Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Mt. Pleasant’s Zelmore hits 1,000 the hard way

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, December 7, 2022 | 6:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Tiffany Zelmore reached 1,000 career points, and the Mt. Pleasant senior did so in fewer games than most who achieve the milestone.

Mt. Pleasant only played 20 games during Zelmore’s freshman and sophomore seasons and has only made the playoffs once during her career.

So she has scored over 1,000 in 64 games. She came into the season with 966 points.

The 5-foot-11 forward has topped 30 points multiple times in her career.

Zelmore went over 1,000 in the second game of the Greensburg Salem tip-off tournament. She outscored Ringgold herself with 32 points in a 63-21 win.

She had 22 points in a 50-47 win over Derry.

Zelmore averaged 21.4 points last season and 19.6 as a sophomore.

Home sweet home

Southmoreland will be hard pressed to equal the success of recent years without point guard Olivia Cernuto, a Gannon commit who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

But the Scotties still have a winning streak to think about. They opened the season with a 38-35 win over Yough to stretch their home winning streak to 44.

Southmoreland’s next home game is Tuesday against Albert Gallatin.

Next girl up

Penn-Trafford had a key player, junior guard Olivia Pepple, go down with an injury during pregame warmups.

Belle Vernon had a vacancy in its starting lineup when standout guard Viva Kreis opted out of basketball this season.

Both teams had players step up in their absence.

For Penn-Trafford, freshman Tori DeStefano scored 21 points after Pepple tweaked her foot in warmups on the second day of the Peters Township tournament.

Penn-Trafford went 2-0 with wins over Baldwin and Peters Township.

For Belle Vernon, junior Kenzi Seliga erupted for a career-high 32 points in the Leopards’ season-opening 54-48 win over St. Joseph.

Upset for GCC

Greensburg Central Catholic pulled an early-season upset.

The Centurions, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A, knocked off Class 3A No. 1 Neshannock, 61-56, on the road.

Freshman Erica Gribble scored 23 points, Mya Morgan added 14 and Avery Davis had 11 for GCC (3-0).

Neshannock won WPIAL and PIAA championships last season in Class 2A.

Blair strikes early

Reining Trib Westmoreland Player of the Year Emma Blair of Latrobe picked up where she left off from last season.

The 6-foot-1 senior forward had 24 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and made the winning layup with 1.5 seconds remaining as Latrobe defeated the host team in the River Valley Tournament.

The Wildcats overcame a 27-point fourth quarter from their opponent.

Blair, a South Carolina Upstate commit, had 22 points and eight rebounds in a 68-30 win over Cambria Heights to open the season.

She added 29 points and 14 rebounds in a 70-57 win over Indiana and 6-3 Katie Kovalchik. Indiana’s 6-5 Dayton commit, Eve Fiala, did not play in the game.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland