One win away: Peters Township downs Bethel Park, returns to The Pete
Makenna Marisa soars to the basket.
Celebration 3
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Makenna Marisa, middle, and Isabella Mills (21) embrace Mackenzie Lehman after Peters Township beat Bethel Park, 36-28, Tuesday to advance to the WPIAL Class 6A championship game for the second straight season.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Backed up by Isabella Mills, Journey Thompson controls the rebound against Olivia Westphal (22) before driving to the hoop Tuesday during WPIAL Class 6A girls semifinal basketball action.
Makenna Marisa makes her move to the basket against Bethel Park Juliana Carbone (24) during WPIAL Class 6A girls' basketball action.
Makenna Marisa (20) is fouled by Emma Dziezgowski (12) while her sister, Maddie Dziezgowski (13) trails the play. Marisa made both of her free throws on the play in the third quarter.
Peters Township's bench reacts jubilantly to the action on the court during the Indians' triumph against Bethel Park. The 36-28 win catapulted PT into the WPIAL Class 6A girls' final for the second time in two years.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Isabella Mills, left, and Makenna Marisa celebrate with one another after defeating Bethel Park in a WPIAL Class 6A semifinal game.
CANONSBURG – Boos reigning down from the stands 45 seconds into possessions weren’t going to pry the Bethel Park High School girls basketball team from its game plan.
Peters Township coach Bert Kendall could only sit with his arms folded in the first quarter and watch the Black Hawks play keepaway rather than basketball.
“Our idea was to limit possessions and keep it a closer, low-scoring game. We feel that is to our benefit,” said Bethel Park coach Jonna Burke. “Every time there is a different game plan, somehow they find a way to get through it. That is because of Makenna Marisa. She is a game-plan breaker.”
Scoring seven consecutive points to begin an 11-point Peters Township run in the second quarter, Marisa made Bethel Park abandon its slow tempo and kept the Black Hawks at arm’s length the rest of the way during a 36-28 victory in a WPIAL Class 6A semifinal Tuesday night at Canon-McMillan High School.
Peters Township (24-0) advances to play in its second straight WPIAL championship. The Indians will play North Allegheny, who defeated them 79-48 in last year’s final, Saturday at the Petersen Events Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“(Makenna) makes every big play there is to make,” Burke said. “She makes every kid around her better. She is always the factor.”
Marisa scored 25 points against Bethel Park (21-3) in the Indians’ first section victory over the Black Hawks, 68-60, in early January. She scored 26 in a 61-46 win over the Black Hawks in late January. Her game-high 13 points Tuesday night – nine points below her average – were timely more than anything.
By Luke Campbell
Staff writer
lcampbell@observer-reporter.com
Peters Township advances to the WPIAL Class 6A Championship with a 36-28 win over Bethel Park in the semifinals Tuesday night.
Marisa made a baseline jumper to break a 4-4 tie with 5:42 left in the second quarter. She then made a layup and three-pointer over the next two-and-a-half minutes before a putback from Journey Thompson and another layup by Jordan Bisignani made it 15-4 with 1:37 remaining.
“We had to slow our game down,” Marisa said. “Our shots weren’t falling at first. My shots weren’t falling. We had to get into a rhythm.”
That rhythm, which gave the Indians a 15-7 lead at halftime after Bethel Park’s Maria Cerro made a three-pointer, forced the Black Hawks out of their wish-you-didn’t-buy-a-ticket, drag-it-out offense.
“We figured (Bethel Park) would do something different. It was the third game and they weren’t successful in the first two,” said Kendall. “We didn’t know what it would be. We had said all along if that was to happen we just would be patient. It took a while but we stretched the lead out and they had to come out of it.”
Marisa then played facilitator with three fouls for most of the second half as those around her scored to hold off the Black Hawks, who trimmed the deficit to five points three times in the third quarter.
The closest Bethel Park came was when Madelyn Dziezgowski finished a layup while being fouled, made the free-throw to complete the three-point play to trail 21-17 with 2:10 left in the third.
Peters Township then went on a 7-0 run for its first double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter.
Dziezgowski scored seven of her team-high nine points from the foul line. No other player from Bethel Park scored more than six points.
“Our team defense was excellent,” Kendall said. “We had hands in the shooter’s face. Any time you can hold that team with shooters like that to 28 points you have to be pleased.”
Eleanor Bailey
Peters Township players, including Isabella Mills (21) and Makenna Marisa (20) celebrate after beating rival Bethel Park, 36-28, in the WPIAL Class 6A girls’ semifinal basketball game.
Isabella Mills, who made a baseline three-pointer in front of the Peters Township student section to begin the fourth quarter, scored 11 points for the Indians.
“We set team goals at the beginning of the year,” Kendall said. “We wanted to win a section championship and one more game in the WPIAL tournament than we did last year. We are on the doorstep. We have three days to get ready and that’s not enough time, but we will come ready to play.”