to do well in the section,” said senior Isabella Mills. “It’s crazy just to see how far we’ve come. We kept getting closer and closer (to perfection). Then tonight, it’s just incredible.”
Peters Township put the finishing touches on its perfect regular season with the kind of balance it has shown all season. Makenna Marisa led four Indians to score in double figures with 20 points. Mackenzie Lehman, who is in her first season of basketball as a junior, scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed six rebounds. Journey Thompson scored 16 points with eight rebounds and eight blocked shots, and Mills scored all of her 14 points in the first half.
By Luke Campbell
Staff writer
lcampbell@observer-reporter.com
“I’m finally finishing my shots and they are starting to fall,” Lehman said. “I always get the extra pass and am wide open. It’s just about the ball going in. We have connected from the start of the season and it’s led to success.”
The game became lopsided in the second quarter when Peters Township went on a 21-2 run, which lasted more than six minutes and was sparked by eight points by Thompson that broke down West Allegheny’s zone defense.
“We thought going into the year that a lot of teams were going to play zone against us. We spent all summer working on offensive zone sets,” Kendall said. “Tonight, we were ready for it. We don’t see it a lot in our section. We were able to get inside and outside looks. We can create mismatches from our length and athleticism.”
The offensive onslaught continued after Peters Township took a 43-22 lead into halftime. Marisa led a 15-5 run to begin the second half to lead extend the lead to more than 30 points a little over midway through the third quarter.
They are sizable leads Kendall and the Indians are used to having. They’ve had only four games decided by 20 points or fewer this season.
“I’m a firm believer in keeping everything in rhythm,” Kendall said. “We didn’t want to approach this game, even though the seedings have already been decided, any different than any other game. We didn’t want to let up or change anything.”
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township freshman center Journey Thompson is averaging 12.7 points and 7.9 rebounds this season.
West Allegheny (11-11) matched the size of Peters Townshi, but couldn’t find much scoring outside of Hannah Lindemuth’s 20 points and 13 points from Grace Faulk.
“(Peters Township) is a great team,” said West Allegheny coach Jen Rogers. “They are a very well-rounded team. They play together. They are very well-coached and knowledgeable. They hit a lot of shots and are strong on the boards. We weren’t hitting the boards like we were supposed to or giving them much competition.”
The only undefeated team in Class 6A, and in the entire WPIAL outside of Chartiers Valley, the Indians are likely to earn the top seed during tonight’s WPIAL pairings meeting.
“We can’t become complacent,” Mills said. “We have to keep pushing ourselves.”