Hard-working Bethel Park girls rewarded with playoff success

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Bethel Park’s girls basketball team prepped for a possible playoff run in 2024-25 by playing an onerous regular-season schedule.

To that end, the Black Hawks recovered from a midseason malaise to finish 11-11 with a spot in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A tournament against Franklin Regional.

“An 11-11 record may seem like the definition of an average year,” Bethel Park coach Steve Norman said, “but I was proud of us. We play in the hardest section in 5A, we played three of the teams from 6A that are in the playoffs, and we played South Fayette. After all that, we’re playing our best basketball at the end of the season and entering the playoffs.

“Our seniors have really stepped up to shoulder that burden, but we’ve got a great team of kids that show up and do their job, whether that’s putting points on the board or boxing out. We’ve got a great program here at Bethel Park.”

The No. 12 Black Hawks squeaked past fifth-seeded Franklin Regional, 46-45, in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Feb. 14 in Murrysville.

It was the first postseason win for Baldwin’s girls program since the Highlanders defeated Norwin in 2021-22.

Franklin Regional, a section champion for the first time since 1979, rallied from 16 down to get within one in the game’s closing seconds. The Panthers (15-7) scored 13 points in the final 1:40 and whittled the deficit to 44-43 with 43.6 seconds to go.

Senior forward Ella Sabatos made two free throws to give the visitors a 46-43 lead with 17.4 seconds remaining.

“We didn’t have our best night offensively,” Norman said. “We moved the ball well and got great looks that didn’t fall. In the third quarter, we really played great on defense, limited good looks for them and offensive rebounds, and our offense was poised and took advantage of the opportunities they gave us.

“The fourth quarter was tough. They did a nice job pressuring the ball. We did a good job not panicking when we did make mistakes, and we got a big win in the road. Our team played a tough schedule, made mistakes during the season and we did a good job learning from them so we were ready for a close game.”

Sabatos led Bethel Park with 16 points, freshman G/F Fiona O’Neill had 11, junior guard Kat Boff nine (all on 3s) and senior point guard Sadie Orie eight.

Bethel Park improved to 12-11 with the win and was set to face No. 13 Mars (14-9) in the quarterfinals. Mars knocked off No. 4 Shaler, 44-23. The Bethel Park-Mars game took place after this newspaper’s print deadline.

“We expected to be a playoff team,” Norman said. “Our girls last year came up short, and we knew we were capable of making it this season. We knew we’d be much younger than last year and a lot of the girls we were hoping would step up given the opportunity really have.

“I think we have a couple kids that are going to come back this summer and demonstrate the same readiness for next year’s opportunity. There’s been a lot of growth this year, and that’s all we can ask for: competitive players that want to get better.”

There are 18 girls in the Bethel Park girls basketball program, and 13 are underclassmen. Senior leadership this season has been provided by the 6-foot Sabatos and 5-7 Orie, aka Ms. Inside and Ms. Outside.

Sabatos and Orie were joined in the starting lineup by the 5-6 Boff, 5-9 O’Neill and 5-10 sophomore forward A.J. Elphinstone.

The team’s leading reserves were junior Bella Coleman and sophomores Avery Bonacci and Gabby Labate in the backcourt, along with Layla Bench, a sophomore forward.

Orie averaged a team-best 16.1 points per game during the regular season and dished out 3 assists per game. Sabatos netted 13.5 ppg while averaging 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

“I really think there’s a lot of great basketball ahead of us,” Norman said. “We’ve put in a lot of work since May. At the same time, after coming really close and coming up short last season, we’re excited to be where we are today in the playoffs.

“It’s a great time to be part of Bethel Park basketball. The team came in confident and focused; everyone’s excited for the opportunity ahead of us. Hopefully, there’s a lot more to write about this season before we talk about the incoming class and the 25-26 season.”

Bethel Park finished fourth in Section 4-5A with a 6-6 record, behind Peters Township (12-0), Thomas Jefferson (9-3) and Baldwin (8-4).

All four won WPIAL first-round games: No. 2 Peters Township defeated No. 15 Fox Chapel, 66-58, No. 6 TJ ran past No. 11 Latrobe, 68-47, No. 9 Baldwin edged No. 8 Chartiers Valley, 73-72, and the Black Hawks eked out their one-point win over Franklin Regional.

“We just wanted to get a win,” Norman said. “Franklin Regional was a section champ and a talented team. We needed to come ready to go before we thought about anything else.”

Tags: Bethel Park