No. 2 Peters Township girls edge No. 3 Bethel Park in Section 2-6A showdown

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 3, 2019 | 10:15 PM

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The second-ranked Peters Township girls basketball team is still perfect.

Meanwhile, No. 3 Bethel Park is flawless no longer.

The visiting Indians defeated the Black Hawks, 68-60, in overtime in a battle of Section 2-6A unbeaten squads Thursday at Bethel Park High School.

It was the latest installment of a rivalry that saw the teams meet four times last season, including once each in the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs.

“(It was) two really good teams going at it,” Peters Township coach Bert Kendall said. “It is always a fight in this gym for us, and we expected nothing less. I’m proud of our girls. For this early in the year, there were several times we could have folded and it was looking a little rocky, and we just didn’t.”

Penn State signee Makenna Marisa had 25 points, and Isabella Mills added 16 as Peters Township (9-0, 4-0) utilized its superior size to its advantage on the boards to take the back-and-forth contest.

The Black Hawks fell to 8-1 and 3-1.

“The one thing that stands out is their offensive rebounding,” Bethel Park coach Jonna Burke said. “It killed us, pure and simple. If we had rebounded better, I think we could have won the game, but we didn’t.

“I know they have size, but we have to get better position,” Burke continued. “I can’t make excuses for it. We just didn’t get the position we needed, and if you don’t do it against a team like that, (they) clearly have the size, and they just have to grab the ball.”

The loss overshadowed a stellar performance from Bethel Park sophomore Olivia Westphal, who drained seven 3-pointers and led all scorers with 34 points.

“She’s a kid who likes the spotlight, she’s a kid who steps up to the atmosphere,” Burke said. “She was definitely not going to back down at all, and thankfully, because she kept us in it with some really big shots. Had we been able to capitalize and hold them at a couple of key times without giving up those boards, I think the outcome could have been different.”

Peters Township led 42-39 after three quarters, but Westphal put the Black Hawks up 52-51 with 1:33 to play. Mills then hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Indians before Westphal retied the game at 54-54 with a short runner with 20 seconds to play. The Black Hawks had a shot to win at the buzzer, but came up empty to force overtime.

The Indians pulled away in overtime as they drained 12 of 15 free throws to cement the victory. It came with Marisa and Mills playing with four fouls each.

“We did get into foul trouble,” said Kendall, who inserted Mills back into the lineup with four minutes to go in regulation. “I made the decision to put those guys back in and say just go do it. (I said) ‘Be smart, use your feet, don’t give anyone a reason to even consider blowing the whistle,’ and to their credit they were able to hang in there.”

The Black Hawks led 29-27 at the half, but the Indians began the third quarter on an 11-0 run to open up a 38-29 lead.

“We are a team of runs (and) we have been all season long,” Kendall said. “With our pressure we like to get steals, we like to go and run, and I think we play more loose when we start stringing them together like that.”

A 3-pointer from Westphal and some strong free-throw shooting down the stretch allowed the Black Hawks to cut the deficit to 42-39 through three quarters.

Bethel Park led 14-13 after one quarter and the teams traded leads five times in the second quarter as the Black Hawks took a 29-27 lead into halftime behind Westphal’s 19 first-half points.

Emma Dziezgowski had 11 points and Madelyn Dziezgowski added 10 for the Black Hawks.

Jesse Geleynse is a freelance writer.

Tags: Bethel Park, Peters Township