Revenge, section title are sweet for Peters Township
Peters Township's Jordan Bisignani battles Alyssa Hyland for a rebound Thursday night.
Peters Township's Makenna Marisa looks to pass while being defended Thursday night by Mt. Lebanon's Alyssa Hyland.
Peters Township's Olivia Ziegler is defended Thursday night by Mt. Lebanon's Haley Sabol.
Peters Township's Makenna Marisa (20) attempts to drive between Mt. Lebanon defenders Nora Kogan (3) and Jess Wilhelm Thursday night.
Peters Township's Isabella Mills attempts a shot in front of Mt. Lebanon's Jamey Napoleon Thursday night.
Peters Township's Lillian Young passes the basketball as Mt. Lebanon's Morgan Palmer looks on Thursday night.
Peters Township players Lillian Young and Makenna Marisa, center, celebrate after beating Mt. Lebanon Thursday night.
McMURRAY – For the Peters Township girls basketball squad, getting revenge on one of your fiercest rivals and clinching a section title would be doubly sweet.
Consider the mission accomplished on both fronts.
Makenna Marisa and Isabella Mills led the way for the Indians (7-1, 16-2) as they outlasted a game Mt. Lebanon squad 60-54 Thursday evening. Marisa led all scorers with 32 points while her teammate Mills chipped in 20.
The win clinched the Class 6A Section 3 title for Peters Township.
The Blue Devils (5-4, 9-10) were paced by Haley Sabol’s 18 and Jamey Napoleon’s 14 points, respectively.
“That’s a real good team that we beat tonight,” Peters Township coach Bert Kendall said. “Mt. Lebanon is always very well-coached and disciplined. We knew were in for a fight tonight.”
Peters Township’s lone section loss was a 44-43 decision at Mt. Lebanon Jan. 11.
Since that loss, the Indians have reeled off six straight wins and appear primed to make a run in the WPIAL tournament.
Now they have a section title in their grasp and are hunting bigger prizes down the road.
“We wanted this one so bad,” Marisa said following the game. “Last time we played them, they out-rebounded us pretty bad. We wanted to get back at them on our floor.”
For the game, Peters Township outrebounded the Blue Devils 26-21. Much of the damage was done on the offensive end by Marisa, Mills and company.
After a tightly contested first quarter in which the Indians clung to a 12-10 lead thanks to two three-pointers by Edinboro recruit Lilian Young, the hosts expanded their lead to 10 at the half because of a 14-4 run to close the second quarter.
Marisa, who is being courted by Duquesne, Pitt and Cincinnati, among others, was key in the second quarter as she scored nine points to help stretch the Indians lead.
But the talented Blue Devils announced early in the third quarter they were not going away without a scrap.
Mt. Lebanon went on a 12-4 run of their own as Alyssa Highland’s three cut the Indians lead to 34-32 midway through the frame. Two Mills three-pointers appeared to swing some momentum back to the hosts. But a Sabol putback cut the lead to one again late in the quarter. Marisa then drained two free throws to give the Indians a 41-38 lead going into the fourth.
From there, the two teams swapped baskets as the game became a classic back-and-forth affair. Sabol gave Mt. Lebanon the lead with a low-post bucket, but Mills responded with another three-pointer with 4:30 remaining, giving Peters Township a slender 46-45 lead.
A Marisa running layup extended the lead to three, but Sabol responded again with a putback to slice the lead to one point again.
Mills’ fifth three-pointer extended the Indians’ advantage to four, but a Nora Kogan driving layup brought the Blue Devils to within two midway through the fourth.
“Something we’ve done pretty well is shoot the ball, especially on our home floor,” Kendall remarked. “When we needed a big outside shot, we got it.”
Marisa went to work inside with two baskets in the paint, the second of which gave the hosts a 55-51 lead with 1:11 to go. However, Jess Wilhelm dropped one more big bomb for Mt. Lebanon when she made a long, arching three-pointer with 38 seconds left, dragging the Blue Devils back to within one and a chance to pull the upset.
But Marisa went about dashing those hopes with the biggest basket of the contest as she took possession of the ball at the top of the key, faked right, drove left and laid the ball softly off the glass and into the net.
She was also fouled and completed the old-fashioned three-point play by making the ensuing free throw, clinching the contest and the section title.
“The difference from the last time we played them is that we just played harder, we just wanted it that bad,” Marisa said.