St. Joseph girls team works together in stacking wins

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 | 5:45 PM

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In Monday’s 70-36 Section 1-A victory over Springdale, St. Joseph girls basketball players made 29 field goals.

Of those 29, 21 came off assists.

It continued a winning trend from the Sewickley Academy section game four days earlier where team members produced 15 assists in a 59-31 victory.

“It was really nice to see the way we shared the ball in those two games,” said Spartans coach Geoff Dutelle, whose team is 9-5 overall and 5-2 in section play heading into Thursday’s long bus ride to face Western Beaver.

“That is something everyone wants to see.”

The wins snapped a three-game losing streak, including two frustrating losses to section heavyweights Aquinas (50-31) and Union (46-29), and, Dutelle said, hopefully, it sets them up for a productive and positive second half of the section slate.

Those section defeats followed a 72-42 loss to Class 5A Fox Chapel in the championship game of the St. Joseph holiday tournament.

“We were having a hard time shooting the ball from the outside against Aquinas and even against Fox Chapel, and that kind of led to some poor decisions,” Dutelle said.

“The girls might have been less inclined to pass the ball and more inclined to want just go ahead and try to fix some shooting struggles on their own.”

St. Joseph was 0 for 21 from 3-point range against Aquinas (8-4, 5-1).

“It certainly helped against Union that we hit a couple of threes, and it translated over to Sewickley and Springdale,” Dutelle said.

St. Joseph led the two-time defending WPIAL champion Scotties, 24-17, at halftime of their Jan. 8 meeting at home. Union is 12-0 overall, 6-0 in the section.

Both teams were without some big names because of graduation from last year’s classic meeting for the WPIAL championship won by Union in overtime 50-43, but the Scotties retained a solid lineup, and St. Joseph, which started the season with a mix of youth and varsity inexperience, showed how it has improved from late November.

“I thought we had a really good game plan against them,” Dutelle said. “We were up seven, and we were still within one in the third. We just couldn’t score consistently enough, especially in the fourth, and they just took the game over like they are known to do against a lot of people.”

Freshman Bella Bartolovic scored a team-best 13 points against Union, which St. Joseph faces again Jan. 30, three days after the rematch with Aquinas.

Aquinas will clash with Union for the first time Thursday.

“It is nice that we get to play them a second time,” Dutelle said. “The girls will be ready for those games. They will be big for playoff seeding and positioning in the section.”

Bartolovic is third on the team in scoring behind senior Gia Richter (13.9) and junior Kasey Cienik (13.5).

“We are playing really well together right now,” Bartolovic said. “We learned a lot about ourselves from the games against Aquinas and Union. We’ve just been focused on becoming a better team in each practice and game.”

St. Joseph jumped all over Sewickley Academy and led 18-5 after the first eight minutes.

The Spartans were ahead 30-13 at halftime and didn’t let their foot off the gas, scoring another 22 points in the third quarter.

Richter, Cienik and Bartolovic reached double digits in scoring with 22, 16 and 14, respectively.

The Spartans on Monday reached 70 points for the second time this season (Highlands, 71-47, Dec. 4).

The Dynamos tried to keep up in the first quarter, but St. Joseph led 25-13.

It was more of the same in the second quarter when the Spartans extended their lead to 46-19 at the break.

“It really felt great to get our momentum back with two nice wins like that,” Richter said. “Practice paid off for us in that we were able to start making 3-pointers again. That is a big part of our game. It gave us back some confidence.”

Richter (22), Cienik (15) and Bartolovic (14) again fronted the St. Joseph offensive attack.

“That (losing stretch) was getting to us,” Dutelle said. “We knew we were a better outside shooting team. We weren’t hitting, and it was tightening up our offense a little bit. We got those shots to fall again, and we played a little more open and natural offensive basketball the past couple of games.”

After Thursday’s matchup with Western Beaver, St. Joseph returns home Monday to celebrate senior night against section rival Leechburg.

The next night, the Spartans welcome former section foe Riverview to the Walter Dlubak Athletic Center.

“Western Beaver and Leechburg have been playing much better,” Dutelle said. “Leechburg only lost by one the other day (30-29, Sewickley Academy), and they were competitive. We know the second time through the section is going to be tough. It’s going to be a challenge. We have to 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.

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