North Allegheny girls making job easier for 1st-year coach replacing legend

By: John Grupp
Saturday, November 30, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Replacing a coaching legend is never easy.

But the North Allegheny girls basketball team is helping new coach Gabby Baldasare feel right at home.

“I can confidently say this is the best group of kids I’ve ever coached and ever been around,” Baldasare said. “The culture that (former coach Spencer) Stefko established here, they are a true testament to that.”

Stefko went 222-29 with five WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship in nine seasons at North Allegheny — and 410-92 with seven WPIAL titles in 18 years overall — before stepping down this past summer to spend more time with his family.

Baldasare, who coached the past two seasons at Pine-Richland, knows the pressure of succeeding the most successful coach in program history. The players have smoothed her transition.

“They are just really good kids, and they make my job a lot easier,” Baldasare said. “We’ve been in the gym together for four months now. Obviously, it’s been a lot of change for all of us, but I think they’ve done a really good job embracing it and being open to the change. Everybody is in a new role, and they are doing a really nice job understanding new roles.”

The Tigers return one starter from last year’s 23-4 WPIAL Class 6A runner-up, 6-foot junior forward Cate Pingpank. Other returnees include 5-9 junior guard Vange Balouris and 6-1 junior forward Rae Shanahan.

Pingpank said the Tigers have bonded with their new coach, a 31-year-old former standout at Vincentian and four-year player at Division I Niagara.

“She’s been really great for us,” Pingpank said. “Having a female who has played Division I basketball, she brings all of her knowledge and she brings the intensity and we have responded really well to that. It’s exciting to know this is the future. I think all of our young girls are excited and I’m excited, too.”

Said senior point guard Natalie Kinross, “We fell right into place from day one. Things have been going well, and I look forward to keeping up what we have going so far.”

Some of the new faces to varsity time are 5-11 senior forward Bella Williamson, 5-9 senior guard Leah Skweres, 5-4 junior guard Maddie Williams and sophomore guards Audrey Robertson (5-5) and Rosalla Varlotta (5-9). They are looking to continue the legacy at a program with 12 consecutive 20-win seasons and eight WPIAL title-game berths in the past nine seasons.

“We’ve been working all summer,” Balouris said. “I think we are just excited to show all of the hard work that we put in.”

Baldasare, who went 19-26 in two seasons at Pine-Richland, will play host to her former school Jan. 3 in a Section 1-6A game before traveling to Pine-Richland on Jan. 27. The section has a new look, with defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Norwin and Hempfield replaced by North Hills and Woodland Hills. North Allegheny, slated to open the 2024-25 season against McKeesport on Nov. 30, begins section play at Seneca Valley on Dec. 19.

Baldasare is encouraged by the Tigers’ early progress.

“I feel good about our rebounding ability,” Baldasare said. “We are pretty long. We are disciplined on defense. … I don’t think we will struggle to score. I think we have a lot of people who can put the ball in the basket. I think we can be well-balanced.”

Because of Stefko’s unexpected summertime resignation and the coaching search process, Baldasare wasn’t hired until late June and didn’t join the players until late July. But all is good at what she said “has always been the dream job for me.”

“I’m settling in nicely,” Baldasare said. “It feels like home. In the past, it always felt good where I was. But this place definitely feels like home.”

Tags: North Allegheny