Jan 3, 2022 4 min read

BELLE VERNON – Belle Vernon made a splash as it hit eight of 14 three-point attempts to upset highly ranked Southmoreland 52-40 in a Class 4A Section 3 girls basketball contest Monday night.

And after the game, the Leopards made another splash as most of the players, as well as second-year head coach Kaitlyn Slagus, jumped into the BVA pool to celebrate.

“Last night leaving practice, the girls joked that they were all jumping in the pool if we won and I thought they were joking but they weren’t,” said Slagus as she tried to hold back a smile. “It motivated the girls and anything that will motivate them, we will do.

“They were super excited, and I was standing down there thinking I am not going to do it. I was still in my dress pants, but memories.

“It is the big ones, the wins and losses. Memories. It is all about the memories.”

Viva Kreis hit a career-high five three-pointers and scored a season-high 18 points to pace Belle Vernon (3-0, 6-2).

“I wasn’t really feeling it in warmups, not really,” she said. “I have been working on it a lot in practice and they weren’t falling in warmups, but then I hit three of my first four.

“(Southmoreland) was No. 1 in the WPIAL and it has been our goal since our freshman year to beat them. And I am glad we got this win in defining fashion.”

Slagus and Kreis both spoke about the team being motivated after losing to Upper St. Clair by 32 points while Southmoreland had only lost to the Panthers by only two.

“The girls were motivated after that loss,” Slagus said. “There was a lot of energy.”

“We spoke a lot about our energy,” Kreis said. “We felt the energy (from the crowd) and after the Upper St. Clair loss, we had to come out with energy.”

Southmoreland coach Amber Cernuto said her team may have overlooked Belle Vernon.

“I think we took them lightly, and we always have a tough time here,” she said. “Offensively, we struggled and were hesitant, we were lackadaisical and didn’t rebound well today, and we broke down defensively.

“We didn’t stop them and knew they were a three-point shooting team.”

Belle Vernon used a box-and-one on Gracie Spadaro and held the 6-1 senior to six points.

“We went a box-and-one and it was all discipline on the girls end,” Slagus said. “We knew they were bigger and had an extra girl clog up the middle.

“This is our biggest win since I have been the coach, Viv shot great, and I am proud of how all of the girls played.”

There were five lead changes and three ties in the first quarter and then Belle Vernon went on a 6-0 run to start the second quarter and took a 22-11 lead. However, the Leopards didn’t score for the rest of the half.

The Scotties (5-2, 1-1) mustered a 5-0 run to end the second quarter to trim the Leopards’ lead to 22-16.

The Leopards blew the game wide open in the third as they hit four three-pointers and held an 18-7 advantage in the quarter to take a 40-23 lead into the fourth.

Southmoreland got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Cernuto spoke about how the Scotties, winners of two straight section crowns, have had a hiccup early both years.

“We lost to West Mifflin both years,” she said. “Hopefully, this is our West Mifflin, and we will get them at our place next time.”

Jenna Dawson also hit double figures for BVA with 10 points while Olivia Cernuto (14) and Elle Pawlikowsky (10) led Southmoreland.