All-time WPIAL girls basketball championship games No. 5: 1994 Upper St. Clair beats Penn Hills in OT

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 23, 2018 | 5:27 PM

The TribLive High School Sports Network will be counting down the Top 10 boys and girls WPIAL basketball championship games leading up to the 2018 title games March 1-3 at the Petersen Events Center.

TRIBHSSN is the exclusive audio and video home for all 12 WPIAL championship games, which will be broadcasted and video streamed live at TribHSSN.triblive.com.

Here is the sixth installment of a 10-part series ranking the top WPIAL girls basketball championship games in district history.

No. 5: 1994 — WPIAL Class 4A finals: Upper St. Clair 68, Penn Hills 66 (OT)

Upper St. Clair and Penn Hills were the two giants when it came to Quad-A girls basketball in the WPIAL. Penn Hills had won a record seven straight district championships from 1986 (featured earlier in the countdown at No. 9) through 1992. The Indians missed the playoffs in 1993 but returned to the finals in ‘94 with an overall record of 22-5.

Their opponent was the new golden child on the Class 4A block in Upper St. Clair. The Panthers were the defending district champions and brought an impressive record of 24-1 into the title game.

The 1993 champs started strong as Upper St. Clair led by as many as 12 points in the opening quarter and enjoyed a 10-point cushion in the second. But Penn Hills kept coming back in the second half as the game ended up tied with only 6 seconds remaining in regulation and Panthers star guard Mandy West heading to the free throw line. She missed the 1-and-1 and Penn Hills' Catherine Jacob then headed to the line with 2 seconds left after she got the rebound and was fouled. However she also missed a 1-and-1 at the line. West got the rebound but could not convert on a buzzer-beating shot, sending the game to the first Quad-A championship game overtime.

It was in the extra period that USC finally converted at the charity stripe as Molly Brenlove hit two free throws and then down the stretch, Kerry Brown was a perfect 6 for 6 at the line for the Panthers. As it turned out, shooting from the free throw line was a big key as the Panthers were 26 of 34 while the Indians hit on only 17 of 33.

Upper St. Clair won its second of four WPIAL championships while the loss snapped a 31-game playoff win streak for Penn Hills. The two teams met again in the 1995 title game, where the Indians got sweet revenge with a 49-46 triumph over the Panthers.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Penn Hills, Upper St. Clair