After securing 1st section title, Plum girls look ahead to WPIAL playoffs

By: Michael Love
Saturday, February 7, 2026 | 11:01 AM

The Plum girls basketball team already had clinched at least a tie for the program’s first section championship.

That came Jan. 30 in a convincing 52-34 win at playoff-bound Penn Hills on the heels of a close nonsection victory over WPIAL power Penn-Trafford two days earlier.

The outright title was there for the taking when the Mustangs returned home to face Gateway on senior night Feb. 2.

With a lot going on and emotions high as Riley Stephans and Gia Tevella were celebrated and Stephens was recognized for surpassing 1,000 career points against the Warriors, coach Rich Mull said he was impressed with the way his players focused and took care of business against the Gators (2-16, 0-11).

Plum didn’t lose one game in January, and the 55-31 triumph over Gateway was the team’s 11th in a row.

“Everyone was excited, to say the least,” said Mull, who saw Stephens score 26 points with nine field goals and an 8 of 10 effort from the free throw line.

Junior Tamia West hit a pair of 3-pointers, was 7 of 8 from the line and finished with 17 points.

“It is nice when you see the fruits of kids’ labor. It makes for great memories, and I was just so happy for the kids,” Mull said.

Freshman Tori Glogowski came off the bench and sank a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points.

“You just never know what might happen on nights like that, but the girls were able to focus well and doing what they needed to do to get the win,” Mull said. “The girls were locked in.”

Mull said that while his players were pleased with wrapping up the outright section title, they didn’t want to rest on their laurels with one section game left last Thursday at Fox Chapel. Opportunities were there to continue building a resume for the WPIAL playoff selection committee. Plum was 16-3 overall heading into the game.

The WPIAL playoff pairings were to be released Monday afternoon.

“I always say that if there is another game on the schedule, there is still a mission before us, and the journey continues,” Mull said about the end of the regular season which included a scheduled nonsection matchup with Greensburg Salem.

“To some people, that section game might not mean much and might approach it differently, but we had to be prepared to play our best for a number of reasons. All season has been one step at a time for us.”

Stephans poured in 18 points, West 11 and Glogowski nine in the win over Penn Hills to complete the season sweep of its rival.

Stephens averaged 24.0 points a game in January and her 31 against Penn-Trafford was a season-high. She had scored 29 in wins over Franklin Regional and Shaler and 30 in a nonsection victory over Class 4A Burrell.

She scored 20 in the second half against the Warriors, and a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 3:41 left in the third quarter gave Stephans her 1,000th point. It also gave Plum a 34-31 lead in a game that went down to the wire. The win was preserved with a last-second defensive stand.

“Riley is a leader, but she doesn’t always have to say a lot,” Mull said.

“She’s sometimes not boisterous or verbal. She really leads by example. The team chemistry she promotes, we haven’t always had that here. But the kids are a tight-knit group.”

Riverview rallies around injured star

Riverview senior Isabel Chaparro suffered a knee injury in a loss to St. Joseph on Jan. 20. She scored 16 points before leaving the game.

She was able to play two days later at Jeannette but injured her ankle midway through the game and didn’t return. But the rest of the Raiders rallied around Chaparro and each other to produce an important 55-50 win over the Jayhawks. Senior Lana Lynch and freshman Mia Murphy each scored 14, and junior Blake Huffman added 12.

“It hurts to see something like that happen,” Riverview coach Andre Carter said after the win over the Jayhawks. “We played a lot of young girls, and they didn’t give up. They played their butts off. We said (at halftime), let’s play for Izzy. I am so happy for them.”

Without Chaparro in the lineup, Riverview topped Frazier, 48-39, last Thursday behind eight points apiece from Murphy, freshman Gianna Brenza and junior Juliette Brun.

Carter said Jan. 31 that there is no indication of when Chaparro, who averages 28 points, might return to action.

Riverview needed overtime Feb. 2 against Ellis, but the Raiders finished off the Tigers, 46-35, to win their third section game in a row and improve to 10-6 overall and 6-2 in Section 4-2A play. Huffman had a career-high 27 points. She helped her total with a trio of 3-pointers.

Riverview’s final two games in section were matchups against Apollo-Ridge (Feb. 3) and Winchester Thurston (Feb. 5).

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.

Tags: Plum, Riverview