Patience, hard work paying off for Plum girls basketball

By: Michael Love
Saturday, January 8, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Early last month, as the Plum girls basketball team was going through its final paces in practices and scrimmages to get ready for the 2021-22 season, first-year coach Rich Mull said patience and hard work would be key components in the improvement of a young group with just one senior and a lot of younger talent looking to make an impact.

“I do see improvement,” Mull said frankly in the aftermath of a dominant 55-24 victory over Fox Chapel on Jan. 3 which gave the Mustangs their first Section 2-5A victory and raised their overall record to 3-5.

“We’re just trying to get them to continue trusting in the process and what we’re trying to do. A lot of things have been different than what they were used to. The thing for girls is that they don’t always see the improvement in the wins column, and we told them that there were going to be bumps in the road. I just want them to be able to continue to work hard and challenge themselves to get better.”

Mull said he was pleased to see everyone contribute to the win over Fox Chapel, which joined December nonsection victories over Freeport and Penn Hills

“We were able to play some younger girls, including some freshmen who haven’t gotten a lot of time in games so far,” Mull said. “They got some good minutes, and that was a step in the right direction for them.”

Sophomore guard Megan Marston echoed Mull’s enthusiasm coming out of the victory over the Foxes.

“It was a great feeling to get our first section win,” said Marston, a sophomores guard who scored a team-best 17 points in the game and led the way with a 16 points-per-game average through the Mustangs’ first eight contests.

“We started out a little rough, and then we played really well the last three quarters.”

Plum led 12-8 after the first quarter and held a 31-15 advantage at halftime with the final points of the half coming on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Marston.

The Mustangs continued to roll in the second half, using an overall 20-1 run to pull away from the Foxes. Plum also controlled the boards, outrebounding Fox Chapel, 50-32.

“We hadn’t been putting up a lot of points, so defensively, we had to be in the right spots and communicate well,” Mull said. “Good defense really helped us, in turn, produce more on offense.”

Junior forward Dannika Susko contributed 16 points against Fox Chapel to raise her season scoring average to 9.4 a game. Plum was coming off a pair of games at the Cal (Pa.) Holiday Classic that saw it fall by five points to Thomas Jefferson and 11 to then Trib HSSN Class 4A No. 1 Southmoreland.

Plum played even with Southmoreland for three quarters, but the Scotties used a 17-4 second-quarter advantage to make the difference.

“We played two really tough games at Cal U and battled hard both times,” Susko said.

“It was good competition, just like the rest of our schedule has been. Having the win over Fox Chapel helped build up our confidence where we see progress and improvement being made. It helped bring the team closer together.”

The win against Fox Chapel snapped a four-game losing skid, and two of those setbacks came against Hampton (63-42) and Armstrong (58-39) in December section contests.

Plum hoped to build on its 1-2 record in section play last Friday against Indiana before a section matchup at Mars on Monday.

The Indians and Planets joined Hampton and Armstrong at the top of the section standings.

“I knew coming in that the section was going to be a challenge, and the other teams would be well-coached,” Mull said.

“I’ve seen nothing to change my mind on that. It’s good competition. With a younger group and just one senior, playing these games and hopefully playing well will help us continue to get better.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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