Plum girls keep focus, rout Kiski Area to stay undefeated in section

By: Michael Love
Friday, January 12, 2024 | 9:37 PM

With a monster battle for first place in Section 1-5A looming against Indiana on Monday, the Plum girls basketball team hoped to stay focused Friday at Kiski Area against a Cavaliers team seeking a win to stay even with three other teams in the race for the WPIAL playoffs.

The Mustangs didn’t look past Kiski, getting off to a strong start. Plum led by 18 at halftime and finished off a 66-28 victory.

“This was a really nice win for us,” said senior power forward Pascale Olczak, who finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.

“We are looking forward to having a couple good practices this weekend to make sure we are staying focused and are ready for (Indiana). We’re excited to play the game and hopefully take the (section) lead.”

Plum improved to 8-4 overall, and it stayed tied with Indiana atop the section standings at 5-0.

Monday’s game with the Indians is at Plum. Indiana is 10-2 overall and has won three in a row since a loss to Hempfield at the Latrobe tournament Dec. 29.

Strong rebounding, shooting, sharing the ball and also protecting it was a successful recipe for the Mustangs on Friday.

Plum committed just three turnovers.

The Mustangs’ size and quickness helped them produce a 16-9 rebound advantage in the first quarter on the way to a 11-4 lead.

“It was a tour de force from (Plum) tonight,” said Kiski Area coach Dave Williamson, whose team committed just 11 turnovers.

“They executed their shots. The first quarter was the tale of the game. We couldn’t get rebounds, and we missed a lot of shots. We were getting good looks and high-percentage shots. We just weren’t making them. We had to extend ourselves a little bit after halftime to try and get back in the game. To Plum’s credit, they kept up a high level of play.”

Sophomore Riley Stephens collected seven of her 15 points in the opening frame.

“It was a fun game to be a part of,” said Stephens, who added six rebounds. “I love it when we are all working well together as a team.”

Plum senior Megan Marston led all scorers with 16 points and added seven assists.

Plum senior guard Rayla Smith scored all of her eight points in the second half.

Smith buried a 3-pointer with seven minutes left in the fourth to put her team ahead 56-25. The field goal also put the mercy running clock into effect.

“I was really proud of our defensive and rebounding efforts tonight,” Plum coach Rich Mull said. “The girls were sharing the basketball and feeding off of each other. They played with good energy.”

Senior Abbie Johns led Kiski Area with 12 points. Eight of the 12 came in the third quarter as the Cavaliers tried to battle back.

Johns had two 3-pointers in the third, the first of which cut the Plum lead to 35-20 with 4:58 left.

But the Mustangs responded as Marston, Stephans, Smith and Olczak hit consecutive two-point buckets to extend the lead back above 20.

“I thought (junior) Serena (Carnahan) and (freshman) Tamia (West) did a really nice job guarding Johns,” Mull said. “She’s a great shooter, and they were able to limit what she could do.”

Kiski Area continued to be without junior guard Rikiya Garcia, who missed her fifth game since going down with a knee injury against Seneca Valley at the Shady Side Academy tournament Dec. 28.

Williamson said Garcia had an MRI, and the results are pending.

“We knew that was a loss, but we just didn’t know how big it was,” he said.

“She is kind of the glue for us. She does a little bit of everything as another good scoring option with a little bit of size. Hopefully, God willing, we get her back soon.”

The Cavaliers hope to rebound Tuesday as they close the first half of the section schedule at Penn Hills.

“It’s one game,” Williamson said of the loss to Plum. “We have to recover and be ready to play another quality opponent in Penn Hills and try to get a win.”

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.

Tags: Kiski Area, Plum