Upper St. Clair loses senior captain to injury in win over Mt. Lebanon in Class 6A semifinals
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Monday, February 27, 2023 | 10:27 PM
Upper St. Clair’s Samantha Prunzik scores against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Paige Dellicarri celebrates with Rylee Kalocay after hitting a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Paige Dellicarri (20) celebrates with Mia Brown after hitting a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter against Mt. Lebanon on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Rylee Kalocay drives past Mt. Lebanon’s Quinn Murdoch during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Mia Brown (44) celebrates after scoring with Rylee Kalocay and Paige Dellicarri during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal against Mt. Lebanon on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Paige Dellicarri scores against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Kate Robbins works against Mt. Lebanon’s Addison Murdoch during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Samantha Prunzik steals the ball from Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Samantha Prunzik (14) celebrates with Mia Brown after scoring against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair’s Paige Dellicarri (20) and Mia Brown (44) celebrate with teammates as times winds down in their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal against Mt. Lebanon on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Bethel Park.
The Upper St. Clair girls basketball team ran the gamut of emotions at Bethel Park on Monday as it battled rival Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL 6A semifinals.
Soon after celebrating a third victory this season over Mt. Lebanon, 58-33, the team learned it would be without senior point guard Sam Prunzik for the rest of the season after she suffered a serious arm injury on a drive to the basket late in the third quarter.
“That was an emotional locker room for all the wrong reasons,” Upper St. Clair coach Peter Serio said with tears in his eyes. “To be honest with you, that’s our leader. She’s been a captain for two years, and she’s the heart and soul of this team. That was a rough one.”
Prunzik drove the paint in the final minute of this third quarter, trying to squeeze between a pair of Mt. Lebanon defenders. She was fouled and hit the floor hard with her left arm landing awkwardly.
She was taken to a hospital as the fourth quarter began with Upper St. Clair leading 44-27.
“They finished strong, but it was tough for them,” Serio said. “I’m afraid if we would have only had an eight-point lead when Sam went down, it may have been a little different. I’m glad we had the lead we had.”
It was tough for the Mt. Lebanon offense the entire game.
The Blue Devils were limited to only three points in the first quarter and seven points in the second quarter, and there would be no miracle fourth-quarter comeback as Mt. Lebanon was held to six points in the final quarter.
In the district quarterfinals, the Blue Devils pulled off a major comeback, winning 47-46 after trailing Chartiers Valley by 16 points with three minutes left.
The USC defense made sure there would be no repeat heroics for Lebo.
“We let Payton (Collins) get loose a little bit in that third quarter,” Serio said. “That was out game plan, to slow down Payton, but I really do think our defense was outstanding.”
Rylee Kalocay led Upper St. Clair with 13 points. The sophomore struggled early on but eventually found her stroke before getting into foul trouble.
“She really wanted to win this game for those kids, and I think she pressed it a little bit in the early going,” Serio said. “She let the game come to her. She’s a special player.”
Senior Paige Dellicarri scored 12 points for the Panthers, while senior forwards Mia Brown scored 11 and Kate Robbins added 10 points.
USC came out in the second half and made a concerted effort to get the ball low to the 6-foot-1 Robbins and the 6-foot Brown.
“They do a great job playing defense, especially on the perimeter, and we know they’re going to hug Riley,” Serio said. “We worked on getting Mia the ball in the post in practice and it kind of worked out.”
A 10-1 run in the second quarter helped give the Panthers a cushion and their defense never allowed the Blue Devils to make a run or even cut the lead to single digits.
Collins led Mt. Lebanon (17-7) with eight points as the defending champions saw their four-game winning streak end.
Mt. Lebanon (17-7) will now play Norwin (20-4) in the third-place game Wednesday.
Upper St. Clair (21-2) has won 15 in a row and is advancing to play in its third straight WPIAL title game.
Last year, the Panthers lost to Mt. Lebanon. Now they play the team that beat them in 2021, North Allegheny (19-5).
“As any coach would say, its going to be a really difficult matchup,” Serio said. “We’re going to have to have a couple more kids step up and take care of the ball. Now, especially with Sam out, we’re going to see a lot of their pressure defense, and we’re going to need to respond to that. Our backs are against the wall now, and we’re going to have to figure out a way.”
Tags: Mt. lebanon, Upper St. Clair
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