Feb 6, 2024 4 min read

By Luke Campbell

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

Megan Zitner might have been near the top of the list of people excited when the calendar flipped to January.

It wasn’t an easy December for the Burgettstown girls basketball coach.

The Blue Devils, fresh off their most successful season in school history with appearances in the WPIAL semifinals and a win in the state tournament, needed to replace four starters this season.

Combine an inexperienced lineup – nobody outside of senior forward standout Kaitlyn Nease saw many minutes in previous years – with a challenging non-section schedule, it went how many would think.

“It was a rough start,” Zitner admitted. “We knew it was going to be a transition. It was going to take time to figure out. Losses show what your weaknesses are, and we focused on those things.”

There was plenty to learn for the new-look lineup after going 4-7 in December, tied for the most losses that Burgettstown had in the last four seasons. The month ended with five consecutive losses, including four by double digits. All seven of those losses were against teams currently with double-digit win totals.

But the Blue Devils have been able to pick up the pieces to salvage another successful season. It will result in another postseason appearance, a regular occurrence for Zitner through her time at Burgettstown, and likely a share of the Class 2A Section 2 title. Wins over Sto-Rox and Carlynton to culminate the regular season would secure that championship. Burgettstown handily defeated both teams earlier this season.

Prior to the Blue Devils’ loss at Fort Cherry last week, they had won 20 consecutive section games. Their last loss in section play prior to that was also to the Rangers on the final day in January two years ago.

However, the time for inconsistencies have cut a little deeper for Burgettstown as its season has typically stretched into late February and early March.

In the last six postseason losses, including their state playoff losses in 2022 and 2023, the Blue Devils failed to score 45 points in any of those games. They were held to fewer than 40 points in five of them.

“I just think once you get to the playoffs everybody is good,” Zitner said. “Every team has good defenders. A lot of those games come down to defense. I don’t necessarily think it’s just not scoring like we needed to. The first couple years (of making the playoffs), I don’t know if we were expected to win. We put up good fights.”

There were games Zitner thought could have extended the Blue Devils’ season, pointing to a 32-28 loss to Riverview in the first round in 2020 and a 37-36 gut-wrenching loss to Serra Catholic in the 2022 quarterfinals.

Burgettstown (7-1, 11-9) has gelled this particular team together by featuring a diverse lineup of senior Martina Whyte, junior Carlee Pennington, sophomore Savanna Rush and freshman Paige Klodowski, joining Nease, a 1,000-point scorer who just received her first NCAA Division II offer from Salem (W.Va.).

Nease is averaging 16.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

“She’s definitely a special player,” Zitner said. “She is talented both inside and outside. She has a little bit of everything skill-wise and is leading nearly every statistical category. She’s doing a lot for us.”

Klodowski averages 9.5 points per game as the Blue Devils have tried to develop into a more balanced attack.

“We are still always trying to figure out ways to get other people scoring,” Zitner said. “It seemed at first everybody thought it was their job to get Kaitlyn the ball. They weren’t getting themselves involved as much as we wanted. They were maybe passing up good opportunities and seeing what’s right in front of them.”

Since the turn of the calendar year, Burgettstown is 7-2 and is scoring on average 48.5 points. All seven wins have been by double digits.

“I wish some of those earlier games could have been sprinkled in later on,” Zitner said. “We don’t want to get maybe a little too confident and not seeing areas that we need to improve. We told them there is a process in having basically a brand-new team. It took a little time for everyone to figure out their role and play together. The effort level is always there. They give me 100 percent. That is something we can always control.”