Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Norwin rebounds from 3-game skid
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Wednesday, January 15, 2025 | 2:42 PM
Norwin’s Averi Brozeski battles Mt. Lebanon’s Emily Smith for possession during their game on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2024, at Mt. Lebanon.
Norwin’s Kendall Berger drives to the basket against Mt. Lebanon’s Elizabeth Twyman during their game on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2024, at Mt. Lebanon.
Norwin’s Alexis Heller scores against Mt. Lebanon on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2024, at Mt. Lebanon. Heller scored 13 points in Norwin’s 45-33 win.
Norwin’s Averi Brozeski shoots a 3-pointer against Mt. Lebanon on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2024, at Mt. Lebanon.
A losing streak can teach a team a lot about itself, especially a team that isn’t used to losing.
Take Norwin, the defending WPIAL 6A champion. The Knights recently dropped three straight — to North Catholic, Shaler and No. 1 Upper St. Clair.
They had not endured such a streak since 2021.
Of course, they rebounded with three wins in a row — against No. 1 Mt. Lebanon, Canon-McMillan and Hempfield — to move to 7-5 overall and 4-1 in Section 2. And they are ranked No. 3 in 6A.
The trio of games, absent of any slouches, taught Norwin a few things, coach Brian Brozeski said.
“No. 1, they’re high school kids,” the coach said. “Sometimes we as coaches lose sight of that. You want to get your message across and let them know what you want them to do. Communication is so important.”
Something else that jumped out at the Knights: They miss their senior trio that played a huge part in a championship run in Lauren Palangio, Ava Kobus and Bailey Snowberger.
“We had great leadership last year,” Brozeski said. “They were lead-by-example kids who we could rely on. In the wake of those leaders, we’re looking for leaders this year — that chemistry and motivation — so their teammates can rely on them, even in hard times.”
Brozeski said Upper St. Clair is one of the better shooting teams he has seen, while Shaler is a playoff contender in 5A, and North Catholic is No. 1 in 4A.
The win over Mt. Lebanon reignited the Knights, and the momentum allowed them to take care of Hempfield, which played a 2-3 zone against them.
“We’ve seen more zone this year,” Brozeski said. “It’s one of those things where a wrinkle gets thrown in. Hempfield, we knew they’d be better. They were up on Canon-Mac and Mt. Lebanon.”
Havrilla wins belt
One of Latrobe’s latest championship belt winners has been shooting the ball effectively for the Wildcats.
The belt, a game-by-game reward for Latrobe’s top player, went to Brie Havrilla after she made 10 3-pointers across two games and scored 17 in both.
P-T rolling along
With each passing game, the question keeps coming up: Is Penn-Trafford going to lose?
The Warriors (13-0) were one of only three undefeated girls teams through Monday’s games, joining Shady Side Academy (14-0) and Union (12-0).
The Warriors have never finished a regular season undefeated. This is their best start in program history.
They begin the second wave of Section 2-5A games Thursday at Greensburg Salem. Obviously, Penn-Trafford went 6-0 in the first half of the section slate.
They won those games by an average of 27.3 points. They also have Plum on the schedule, and they end the regular season on Feb. 8 at 6A No. 1 Upper St. Clair.
Penn-Trafford has only missed the playoffs three times in veteran coach John Giannikas’ 18 seasons, and won a WPIAL title in 2013-14.
Wade a minute
Usually, when a player scores 35 points, her team is likely to be a winner. But Monessen’s Madison Johnson was foiled on her career night by a WPIAL scoring machine.
Johnson scored 35 but the Greyhounds could not stop Iyanna Wade, Clairton’s star scorer who erupted for an amazing 60 points as the Bears downed Monessen, 91-57.
Wade had a WPIAL-record 65 points in a game last season.
FR stays in first
Franklin Regional carved out a signature win to stay on top in Section 1-5A.
Madison DeRiggi had 22 points to pace the Panthers to a crucial, 53-48 victory over second-place Shaler, giving Franklin Regional a 1.5-game lead over the Titans.
Winners of four straight and nine of their last 12, the Panthers moved a step closer to something they have not achieved in 46 years. The team has not won a section title since 1979.
“I get chills when I think of that,” Franklin Regional coach Bernie Pucka said. “So, we just keep our focus on the next game, because the more you win, each game becomes more important.”
Low scoring
There aren’t many games that see a team score zero points in two quarters, but that is what happened to Ligonier Valley on Monday against South Allegheny.
The Rams went scoreless in the first and fourth quarters and lost an overall low-scoring game, 27-12.
Neither team scored more than nine points in a quarter. South Allegheny’s scoring by quarters went 8, 7, 9 and 3.
On the glass
Ligonier Valley’s Sydnee Foust is often the Rams’ leading scorer. But she is quietly one of the area’s most productive rebounders.
Foust has grabbed 18 rebounds twice this season. She also had games with 14 and 11 boards.
Rankings check
Three area teams remain in the TribLive HSSN rankings.
Norwin is No. 3 in 6A, Penn-Trafford is No. 3 in 5A, and Greensburg Central Catholic dropped to No. 4 in 3A.
Thursday games
Local games to watch Thursday night: Plum at Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford at Greensburg Salem, West Mifflin at Latrobe, Yough at Mt. Pleasant and Ringgold at Belle Vernon.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Latrobe, Monessen, Norwin, Penn-Trafford
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