Aggressiveness fuels Latrobe girls to victory over Hempfield in tournament finale

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, December 28, 2024 | 10:08 PM

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Latrobe girls basketball coach Mackenzie Livingston wears orange boots during games but she wants her team to see red.

“I tell the girls, if you don’t have bruises you’re not doing it right,” Livingston said, applauding her team’s aggressive play that led to a 52-41 victory over Hempfield in the finale of the Latrobe Holiday Hoopfest on Saturday night.

Latrobe (6-5) attacked on defense, pounced on loose balls and humbled Hempfield (6-3), the No. 4-ranked team in WPIAL Class 6A.

Only four players scored for the Wildcats, a 5A team. They got a career-high 19 points from Brylee Bodnar and 17 from Carley Berk, turning in a tight defensive effort with a new zone.

The tenacious defense only allowed Hempfield to produce six points in the second quarter and eight in the fourth.

“We went to a 4-1 (zone), and it was our first time running it,” Livingston said. “We wanted to take away their 3s, and we did a good job of that. We drove the gaps and played aggressively. That’s how I want us to play.”

Hempfield, which dropped its third straight game, played without starting guard Allie Cervola, who was out of town for a wedding.

Latrobe snapped a two-game losing streak.

“We were soft, and they killed us on the boards,” Hempfield coach Bob Madison said. “That kind of effort is not acceptable. We can’t go into games feeling sorry for ourselves.”

Mads Pevarnik and Ava Shipman each scored 10 to lead Hempfield, which played well in spurts early.

Pevarnik scored eight in a turnover-filled opening quarter as Hempfield took a 14-10 edge.

Kat DeVito hit a 3, and Lilian Houghtalen and Pevarnik scored to give Hempfield a 14-6 lead.

Latrobe went on a 6-0 run to start a better second quarter, which went back and forth.

Latrobe took its first lead, 21-20, on a putback by Maggie Maiers with 1 minute, 5 seconds left in the first half.

That followed another putback from Bodnar. That score held up at halftime.

There were three ties in the third, but Hempfield could not regain the lead. Berk nailed a 3 from the wing to give Latrobe a 34-31 advantage.

It was 38-33 going to the fourth.

An 11-0 run that spilled over from the third put the Wildcats ahead 45-33, and Hempfield could only chip away from there.

“The first half has been slow for me this year,” said Bodnar, holding the team’s championship belt for player of the game. “We had a 3-on-3 scrimmage before the game tonight. My teammates supported me. (Aggressiveness) was a very big factor. We didn’t give them a lot of second-chance shots. We needed this win. It really motivates us.”

Bodnar and Berk scored on lightly contested drives to make it 49-38 with 2:20 to go.

Bodnar and Berk combined for 24 points after halftime. Bodnar scored 13, and Berk had 11 in the final two quarters.

Hempfield scored 21 as a team after the break.

“We were weak with the ball,” Madison said. “They wanted it more. We’ll figure things out and get back after it.”

Berk went 8 for 8 at the foul line, and Latrobe finished 17 of 22 on free throws.

Maiers, who left the game early with a bloody nose before returning, scored nine points for Latrobe.

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

Tags: Hempfield, Latrobe