Plum girls oust Montour in preliminary round, advance to face No. 1 South Fayette
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Thursday, February 16, 2023 | 9:53 PM
Plum’s Megan Marston is fouled by Montour’s Sterling McCleaster on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Camryn Rogers drives past Montour’s Stering McCleaster on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Rayla Smith gets fouled by Montour’s Jordyn Wolfe on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Pascale Olczak grabs a rebound from Montour’s Sterling McCleaster and Abigail Cleary on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Rayla Smith gets off a pass during a fast break against Montour on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Pascale Olcazk celebrates with Megan Marston after Marston’s drive and score against Montour on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Pascale Olczak makes a basket and one as Montour’s Sterling McCleaster fouls her on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Megan Marston scores over Montour’s Jordyn Wolfe on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Megan Marston blocks the shot of Montour’s Sterling McCleaster with under a minute left on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Megan Marston scores past Montour’s Abigail Cleary on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Pascale Olczak blocks the shot of Montour’s Tiffany Miller on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Rayla Smith defends on Montour’s Jordyn Wolfe on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Pascale Olczak celebrates after making a basket and one as Montour’s Sterling McCleaster (22) fouls her on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Plum’s Camryn Rogers scores past Montour’s Sterling McCleaster on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, at Plum High School.
Before the Plum girls basketball team could focus on No. 1, it had to make sure it took care of business against No. 17.
The 16th-seeded Mustangs got double-figure scoring performances from juniors Megan Marston and Pascale Olczak as they punched their ticket to a first-round matchup against top seed South Fayette with a 46-38 victory over 17th seed Montour on Thursday in a preliminary-round contest at Plum High School.
“I am really proud of the girls,” Plum coach Rich Mull said.
“I am so happy for them. Everyone contributed, whether it was a rebound here, a steal there, a clutch shot or a free throw when we needed it late in the game. Whatever it was, everyone chipped in.”
Plum improved to 13-10 overall and guaranteed itself an above-.500 record. But the Mustangs are looking for bigger things, and taking down No. 1 would be big. Plum will visit South Fayette (20-2) at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“We’ve played good competition all year,” Mull said.
“Obviously, we haven’t played South Fayette, but it was good experience against the Peters Townships, the Chartiers Valleys, the Indianas, and teams like that. With playing a lot of younger kids — we don’t have a ton of seniors — it helped them play to that level of basketball and work as hard as they possible could.”
Plum played Thursday’s game without senior forward Dannika Susko, who missed the playoff contest because of injury. Mull said Susko’s status for Tuesday is unclear.
Plum built its largest lead of the game — 42-31 — with 6 minutes, 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Rayla Smith opened the quarter with a jumper, and Olczak followed with a layup.
The Mustangs offense then went cold for more than six minutes. Montour cut the deficit to four on a jumper from Julia Cox with 4:36 to play.
But Plum had seen enough of the comeback and shut out the Spartans the rest of the way. Free throws from sophomore Serena Carnahan and Marston in the waning seconds sealed the victory.
“We switched a couple things up and really defended well,” Mull said. “It ended up working out well for us at the end.”
Marston, who came in averaging 18.2 points, finished with a game-best 23 to go along with five rebounds. Sixteen of her 23 came in the first half as Plum led by two at the end of the first quarter and 27-21 at halftime.
Olczak finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. She also blocked three shots.
“We were able to keep calm down the stretch when they tried to come back,” Olczak said.
“Everyone played their hearts out tonight. This has been a big goal since the start of the season, even going back to last season, to get a playoff win and advance in the playoffs.”
Plum freshman Riley Stephens drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:37 to go in the third quarter to give the Mustangs a 32-31 lead. They would not trail the rest of the game.
Montour opened the third on a 10-2 run. Sophomore Abigail Cleary and junior Jordyn Wolfe hit 3-pointers, senior Raegan Kadlecik sank a jumper, and junior Sterling McCleaster converted a layup in the spurt that turned the 27-21 deficit into a 31-29 lead.
In her final high school game, Kadlecik led the Spartans with 16 points. Wolfe, who averages about 16 points, scored just eight.
Montour, the fourth-place team from Section 4, finished its season 8-15 overall.
“We had our opportunities tonight,” Montour coach Jenn O’Shea said.
“We missed, I think, six layups in the third quarter alone, wide-open looks that we don’t normally miss. It just came down to us not making enough shots and not stopping their best player. We’re a young team. We just have to keep working and look to get better for next year.”
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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