Feb 23, 2022 3 min read

SOUTH PARK TOWNSHIP – South Park stood in the way of two main goals Waynesburg’s girls basketball team set for this season.

The first was for the Raiders to claim their first section title since 1986 and they did that with a split in their two regular-season meetings. Waynesburg’s 58-53 home win in the second contest set it on a path to claim a share of the Class 3A, Section 2 championship with the Eagles.

The second was for the Raiders to advance at least one game further in the postseason than they did a year ago when they fell in the quarterfinals.

Waynesburg had to work overtime – in fact, two overtimes – but it finally got fourth-seeded South Park to grudgingly relent the second goal to the fifth-seeded Raiders, 71-68, in a WPIAL quarterfinal thriller Wednesday night.

In a roller-coaster of a battle, Kaley Rohanna’s layup with 13 seconds left from Brenna Benke’s inbounds pass gave Waynesburg a 69-68 lead and Rohanna made two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining to make it 71-68.

After South Park’s Maddie Graham missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Raiders rushed the floor in celebration.

“Just a great, tremendous game by both teams,” Waynesburg coach Dave Sarra said. “The girls set those goals at the beginning of the season and they worked hard all year and were confident they could do it. The worked extra hard tonight to get it done.

“I’m just so proud of them.”

The Raiders were down by three after the Eagles’ Nora Ozmek made two free throws with 23.5 seconds left but Nina Sarra, the coach’s daughter, hit a driving layup to get Waynesburg within one with 15.9 seconds left.

Clara Paige Miller forced a turnover on South Park’s inbounds pass, deflecting the ball off an Eagles player out of bounds. Benke then hit Rohanna cutting to the basket on a set play and the sophomore dropped in the winning two points.

Miller poured in a game-high 31 points in an outstanding all-around performance despite battling foul trouble all night. Rohanna followed with 22 points and Addison Blair tallied 10 points.

Ozmek led South Park (19-4) with 26 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer in the finals seconds of regulation for force overtime. Maya Werteler had 17 points and Graham scored 14 points.

Waynesburg (17-4) will face top-seeded North Catholic in the semifinals on Saturday with the site and time to be determined. The Raiders earned a trip to the PIAA tournament as well.

Waynesburg held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter but South Park pulled even at 21-21 by halftime. The score was tied 51-51 after the third quarter and 58-58 after Rohanna missed a driving shot in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

The Raiders built a five-point lead in the first overtime only to see the Eagles come storming back to tie. South Park’s Kierra Moelber missed an off-balance shot just before the buzzer.