12th-seeded Peters Township girls come together for upset win over No. 5 Plum

By: Michael Love
Friday, February 13, 2026 | 10:38 PM

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Despite his team’s fourth-place finish in Section 4-5A and being slotted as the No. 12 seed for the WPIAL playoffs, Peters Township girls basketball coach Steve Limberiou felt confident a rugged section and overall schedule and strong play down the stretch in the regular season would translate into good things once the postseason started.

That was the case Friday evening in a first-round matchup at Section 1 champion and No. 5 Plum.

Four players finished in double figures for Peters Township, which was able to build a double-digit lead in the second half. The defending WPIAL champion was able to hold off any Mustangs rally attempts to finish off a 56-46 victory.

“I think the playoff experience helped us tonight,” said Limberiou, who will help lead his team into a quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 Baldwin on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

“I feel we play in definitively the best section in the WPIAL (Thomas Jefferson, Baldwin, Trinity). Our fifth-place team, Bethel Park, could have won playoff games. We’ve been prepared for playoff games like this all season. We played a lot of close games, won six in a row coming in and have started to get fully healthy. We had a ton of respect for Plum as we prepared for them, and we knew we would have to play a really strong game to beat them. At the same time, the girls were pretty confident.”

Sophomore Taylor McCullough scored 17 points to lead Peters, and senior Bri Morreale, a 1,000-point scorer for the Indians, added 13. Sophomore Jordyn Welsh and senior Alina Sopko tallied 13 and 10 points, respectively. The Indians improved to 14-9 overall.

“In the playoffs, it is a dangerous proposition to rely on two girls to get 20 points on a consistent basis with a lot of the good gameplans,” Limberiou said.

“It was important to be able to spread the scoring around, and the girls delivered.”

In her final high school game, Plum senior Riley Stephans led all scorers with 21 points. She scored 16 of those in the second half as the Mustangs attempted to stay close. Freshman Tori Glogowski drained a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. Junior Tamia West and Stephans collected nine and eight rebounds, respectively.

Plum coach Rich Mull was emotional after the game, tears welling up in his eyes as he talked about a team of all experience levels that came together to deliver the program’s first girls basketball section championship. The Mustangs finished 10-2 in Section 1 and ended the season 18-5 overall.

“When we all put so much time into the entire season and the girls dedicate themselves to being the best they can be and come together like they did, I just wasn’t ready for it to end,” Mull said.

“I told the seniors — Riley and Gia (Tavella) — that I appreciated everything they’ve done for this program. Riley had a really good year, and Gia lived up to some high expectations. There were times when I was tough on (the team), but I told the girls that if I didn’t love them, I wouldn’t have been as tough on them or pushed them as hard as I did.”

Peters Township led by just two points at the end of the first quarter and built the advantage to seven at the break.

Junior Maddyn Mehl nailed a 3-pointer with four seconds left until the break to give the Indians their largest lead in the first 16 minutes at 24-17. The score was tied 17-17 with 4:50 to go in the second quarter, but Plum went cold from the field.

Peters Township led by as much as 11 on six occasions in the second half, the last time coming as Sopko converted 1 of 2 from the line with 1:13 left to extend the score to 54-43.

“At times, we played really well,” Mull said. “(Peters) is a very consistent team, and we weren’t always consistent enough. We gave up just too many easy baskets, and we couldn’t afford to do that against a team like Peters, or any team for that matter. They shoot 3s really well, but they didn’t kill us on 3s . I did feel the effort was there.”

For the Indians, it’s a third meeting with Baldwin, which won the two section matchups by seven and eight points.

“We’re looking forward to seeing them again,” Limberiou said.

“Both of our games against them were tied with two and a half minutes left. I don’t think we played our best basketball against them, and that is a credit to them. The girls are excited to move on. They will be ready.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Peters Township, Plum