St. Joseph girls hope for extended stay in 4th straight trip to PIAA playoffs

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 4:26 PM

The St. Joseph girls basketball team began the season with just one returning starter — senior guard Gia Richter — and a host of others stepping up into starting roles or increased roles in the rotation.

With changes throughout the lineup, some might not have thought the Spartans would be able to continue their run of appearances in the PIAA Class A playoffs, which reached three straight last year.

But the players, including junior guard/forward Kasey Cienik, didn’t listen to any of the outside noise and went to work to prepare for the season.

That work has paid off as St. Joseph (18-8) gets ready to again join the state tournament after its WPIAL fifth-place finish.

“This is really exciting for all of us,” Cienik said. “We’ve really worked hard together all season to get this far. It’s special because not many people believed in us and believed we could get back to where we are. That really lit a fire under us. A lot of us were getting this opportunity, and we just couldn’t waste it. What we were able to do was very satisfying.”

St. Joseph opens the PIAA playoffs at 1 p.m. Saturday against District 10 champion Farrell (7-14) at Farrell High School. The Steelers defeated Commodore Perry, 49-31, on Saturday.

“I am feeling proud that we got to states,” said Richter, who leads the Spartans in scoring at nearly 16 points a game. “For us (seniors), its exciting for what is in front of us but also sad that our (high school) careers will be over soon. But we’re concentrating on Saturday and what we can do to win that game.”

Last year’s Spartans, a senior laden-group coming off a WPIAL runner-up finish, scored the first PIAA playoff victory in program history with a 57-35 home triumph over St. Joseph Catholic Academy.

St. Joseph then lost to District 5 champion Berlin, 61-50, in the second round.

The Spartans closed out this year’s regular season with a 55-48 home loss to Riverview. But earlier in the day, St. Joseph found out that it would, as the No. 6 seed, host a WPIAL first-round game, and the Spartans took care of business, 61-13, against section foe Sewickley Academy.

St. Joseph then saw its title aspirations come to a sudden end with a 71-44 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 Clairton and scoring sensation Iyanna Wade.

While that loss was tough to take, it did open the opportunity for the team, including Richter and fellow seniors Star Henwood, Riley Wilbert, Violet Hill and Kni’je Middlebrook, to play two more home games and battle their way into the PIAA playoffs.

“The girls’ mindset was really important in those games,” St. Joseph coach Geoff Dutelle said. “Playing at home in the play-in games was huge. We play better on our home court. There is a lot of pride in playing in front of your home crowd. The girls did a nice job of refocusing after the loss to Clairton with knowing that there was still so much to play for.”

St. Joseph rolled past West Greene, 54-38, on Feb. 24 in the first round of consolations to officially clinch one of the six WPIAL Class A berths to the PIAA playoffs. Cienik and Richter led the way with 16 and 14 points, respectively, while freshman Bella Bartolovic added 10.

But the Spartans weren’t done there as they took down Bishop Canevin, 56-45, in the fifth-place game three days later. Richter scored a team-best 18 points, and sophomore Jocelyn Spinelli (13), Cienik (10) and Bartolovic (12) added to a balanced scoring attack.

“It’s our home court, and we know it like the back of our hands,” Cienik said. “We all play better at home. It’s such a comfortable and calming feeling. Our shots were falling in both (consolation) games. We worked so well together. It gave us even more energy to play well and win. I was so happy for the seniors to be able to win their last home game.”

Farrell’s win Saturday marked its first District 10 championship since 2010, when it topped Kennedy Catholic for the Class A title.

Farrell last played in a state tournament in 2022 when, as the District 10 Class A runner-up, it lost in the first round to Union in an all-Mercer County clash.

The Steelers enter this year’s PIAA playoffs just 7-14, but Dutelle said they challenged themselves with a tough schedule against a number of teams in higher classifications.

Junior guard/forward Janiya Daniels scored a game-high 19 points against Commodore Perry. Seven of the 19 came in the first quarter as the Steelers led 14-0 after the opening eight minutes.

Sophomore Maddy Harrison added 10 in the title victory.

“It was nice the schedule was the way it was because I was able to go up there and watch them on Saturday,” Dutelle said.

“They are just like us. They start two freshmen, a sophomore, a junior and a senior, so they are very young. But they are very athletic. I expect a pretty competitive game. There might be some growing pains for both of us going in, but the excitement is there because states is almost here.”

St. Joseph’s prep work for Saturday’s game with Farrell included a home scrimmage Tuesday against an Avonworth team which reached the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals and finished fifth overall.

“The scrimmage went really well,” Dutelle said. “Avonworth is a solid program with good experience and great coaching, so being able to play them is a great tune-up.

“We shot the ball pretty well and ran a few new offenses to see how they looked. We will have to foul less and recognize changing defenses a little quicker on Saturday, but the scrimmage helped us a ton.”

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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