Trib HSSN girls basketball player of the week for Feb. 12, 2023

By: Don Rebel
Monday, February 13, 2023 | 10:42 PM

When Gabby Baldasare took over the Pine-Richland girls basketball program last summer, like most coaches, she had a learning curve to go through.

She had a bunch of green and white pieces of clay that needed to be shaped and molded into a winning team.

One of those pieces was junior Madison Zavasky, who has been fine-tuned into a complete player on the court and one of the top scorers in the district.

“From the summer when I first met her until now, Madison has rounded out her game as a whole,” Baldasare said. “Offense comes naturally to her, but I challenged her to step it up defensively and play on both ends of the floor, and she’s done that. We have a very tough schedule and knew we’d need good defense from all five kids on the court.

“We love for her to rebound defensively and get out in transition, where she’s so good. She’s making really good decisions with the ball offensively and really understands that if she gets her teammates involved, it will open things up for her. She’s dealt with some face-guarding and her teammates have been able to step up and score in those situations, as well as execute effectively enough to find ways to get her the ball despite the tough defenses.”

Last year, Pine-Richland finished 7-15 and did not qualify for the district playoffs.

“I think 100% of our success this year goes to our coaches,” Zavasky said. “They are awesome in getting us prepared, coming in with full practice plans every day benefitting what we have to work on. I’m excited for the future of this program.”

The immediate future includes a playoff game thanks to a big win last week for the Rams.

After losing big to Norwin on Monday, Pine-Richland needed a win in its section finale against visiting Butler on Thursday.

“She was such a force for us offensively, bloody nose and all after she caught an elbow,” Baldasare said. “When shots are falling early for Madison, I know we’ll be in good shape for the game. She’s always going to get hers, and it opens it up for everyone else to get going offensively as well.”

Zavasky scored 24 points as the Rams edged the Golden Tornado, 54-50, moving Pine-Richland into a tie for third place with Butler and securing a return to the postseason.

“We had a rough game against Norwin on Monday and we knew we needed to bounce back,” Zavasky said. “We lost to (Butler) by four the first time we played them, so we knew we could beat them. We came out with a lot of energy and played really good together.”

Zavasky is averaging just under 20 points per game for a team that is 10-11.

Pine-Richland had a young team this year with only two seniors. Thus Zavasky, a junior, has added leadership to her resume this season.

“Madison has grown in her leadership role this season and is still continuing to,” Baldasare said. “We’ve challenged her to lead vocally and by example. In crunch time, that kid is a competitor, and her teammates feed off that. You can tell she hates to lose. She holds herself to a different standard. We’re tough on her, but I think she secretly loves it.”

Pine-Richland will open up the postseason Feb. 23 when it visits North Allegheny in a Class 6A quarterfinal. The Rams lost twice to the Tigers this season, by 11 and five points.

“We’re extremely excited, and we’re preparing ourselves to make a run,” Baldasare said. “All year we’ve told our kids, the bar continues to get higher and higher for this team, and we have to keep rising to the occasion. Qualifying for playoffs is great, but it’s not good enough for this group to just get in. We want to win, and that’s exactly what we plan on doing.”

Trib HSSN Girls Basketball Players of the Week:

Week 5 – Mairin Haggerty, Neshannock

Week 4 – Iyanna Wade, Clairton

Week 3 – Shaye Bailey, Freedom

Week 2 – Rylee Kalocay, Upper St. Clair

Week 1 – McKenna DeUnger, Charleroi

Tags: Pine-Richland