Plum girls pull away from Kiski Area to keep pace in section

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 5, 2024 | 10:10 PM

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The Plum girls basketball team took care of business Monday in a 61-49 Section 1-5A victory over Kiski Area on senior night at Plum High School.

The Mustangs didn’t let the Cavaliers play spoiler as they kept pace with Indiana for a shot at the section title Thursday evening.

Plum senior Megan Marston tallied a career-high 36 points as Plum led by four at halftime before gradually pulling away to the double-digit victory.

“Tonight, we did some things well and some things not so well that we have to clean up, but a win is a win and we needed that,” Plum coach Rich Mull said.

“We just have to do what we can to be ready for Thursday.”

Plum improved to 13-7 overall and 9-2 in the section. Indiana defeated Woodland Hills on Monday to raise its section mark to 10-1.

Plum visits Indiana on Thursday in the section finale, and a Mustangs win there would clinch a tie for the section title. It would be Plum’s first-ever section championship.

Marston and fellow seniors Pascale Olczak, Rayla Smith and Aiyana Adams were recognized in a ceremony before the game.

Olczak finished one point shy of a double-double. She scored nine and added 10 rebounds.

Smith tallied six points in the win, and Adams got the start and collected a pair of rebounds.

“I was happy for the seniors,” Mull said. “A win on senior night is important and memorable. It was nice also to see some of the younger kids contribute and do well. It was a total team effort.”

Kiski Area fell to 6-14 overall, 2-9 in the section. The Cavaliers close their section slate and their season Friday at playoff-bound Penn Hills.

Plum bounced back from a pair of losses, a 47-44 Friday heartbreaker to Penn Hills and a 63-48 setback to Butler six days earlier.

Marston eclipsed her previous career high of 31 — against Beaver this year and Seneca Valley last year — with a 3-pointer to extend Plum’s lead to 58-45 with 1 minute, 38 seconds left.

It was her only 3-pointer of the game.

She sank a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to give her 36, one more than her mother. Colleen Marston’s career high in a Gateway uniform was 35 in the early ’90s.

“It was a great feeling to do this on what could be my last game on this floor,” Marston said.

“Huge props to my teammates because I couldn’t have done it without them. I got some good looks off of some really good passes from them. Over the past week, I was focused on getting to the (free-throw line) more and also working on my drive. It was nice because both worked well. I am not upset with having only one 3-pointer.”

Kiski Area kept pace with Plum through the early part of the third quarter. A free throw from senior Cora Coleman drew the Cavaliers to within four at 32-28 with 6:03 to go in the frame.

But a 10-1 Plum run followed and pushed its advantage to 13 at 42-29 with 2:08 to go in the quarter.

Kiski Area, which struggled with a number of missed shots at times in the second half, including several layups down the stretch, was not able to cut the lead to less than 10 the rest of the way.

Senior Abbie Johns did her best to rally her team. She finished with 28 points. She had 18 of her 28 in the second half and 10 in the fourth quarter.

Gianna DeVito added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Plum sophomore Riley Stephans suffered a right ankle injury at the 5:28 mark of the third quarter. She favored the ankle while walking off the court on her own power and was in a walking boot after the game.

Her status for Thursday’s game was not known after Monday’s victory.

“We knew we had to get business done here before we could even worry about Thursday’s game,” Marston said. “Kiski is a good team, and they battled us. Now, we have a chance to make history. We control our own destiny. We want that section title.”

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