NA Girls Take Down Bethel Park For First Title Since 1972

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 4, 2017 | 9:45 PM

As the final 90 seconds of the clocked ticked off of Saturday’s WPIAL girls 6A title game at the Petersen Events Center, North Allegheny’s Rachel Martindale worked her way to the free throw line after being found to extend the game. The sophomore, already with 17 points on the evening, sank both foul shots of a one-and-one opportunity to expand on the Tigers’ lead.

And then she did it again. And one more time for good measure.

Martindale went six-for-six at the foul line down the stretch in order for North Allegheny (24-1) to secure a 50-39 victory over Bethel Park (19-7), the first district title for the school since 1972.

“When I was standing at the foul line I remember coach saying ‘ice in your veins, ice in your veins,’” Martindale said. “He always says that and that’s what I think at the foul line. But I know those could be the key to the game. Those are the game changers. You make those; it’s a 10-point lead.”

North Allegheny never trailed the entire contest, leading 25-19 at the halftime. Martindale’s hot shooting from beyond the arc – four 3-pointers to be exact – pushed the Tigers to that six point advantage.

Bethel Park outscored North Allegheny 13-11 in the third period, and a three by Emma Papalia cut the Blackhawks’ deficit to one just a minute into the fourth quarter. But that’s all the closer Bethel Park got to taking a lead.

“It was like we were playing Whack-A-Mole,” said Bethel Park coach Jonna Burke. “You got one down, the next popped up. We’re used to getting big stops, and they just had too many weapons for us to continually get big stops.”

While Martindale led all scorers with 28 points, Justina Mascaro paved the way for Bethel Park. The senior finished with 13 points, despite the majority of her season being in jeopardy with a knee injury.

“The fact that Mascaro has not signed a Division I scholarship yet is insane to me,” said North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko. “She’s healthy; she can play at any level with anybody. We sent multiple defenders at that kid last year and this year and she handled everything we threw at her. She’s a great player.”

With the win, North Allegheny will face Hempfield in the opening round of the state playoffs Friday, the fifth place team out of District 7. The Tigers defeated Hempfield 40-16 in the quarterfinal round of the WPIAL playoffs.

On the other side for Bethel Park, the Blackhawks will face the fourth place team from the WPIAL in Penn Hills. Bethel Park took out the Indians 41-36 in the district semifinals en route to the WPIAL title game.

While North Allegheny is certainly reveling in its first WPIAL title in recent memory, it will be business as usual for the Tigers next week as they prepare for another championship run in the PIAA tournament.

“If we not better against Hempfield than we were tonight, (Hempfield coach) Aaron (Epps) will exploit some of the things he saw tonight,” said Stefko. “We’ll be back in the gym at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning, unless I have a labor strike on my hands,” as Stefko looked at Martindale and Haley Zeise, who got wide-eyed at the news of the early wakeup call Sunday morning.

Bethel Park  9 10 13 7–39
North Allegheny 14 11 11 14–50