Upper St. Clair buckles down on defense, tops Mt. Lebanon to reach WPIAL Class 6A finals

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 11:02 PM

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Members of the boys basketball team aren’t the only players walking the hallways at Upper St. Clair who can be defensive.

The Panthers girls basketball team proved Tuesday in the Class 6A semifinals it can defend the basket as well.

A suffocating defense was the key as Upper St. Clair defeated rival Mt. Lebanon for a third time this season, 55-39.

“We talked about that for the last couple of weeks in making sure we can shut people down and play defense,” Upper St. Clair coach Pete Serio said. “They really did a great job playing defense.”

Mt. Lebanon senior guard Payton Collins led the team in scoring this season with 338 points for an average of 15.4 points per game.

However, USC shut her out for three quarters before she scored five points in the fourth.

“Payton’s a really great player,” Serio said. “Most of our game plan is about trying to limit her opportunities. Liv (Terlecki), game in and game out, always guards the others team’s best player. Our help defense was there and we did a great job in switching when necessary.”

The lead changed hands three times in the first couple of minutes of the game with Mt. Lebanon taking its final advantage of the game at 4-3.

From there, the Panthers went on a 10-0 run that put them in control.

Senior guard and Kent State commit Rylee Kalocay led Upper St. Clair in the quarterfinals win over Pine-Richland with 22 points. But it was a balanced Panthers attack early that helped build a double-digit lead by the middle of the second quarter Tuesday.

“I thought Rylee did a really nice job in passing the ball to her teammates,” Serio said. “Everybody is trying to stop Rylee, so when she finds the open player, it makes it easier on everybody. She’s still going to get her chances, but when we play like that, I like our chances.”

Kalocay feels she didn’t play her best game, but her teammates were there to pick up the team.

“I wasn’t hitting as many shots as I should have, so the best thing I could have done is create opportunities for everybody else,” Kalocay said. “If I have two or three people on me, that leaves two or three people wide open, so if I can’t’ get to the rim, one of my teammates will hit an open shot.

“I can trust them.”

The Panthers went on a 7-0 run in the second quarter as they upped their lead over the Blue Devils to 12 points at halftime.

In the third quarter, Upper St. Clair led by as many as 21 points before taking a big lead into the fourth quarter, 42-23.

Mt. Lebanon kept fighting and scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter, but even then, the Blue Devils trailed by 13 points.

“I’m very proud of our team fighting to the end,” Mt. Lebanon first-year coach Mark “Knobby” Walsh said. “We tip out hats to USC. They adjusted to each thing we tried.”

The Blue Devils were led by sophomore guard Anessa Donoghue, who scored 15 points.

Mt. Lebanon falls to 14-10 and must regroup quickly as it visits Canon-McMillan on Thursday for a berth in the PIAA playoffs.

Kalocay tallied 19 points to lead the Panthers while junior guard Meredith Huzjak chipped in with 12 points.

Upper St. Clair improves to 18-6 and will battle Norwin in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center at 5 p.m. Saturday.

It is the third meeting of the season between the top two finishers in Section 2-6A with each splitting their regular season meetings. USC won the first game on the road, 63-53, while Norwin returned the favor with a road victory in late January, 56-47.

This also marks the third trip to the district finals for the Panthers seniors, looking for the program’s first title since 2008.

“It’s really satisfying,” Serio said. “Last year after Rylee got hurt, the team played as well as they could play. It’s not going to be easy because (Norwin) has a really good team. Let’s see if we can get this done.”

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Upper St. Clair