As WPIAL playoffs loom, top Westmoreland girls teams getting defensive

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 6, 2019 | 6:45 PM

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Looking at this season through a defensive prism, Southmoreland girls basketball coach Brian Pritts certainly can admire his team’s handiwork.

“We know our defense was going to be one of our main strengths,” Pritts said. “Our girls take a lot of pride in playing ‘D’.”

Southmoreland has the best points-against average in Westmoreland County, and the Scotties’ 34.9 number is among the top 15 in the WPIAL.

But they are not alone.

Other ranked teams from the area such as Norwin (37.5), Greensburg Central Catholic (40.4) and Franklin Regional (43.3) also are keeping the pressure high and the scoring low for opponents as the WPIAL season winds into playoff time. Defense is said to win championships, and local programs have bought in to that mantra.

“We come out wearing knee pads and elbow pads,” said GCC coach Sam Salih, whose team is ranked No. 2 in Class A. “It’s our battle armor.”

That these teams can defend is one thing they have in common; how they present themselves on the defensive end can differ, however. Southmoreland, which has held teams to 45 or fewer points 16 times this season — the Scotties are 15-1 on those games — uses its size advantage. With three players 5-foot-11 or taller in Maggie Moore (6-2), Sarah Pisula (6-0) and Bailey Kuhns (5-11), the Scotties don’t often let smaller guards see the basket through the forest.

Pritts tries to simplify his approach.

”(Assistant) coach (Barry) Collins shares three things daily with the girls,” Pritts said, “One, protect the ball; Two, play defense; and three, put the ball in the hoop. Even if we are struggling on the offensive end, we can play solid defense, and the girls realize this. We don’t always get a bunch of steals, but we do force a good bit of turnovers and get a lot of deflections.”

Pritts hopes his offense can catch up to its defense in the postseason. The Scotties grounded their opponents defensively in back-to-back overtime losses to other Section 3 playoff teams — 45-44 at Elizabeth Forward and 46-44 at Belle Vernon.

Brian Brozeski is all about fast pace, full-court pressure and mad substituting. They’re the staples that hold together his gameplan. Norwin (18-1), ranked No. 2 in Class 6A, is riding a 10-game winning streak predicated on that gameplan — and maybe a little acting, ala the drama club.

“Something that has made our defense effective has been our ability to have quality practices with ‘scout players’ capable of simulating opponents tendencies and schemes,” Brozeski said. “Many of these girls are not common names in the scorebooks, but they have been components to our success as a team.”

Norwin’s depth not only allows it to disperse minutes and divvy up rest time but it also affords the Knights well-spent practices. Brozeski said it isn’t all about the usual scorers: seniors Emily Brozeski and Jess Kolesar, and juniors Olivia Gribble and Jayla Wehner. Brozeski said some of the under-looked players include juniors Maggie Edwards and Jackie Caputo, freshmen Brianna Zajicek and Maggie Race, and sophomore Carly Ellignsen, “To name a few.”

“These girls increase our level of competition on a daily basis in practice and look forward to the challenge of competing against our top varsity players,” Brozeski said. “This has also created a winning environment in our JV program that is playing solid team basketball.”

Norwin, which knocked off No. 1 North Allegheny, 44-43, gets plenty of points in transition. It averages about 14 steals per game.

Franklin Regional, ranked No. 5 in Class 5A, also relies on pressure and man-to-man guarding in the open floor. The Panthers (15-4) have losses to 5A No. 3 Gateway (twice), and 6A No. 1 Peters Township and No. 4 Bethel Park.

“Our girls have really bought into playing man-to-man defense and have gotten better since the beginning of the year,” first-year coach Anthony Kobus said. “They are starting to play ‘help’ defense a lot better. Girls are boxing out better but really need to improve in that area in the second half of the section.”

GCC looks like a championship contender, and Salih believes a sound defensive approach can get the Centurions back to The Pete (Pitt’s Petersen Events Center). After giving up 63 points to No. 3 Clairton earlier in the season in Section 3-A, GCC surrendered just 41 to the Bears in the rematch. GCC beat the Bears both times.

“If the girls play hard on defense, the offense will come,” Salih said. “You can win simply by outplaying the other team.”

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Norwin, Southmoreland