After slow start, Penn Hills girls basketball hitting its stride

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 3, 2019 | 10:09 PM

After starting the season with back-to-back losses, the Penn Hills girls basketball team is starting to find its stride with six wins in their past seven games.

With lofty expectations heading into the season, the Indians got off to a sluggish start with a 60-45 loss to North Allegheny on Dec. 7 and a 36-26 loss to Norwin on Dec. 8 in the North Allegheny Tournament.

Penn Hills (6-3, 3-0) had a perfect opportunity to quickly alter their path with four games in four days.

“The season has been a roller coaster. We started off pretty slow and we had a chance to regroup and see where we were at and make some adjustments. Since then, we’ve been playing better basketball,” coach Robert Cash said.

“We played a little harder. We executed better and took care of the basketball. Early on we turned it over a lot and missed a lot easy baskets.”

The Indians earned a 46-30 win over Penn-Trafford in Section 3-5A action on Dec. 14.

Penn Hills, which is averaging 51.3 points this season, won both of its games in the She Got Game Classic at Washington, D.C., beating American Heritage, Fla., 50-44, on Dec. 15 and Medgar Evers, N.Y., 63-44, on Dec. 16.

The Indians, who are allowing 44.2 points this season, won their fourth game in as many days by topping Laurel Highlands, 74-39, in section play Dec. 17.

Penn Hills extended its winning streak to five games by defeating Latrobe, 60-48, at home in section play Dec. 21.

“From the beginning, I’ve said it’s one of the best rosters as far as talent we have had at Penn Hills. I’m really surprised by the things that they could do. We have been trying to figure out how to put it together,” Cash said.

“They are playing so hard it’s allowing them to compete with teams. I think we are far from what we can be as a team overall. When you play hard, good things happen for you. Right now, we are playing so hard a lot of good things are starting to happen for us.”

The Indians’ win streak was snapped with another loss to Class 6A No. 1 North Allegheny, 51-47, in the Penn Hills tournament Dec. 27. The next day, the Indians beat Class 4A No. 1 North Catholic, 51-46, in the final game of the tournament.

Senior forward Tayonna Robertson has led the Indians this season by reaching double-figures in scoring the last five games. Robertson netted 18 points in the win over Laurel Highlands, 16 points in the second loss to North Allegheny and 15 points in the win over Medgar Evers, N.Y.

Along with point guard play from sophomore Alysa Sledge, the Indians have received strong contribution from senior Adia Brisker from the wing. Brisker scored 19 points in the win over Latrobe, while netting 16 points the second loss to North Allegheny.

“When you have a team, you have to be able to start off with the two most important pieces — a point guard and a center. We have so many pieces that we can fit around them with so many different options,” Cash said.

“We can play so many different ways because we have so many talented kids. We got big guards, we got small guards, we got fast guards, we got long guards. Once you have your point guard and center set, the rest of the team has an opportunity to be really good.”

The Indians still have two matchups against Oakland Catholic and Woodland Hills left on their schedule, while they will look to sweep the season series when they face Penn-Trafford on Jan. 17.

Andrew John is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn Hills