Norwin girls overcome slow start, pull away from Latrobe in 2nd half

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, December 11, 2023 | 9:49 PM

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Kendall Berger said Norwin allowed Latrobe to dictate the tempo early in Monday night’s nonsection girls basketball matchup.

Berger and Norwin, though, quickly changed the pace and flipped a close game in their favor.

The Lady Knights, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A, picked up their defensive pressure, imposed their depth and fired in 10 3-pointers on the way to a 59-36 victory over the visiting 5A Wildcats.

“When we have slow starts like that, we need to be more aggressive with our rebounding and defense,” said Berger, who made four 3s and scored a game-high 20 points for Norwin. “Defense leads to offense. We need to be aggressive 24-7.”

Senior forward Lauren Palangio added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Norwin (4-1), which sustained its first loss over the weekend at the State College Tournament against returning PIAA quarterfinalist Spring-Ford, overcame a tight first half to pull away from Latrobe (2-2).

After a quarter-closing 8-0 run, Latrobe led 12-11 going into the second quarter, and it cut the deficit to six (29-23) just before halftime on a 3-pointer from senior guard Elle Snyder.

But Norwin, which outscored the Wildcats, 30-13, from there, pushed the advantage to double figures early in the second half and maintained control. It used back-to-back 3s from Berger and junior Bella Furno to take a 41-26 lead with 3 minutes, 10 seconds to go in the third.

A steady dose of lineup changes had Latrobe scrambling to cover shooters.

“They shot lights out,” said Latrobe first-year coach Mackenzie Livingston. “We came out strong, and our girls were confident. We’re just not in as good of shape as we need to be. We went full-court man, and our girls were dogging it.”

Norwin was sketchy at times early, dribbling into trouble and turning the ball over against a physical opponent.

“One of the things we’re working on is trying to get the started at our pace,” Berger said. “We can’t have slow starts.”

Once the Lady Knights began to force the Wildcats into mistakes, the offense began to come, and the meager start was history. Ball movement became more fluid, and the 3s punctuated possessions.

“Every game you learn something from your opponent,” Norwin coach Brian Brozeski said. “Tonight, we learned that Latrobe put up a battle and came ready to play.”

Senior Ava Kobus went in for a layup off a steal, and senior Bailey Snowberger made a 3 before Snowberger delivered a strike out of an in-bounds pass to a cutting Furno for a layup and a 53-34 lead with 3:50 to play in the fourth.

Kobus made two 3s and finished with eight points.

“We needed to close out on their 3s more,” Livingston said. “Their big girl is really good. They are the best team we have played.”

Junior Averi Brozeski and sophomore Anna Fraser connected on 3s to help close out a 16-4 push in the final quarter.

“We hit some shots, but you want to make sure you’re not one-dimensional,” Brian Brozeski said. “We needed to be able to create some more offense and not get stagnant.”

Latrobe, which started 2-0 by winning the River Valley tip-off tournament, had spotty offense from its rotation.

Junior Carly Berk added seven points for the Wildcats, who had one field goal in the fourth.

Norwin is allowing only 35 points per game.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Latrobe, Norwin