Penn-Trafford girls lean on defense to keep record perfect with win over Franklin Regional

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, December 9, 2024 | 10:06 PM

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Common denominators in games help to reveal a team’s identity, and Penn-Trafford continues to build on its strengths.

Well-rounded guard play again complemented the post, and defense bailed out a shaky-at-times offense as the third-ranked Lady Warriors kept their record clean with a 53-27 victory over Franklin Regional in a nonsection girls basketball game Monday night in Murrysville.

Penn-Trafford (5-0), off to its best start since 2020-21, overcame a rough start with a much better second quarter to take a 30-9 lead into halftime.

The second half left something to be desired, but the Lady Warriors left the gym with another win.

“Our defense was great all game,” Penn-Trafford coach John Giannikas said. “We didn’t start as well as we wanted. You’re not going to shoot it well every night, and your defense can help you tread water until you make a couple.”

Franklin Regional, which lost two in a row and won two straight to start the year, slid to 2-3.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Giannikas said. “Our girls support each other, which is nice to see. It’s nice to have that depth to stay fresh and keep everyone involved.”

Penn-Trafford has been beaming with confidence after a 51-50 win over Norwin, its first win over the Lady Knights in two years.

The Panthers, who beat 6A No. 5 Canon-McMillan, 46-42, kept the mercy rule out of play against the Warriors. But they were only able to get the margin to 16 in the second half.

Penn-Trafford also beat Seneca Valley, another 6A team, Penn Hills and Allderdice.

“It starts in practice for us,” Penn-Trafford senior forward Lauren Marton said. “We all compete against each other, and it carries over to games. We did start off slow, but we shut them out in the first quarter.”

In their latest win, the Lady Warriors played 12 girls, and 11 of them scored at least two points.

Marton led with 11, senior Kamryn Pieper added 10 and freshman Raya Johnson had eight, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Junior Torrie DeStefano grabbed eight rebounds.

Back-to-back three-point plays in the second quarter from Marton and DeStefano gave Penn-Trafford a shot in the arm and began to thaw out the offense.

Marton was fouled on a putback and made the free throw, and DeStefano finished her and-one to make it 23-8.

Penn-Trafford scored 21 in the second quarter and 31 combined in the other three.

Pieper scored on a spin move to cap a 10-0 run with 2 minutes left in the first half.

“Our M.O. all year has been on the defensive side,” Franklin Regional coach Bernie Pucka said. “We’ve held teams relentlessly to low numbers, but when we’ve lost, it’s been because of the offensive end. It’s a snowball effect.”

Senior Madison DeRiggi led Franklin Regional with 12 points, and senior Addison Musto added eight.

Consecutive baskets by Marton took the advantage back to 20 in the fourth at 45-25.

“We got hesitant, and we overthought some things,” Pucka said.

Penn-Trafford fouled the Panthers 20 times. They made 8 of 19 free-throw attempts.

Sophomore Ava Ruane also made a 3 for Penn-Trafford.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford