Penn Hills girls show resolve in close loss to top seed

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, February 25, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Penn Hills girls basketball coach Robert Cash thought his team deserved better than being seeded 17th in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. But the Indians were forced into a preliminary round game against Thomas Jefferson, which they won, 59-43.

In the first round of the playoffs, Penn Hills lost 55-48 to undefeated Oakland Catholic. Although the Indians’ season ended, Cash was proud of how his players hung tough in the playoffs.

“It was awesome,” Cash said. “We thought coming in that if we did some things correctly, we could hang in and compete. We thought we got cheated at a 17 seed. We thought they did us a disservice. We were unsatisfied and wanted to show everyone we were better than a 17 seed.”

Penn Hills was led in scoring during the loss to Oakland Catholic by Hannah Pugliese, who finished with 13 points. Cara Crawford and Egypt Coleman also finished with 12 points.

For Pugliese, Crawford and Coleman, all seniors, closing their careers with consecutive playoff appearances was important.

As sophomores, this group only won one game all season thanks to the injuries and low participation numbers. Penn Hills finished 12-12 overall this season, including a 7-5 mark in section.

Cash said the Indians returning to the playoffs in their final two seasons was big.

“I think it was important,” Cash said. “Their freshman year was a final four team. We were only one win away from being in the championship game. That year was important. Then they come back, and we go 1-19. They weren’t happy with that finish. They told themselves they were going to take the offseason every day and work hard. They worked tails their tails off to get in position to be successful.”

The Indians were the only team to beat Section 1-5A champ Indiana in section play. Penn Hills finished in fourth place in the section after finishing in a tie with Woodland Hills. The Wolverines won both head-to-head meetings to win the tiebreaker for third place.

Penn Hills’ plan for its playoff game against Oakland Catholic was to try to slow the game down. If the score got up into the 70s, Cash would have been worried the Indians might not be able to keep up the pace.

“We knew we had to make baskets and keep them out of transition,’ Cash said. “If the game got into the 60s or 70s, we’d be in trouble. We wanted to keep it low-scoring and keep it in the half-court. For them, it is a track meet. If we could control pace and rebound the ball, we thought we could keep it competitive.”

Cash hopes Penn Hills can build some momentum off this season. The Indians haven’t made it past the first round of the playoffs during their last two trips and would like to take another step forward.

“They have to get in the gym and make sure they get better,” Cash said. “They need to help bring the young kids around. We want to see them put in the offseason work.”

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