Back on top: South Fayette pulls away from TJ, wins 4th WPIAL title in 5 years
PITTSBURGH – With two and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter, Thomas Jefferson’s Emma Altavilla made an old fashioned three-point play and suddenly South Fayette’s lead was down to two points.
That’s when Lions coach Bryan Bennett sensed the team needed a breather, so he called time out.
“When they made that run I thought we got a little tight, so it was just to settle them down a bit,” Bennett said. “They’re a veteran group so I knew they’d respond.”
Bennett was correct.
His girls responded and collected another gold medal.
The top-seeded Lions allowed only 12 points the rest of the way and completed a dominant WPIAL season by defeating No. 2 Thomas Jefferson, 57-38, in the Class 5A girls basketball championship Friday night.
After the timeout South Fayette outscored the Jaguars, 29-12, to finish the game.
“I was pleased with how they responded,” Bennett said. “We were a little bit more relaxed. Our defense locked in and communicated better and our shot selection picked up from that point, which was by far the difference in the ballgame.”
South Fayette (25-1) won its fourth title in five years and finished unbeaten against WPIAL opponents. The Lions won by mercy rule all but two times. Once against Trinity (26-23) in the semifinals and Friday.
They also avenged last year’s loss to Peters Township. The seniors, Juliette Leroux, Haylie Lamonde and Ryan Oldaker, earned their third district gold.
Lamonde had a game-high 19 points. Leroux and Lailah Wright scored 14 points apiece.
“It’s definitely a privilege and I feel like we definitely have homecourt advantage, because we’ve been here since Freshman year,” Leroux said. “We know the atmosphere and I feel like we play really well under that pressure of everyone watching us.”
Thomas Jefferson (22-3) was seeking its first WPIAL girls basketball title.
Leroux scored on a drive in the lane, Wright hit two free throws and converted a layup at the buzzer. That gave South Fayette a 36-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.
They continued to build on the lead from there by beginning the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run. Layups by Leroux and Oldaker pushed the lead to 42-30.
The Lions led by double digits the rest of the way.
“(South Fayette) is the best basketball team in the state,” Jaguars coach Matt Gould said. “They have two 1,000 point scorers (Leroux and Lamonde) and Lailah Wright is the best defender in the state. When you play against them, you’re up against it, but our girls played well.
“We weren’t just happy to be here in any respect. We came here fully convinced we could beat South Fayette, but credit to them. They came out and beat us.”
Lamonde had a hot start, scoring 11 points to help the Lions take a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
South Fayette began the game on an 8-0 run mainly by turning steals into quick points. Lamonde started it with a steal and score, Oldaker had a basket on a runout and Leroux scored on a rebound off a turnover.
Thomas Jefferson responded with an 8-0 run of its own to tie it up.
Lamonde nailed a deep three and scored on a layup to finish off the quarter.
The Lions got into a bit of foul trouble in the first half with two starters, Ella Vierra and Lailah Wright, picking up two fouls. Vierra got two fouls within the first four minutes of the game, while Wright picked up both of her fouls in the second quarter.
Wright made a layup to stretch South Fayette’s lead to 10 at the beginning of the second quarter, but after that the Jaguars spent the rest of the frame chipping away.
On two occasions Thomas Jefferson got the lead to three points, once on a rebound by Allie Wilson and another time when Riley McCabe made a driving layup.
Leroux scored in the paint late in the second to make the score 26-21 South Fayette at halftime.
Thomas Jefferson 9 12 7 10 – 38
South Fayette 15 11 8 23 – 57
Thomas Jefferson: Riley McCabe, 10 points.
South Fayette: Haylie Lamonde, 19 points; Lailah Wright, 14; Juliette Leroux, 14.