Feb 18, 2015 5 min read

McMURRAY – With less than half a minute remaining and saddled with a one-point deficit Wednesday night, the Trinity High School girls basketball team’s season was disappearing with each tick off the game clock in Peters Township High School’s gymnasium.

So the Hillers did exactly what you wouldn’t expect them to do.

They called a play they had not tried in a game in two years.

And it worked.

Senior forward Rachel Phillis took a long, crosscourt in-bounds pass from Sierra Kotchman and put in a layup with 15 seconds remaining to give Trinity a thrilling 46-45 victory over Belle Vernon in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.

The win advances Trinity (17-6) to Saturday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Blackhawk (20-3), a 60-40 winner over Ringgold in the first round.

Getting to the quarterfinals wasn’t easy for Trinity as the Hillers gave up a 10-0 fourth-quarter run and lost the lead before dusting off an in-bounds play from deep in the playbook.

Trailing 45-44 and following a foul on Belle Vernon, the Hillers were to in-bound the basketball near the midcourt line. Belle Vernon had a foul to give before Trinity would be in the bonus. Trinity assistant coach Scott Weidner turned to head coach Bob Miles suggested they run a play called “New Jersey.”

“Scott called it, not me,” Miles explained. “The last time we ran it was two years ago and we beat South Fayette with it. That’s the first time we ran that play all year. We do practice it a lot. It’s not like we just drew it up.”

The play is designed for Phillis to set a screen outside the three-point line for one of the Hillers’ guards, then cut back to the basket off a screen set by teammate Mary Dunn.

“We run it in practice,” Phillis said. “Sometimes it works.”

It worked to perfection this time. Kotchman lobbed a perfect pass to Phillis, who slipped behind Belle Vernon’s defenders, including 6-2 center and Bucknell recruit Kaitlyn Slagus, and caught the ball near the side of the lane.

“It ran through my mind that that she (Slagus) might come out of nowhere and block my shot,” Phillis admitted.

Two Leopards defenders, however, were a step late in getting to Phillis, who put the Hillers ahead. Phillis made four of five shots in the game and finished with eight points.

Phillis, by the way, was the player who scored off the same set play to beat South Fayette the last time the Hillers tried “New Jersey.”

“We got caught,” Belle Vernon coach Lisa Fairman said. “We thought they would be working for the last shot, but they went for the kill. They made a nice play with the lob.”

Belle Vernon (16-7) rushed the ball upcourt following Phillis’ basket and made two attempts to drive to the lane before settling for a rushed shot that missed as time expired.

The game was well-played between the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds. Belle Vernon committed only three turnovers and the Hillers just 10.

Trinity center Mary Dunn scored 12 of her 17 points during a plodding first half, but Belle Vernon led 23-22 at halftime. The pace picked up in the third quarter, which played to Trinity’s advantage. So did having Kotchman get hot from the perimeter as she scored nine of her 11 points in the third quarter as the Hillers forged a 39-33 lead entering the final period.

Dunn made one of two free throws – the Hillers attempted only four in the game – to make it 40-33. A basket by Phillis gave Trinity a 42-35 lead with 6:23 remaining, but the Hillers went scoreless over the next five minutes. Belle Vernon took advantage with a 10-0 run including a three-pointer by Bria Rathway that put the Leopards in the lead at 43-42 with 2:47 remaining.

BV’s Samantha Mendicino was then left alone under the basket on an in-bounds play for an easy basket that gave the Leopards a 45-42 lead. But Trinity quickly pushed the ball upcourt and Gigi Veltri converted a layup to bring Trinity back to within one point.

Slagus, who was held to only 15 points because of some tough defensive play by Dunn, Phillis and Delaney Elling, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 38 seconds left. Following a foul by Belle Vernon, Trinity inbounded the ball just inside the midcourt line and executed the game-winning play.

“It takes perfect execution from start to finish for that play to work,” Miles said. “We got that all the way through. Sierra had to make a perfect pass.”

Rathway finished with 13 points for Belle Vernon, which was only 3-for-14 from three-point range. The struggles on the perimeter never enabled BV to open the inside of Trinity’s 2-3 zone for Slagus.

“We didn’t think they were a strong outside shooting team,” Miles said. “We were more concerned about their inside game. They only hit a few threes, and I can’t say enough about the job our bigs did inside on Slagus.”