Webber, South Fayette still tough to stop
In last season’s triple-overtime classic against Trinity, South Fayette’s Maddie Webber, a Villanova commit, had 32 points.
Thursday night, Webber had 22 of South Fayette’s 47 to lead her team to a 47-25 win over the Hillers in a Class 5A Section 4 game.
“She’s a special player,” South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett said. “We’re fortunate to have her on our team. She can do things that continue to shock me. I thought she was just aggressive in the right way. She read their defense. She pulled up when they got in position and hit the 15-foot jumper.”
Webber came into her senior season as one of the WPIAL’s top players. She’s gotten better this year, and feels the biggest improvement she’s made has been in getting to the basket.
“They played really good defense on me, but I was still able to get to the rim,” Webber said. “I think that’s what was key this year for me.”
Trinity (3-1, 7-4) got out to a 5-0 run to start the game, but South Fayette (4-0, 12-2) responded with a 13-0 run. South Fayette led 13-7 after the first quarter.
“Basketball’s a game of runs,” Webber said, “and we needed it badly, and we got it. We let them have their run, and then we got ours and we didn’t let go of it.”
South Fayette kept it going in the second quarter and led 27-18 at the half. Webber scored 12 first-half points to lead the Lions. She took command in the second half, scoring the first six points to put South Fayette up 33-18 2:30 in. She ended the night with only three fewer points than Trinity. A lot of that was because of South Fayette’s defense, which held Trinity to seven points in the second half.
“South Fayette’s a really good team,” Trinity coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. “Top to bottom. They hit shots, they made plays. They’re very experienced, they have a lot of weapons, and defensively they’re exceptional, and we couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end. I thought the first half, we handled it a little better, hit some shots and gave us a chance. But the second half, I told the team, without hitting open looks, hitting open shots, that’s a tough team to play.”
Eden Williamson ended the night with 11 points for Trinity. The rest of the team combined for 14.
“We knew they were shooters,” Webber said, “so we made sure to close out really well, and our defense was really good tonight. We held them to 25. Our defense really helped us tonight.”
Webber was the only Lion to crack double-figures, but the result is what matters. South Fayette now has sole possession of first place in Class 5A Section 4.
Both teams play again Monday night. South Fayette hosts West Allegheny at 7:30 and Trinity is at Lincon Park at the same time.
Trinity won every section game it played last season and the season before that.
With South Fayette and Lincoln Park (11-1) now in the fold, McConnell-Miller’s team will be challenged more often, and she likes it that way.
“We love the section that we’re in,” she said. “We think it’s a challenge for us, night in and night out. There’s really talented teams, but its definitely going to prepare us to make a run in the playoffs. In the past, we haven’t had challenges like that early on. So I think it really is a gut-check for us to see where we are, where we need to improve, how we need to get better on the offensive end. They exposed a lot tonight.”