North Hills girls end long droughts with section title, playoff win

By: Josh Rowntree
Saturday, February 24, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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When Tony Grenek took over the North Hills girls basketball program before the 2022-2023 season, he did so assuming that, in time, he’d be able to pull the program out of the continual depths it had resided for for years.

What he perhaps didn’t fully expect was that the time would come so fast. And so big.

The Indians went 13-8 in the regular season, 10-2 in Section 2-5A, earning a share of the section title — the program’s first section crown since 1980.

“We have a great group of seniors,” said Grenek. “We have five kids that really bought into the program, that accept the younger kids and don’t make them feel not welcomed.

“We have fun in practice. If things get out of line, I don’t have to say much. My seniors take over. I give them all the credit in the world for keeping us focused.”

Getting back to the top of the section for the first time since Grenek himself was a child wasn’t an easy process. He inherited a team that he felt had potential and could fight defensively but that needed to be sharper on offense.

And the Indians did just that, going from 22 points per game on offense the year before his arrival to 42.8 points last season to 50.8 per game in the regular season this year.

“We try to play as fast as we can,” Grenek said. “When I first got the job, the first two months of open gyms, we wouldn’t shoot the basketball. Everyone would just pass it around and everybody was afraid to shoot. And I was just like, ‘Give yourself a chance.’

“We do fast break drill after fast break drill every day after practice. When you do that, kids become more comfortable with each other and now they’re able to do it on the court.”

And that improvement shined brightest in North Hills’ win the the WPIAL Class 5A first round on Feb. 20, a 69-40 romp over No. 9 Plum.

The Indians got off to a hot start, leading 21-5 out of the gates thanks to efficient shooting from beyond the arc.

“It’s incredible,” senior guard Olivia Waters said. “Coach Grenek told us to attack more, be more confident with the ball and not be scared of being yelled at. And just to play how you want to play and be confident in yourself.”

With the wins came more and more interest from girls in the district and from casual observers, many of whom were nowhere to be found when the team stumbled through one losing season after another. The once-empty stands were rocking as North Hills drained one 3-pointer after another against Plum.

“I told the girls, ‘It’s going to take a little bit,’” Grenek said of the early conversations with his team. “Nobody wants to watch basketball when the team’s losing 60-12. We want to make sure that we come out and play an exciting brand of basketball, and we have to be competitive. We’ve started to reach that point consistently now.”

The writing may have been on the wall for the successful season, as North Hills ended the 2022-2023 season with impressive section wins over Hampton and Mars. The group that had gone through those struggles were now older, tested and ready to carry that late-season momentum into this year.

“It means the world to me,” said Waters, who added that she and her teammates joked about Grenek being younger than they are when North Hills last won a playoff game in 1979. “It’s so incredible to have that closeness with people that you’ve played with for four years and grown as a team.”

And North Hills seems far from a one-hit wonder. The program will lose five seniors following the season but will also bring back six players for just their sophomore years, including one of the area’s better freshmen in Delaney Amato.

And Grenek is very optimistic with what’s coming in.

“Our JV team went 12-3 and our eighth grade team went 41-0 in the last two years,” Grenek said moments after the win over Plum. “The future is bright. The gym was packed tonight for a girls basketball game at North Hills. It’s just an unbelievable accomplishment.”

And his players, who may or may not play basketball again at the next level, can look back at their high school careers with a sense of pride in their on-floor accomplishments, and the bonds they’ve formed away from the game.

“At first it was definitely all coach Grenek,” Waters said. “He came in and changed the program, and made the girls really excited to play basketball again.

“And then with how close we are as teammates, that’s pushed us to play well together.”

Tags: North Hills