When Sports Were Played: Wash High shows no fear, wins WPIAL title

The “When Sports Were Played” for today is from March 7, 1992, when Washington High School’s girls basketball team knocked off talented North Catholic to win the WPIAL Class AAA girls basketball championship.
PITTSBURGH – They came into Duquesne University’s A.J. Palumbo Center Saturday afternoon telling themselves they had nothing to lose.
Nearly four hours later, the members of the Washington girls basketball team walked away with the WPIAL Class AAA championship.
“I knew we had nothing to lose,” said Washington senior guard Elizabeth Proudfit, who scored a game-high 31 points in a 69-67 victory over North Catholic.
“We weren’t even supposed to be here. Going through the playoffs and pulling out so many wins, our team had no fears. We just said to ourselves, ‘What the heck. We’re here.’ Everyone was really relaxed and ready to play.”
The title is the first for the Washington girls program and only the area’s second championship. Immaculate Conception won the Class A title in 1986.
It was Proudfit’s two free throws with 21 seconds left that broke a 67-67 tie and let the Prexies’ faithful breathe a small sigh of relief. But it wasn’t until North Catholic’s Laura Cribbins missed a three-point shot with 12 seconds to go – and the Trojans failed to convert the rebound – that Washington fans could officially celebrate.
The Little Prexies (27-1) will play Corry, the District 10’s fourth-place team, next Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
“They said in the huddle, ‘We believe, we believe and let’s go get them.'” Washington co-coach Bill Fleissner said. “They said that before the game and during that last timeout.”
Added Proudfit, “When we came out of that final timeout, I heard Nicole (Moschetta) say, ‘We want it more than they do.’ That just stuck in my mind. We worked so hard to get here and we weren’t in awe of North Catholic. I don’t think there was a doubt in any of our minds that we couldn’t pull it off.”
Cribbins was wide open at the top of the key for her last shot, which bounced off the back of the rim but was rebounded by the Trojans. A second shot missed, and time ran out as a scramble for the rebound ensued.
“It was down to the wire,” North Catholic coach Don Barth said. “We had the shot and it didn’t go in. Washington played well and we played well enough to stay in it. We didn’t have enough at the end.”
Few people seemed to give Washington a shot against the much-taller North Catholic squad. The Little Prexies were a considerable underdog to Trojans squad that was making its 15th consecutive appearance in the finals.
North Catholic has seven players 5-9 or taller while Washington’s biggest starters are 5-9 forwards Kellie Brezinski and Tracy Wise.
“I told them to go out and have fun. I said, ‘We have nothing to lose. Go out, play your game and keep your heads up,'” Fleissner said. “These girls … just don’t want to give up.”
“I told them I was out of speeches,” co-coach John Yanni said when asked what wisdom he offered before the game.
Washington was outrebounded 43-32. But Brezinski, Wise, center Summerly Kulik and guards Frannie Spiegel and Moschetta each came up with timely rebounds, which helped offset North Catholic’s height advantage.
“The bench came in an did it for us again,” Fleissner said.
Spiegel had 14 points and Kulik tossed in 13. The Trojans were led by Eryn Ivnik’s 18 points and Peggy Byrnes’ 17.
But it was Proudfit who led the way for Washington. Her drives to the basket and three-point shooting kept the Little Prexies in the game.
Proudfit hit all seven of her free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter. But none was bigger than her final two.
“I was thinking I never shot foul shots like this in my life,” Proudfit said. “That was something I always had to work at, and today it was on. But I was pretty confident.”
North Catholic had a 12-point lead, 33-21, with four minutes remaining before halftime. Proudfit’s two three-pointers pulled Washington within three, 35-32, at the half. More importantly, they gave the Little Prexies a shot of self-confidence.
“We told each other that if we can keep close to them, we’ve got a shot at them,” Fleissner said. “When we were down by three at halftime, I figured we had them. I knew we had a good shot at them. If we weren’t going to beat them, at least we knew we weren’t going to get blown out and that they were in a ballgame.”
Washington had a 52-48 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans’ full-court man-to-man pressure got them back in the game. Two straight Washington turnovers led to five points as North Catholic took a 56-54 lead with 5:42 left.
Washington regained the lead, 61-60, on a layup by Moschetta at 4:15 but the Trojans rallied to tie the game, 63-63, with 2:06 remaining.
The Trojans had a two-point lead, 65-63, with 1:35 left but Proudfit scored Washington’s last six points for the win.