Feb 13, 2026 By Joe Tuscano 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – The bus carrying the Deer Lakes girls basketball team got stuck in traffic and was 30 minutes late arriving at Waynesburg Central High School’s gymnasium.

The way things turned out, Deer Lakes could have used another half hour.

That’s because Friday night’s opponent, Waynesburg, put on a clinic in a 55-26 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs. Waynesburg, which moved to 21-2 on the season, will play either No. 2 seed Beaver Falls or No. 15 South Allegheny Wednesday at a time and site to be determined.

Deer Lakes finished the season with an 11-11 record.

Waynesburg got 23 points from freshman Tess Pauley and 14 points from another freshman, Emma Blair.

“We have to play fast and we have to play together,” said Waynesburg head coach Mark Capozzoli. “We’re learning how to move the ball faster and we’re playing good defense.”

The Raiders put the game away with a 16-0 run in the third quarter.

“We’re creating a lot of turnovers by the other team,” said Capozolli. “We were switching up our defense. We were countering what they did and it worked.”

Deer Lakes, which has a roster of only nine players, had trouble controlling the ball.

“They put us in foul trouble,” said Deer Lakes head coach Dana Petruska. “That’s why you can’t fight. Their team was building castles in the three-second lane. We finally got a call near the end of the game.

“Waynesburg is a nice shooting team. They had a good game plan. I’m not going to take anything away from them. They played a heck of a game. They took advantage of our weaknesses.”

Waynesburg took advantage of 13 Deer Lakes turnovers to take a 33-16 lead at halftime.

Pauley led the Raiders with 17 points in the first half and Peyton Cowell scored eighth with six coming from the free-throw line.