Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Penn-Trafford’s Bella Klobucar

By: Anthony DiFilippo
Monday, March 10, 2025 | 10:10 AM

When Penn-Trafford won the Section 2-5A title, the Warriors felt good about their chances heading into the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs.

Their 12-0 section record was something the team had been working toward for quite a while.

“The past four years I’ve been on this team, countless times we would go up before and after school, and we’d shoot,” senior Bella Klobucar said. “We all used to put in all our work, so we saw it finally come back to us and get the reward we deserved in winning the section.”

However, Penn-Trafford’s chance at a WPIAL title came to an end in the quarterfinals with a 65-60 overtime loss to Thomas Jefferson.

It was a tough way to take their first loss of the season, but right before that, Klobucar delivered one of the best performances of her career, scoring 14 points, including four 3-pointers, in a 63-46 first-round win over Plum.

“Honestly, I just had a lot of confidence. It just felt natural because we’ve been shooting a lot each practice,” Klobucar said of the performance. “We were down a little bit, so I knew I’d step in and try to help my team out and try to get some energy back on the court.”

Despite the quarterfinal loss, Penn-Trafford bounced back to finish fifth in Class 5A with a dramatic 70-69 win over Baldwin.

A controversial foul call in the final moments proved to be the difference, but the Warriors had secured their spot in the PIAA state playoffs.

“We hope that we can go back to where we were playing during our regular season, when we were working in the post and also working in our shooters,” Klobucar said. “If our shots are off, we’ve got the post to pick us up, and then if our post is off, we’ll make our shots. But, hopefully, we have a game that has both posts and shots on.”

Penn-Trafford’s success didn’t happen overnight.

The chemistry within this group has been years in the making, and for Klobucar, the bond with her teammates is a major reason for their success.

“This year I feel like we’ve really been tight knit. I’ve been playing with Lauren (Marton) and Kamryn (Pieper) ever since I started basketball, and we’ve been playing on travel teams together,” Klobucar said. “Then in middle school, we played with Torrie (DeStefano), and we all just love each other.”

P-T is also led by an experienced coach. John Giannikas has been on the sidelines for 19 seasons.

Klobucar plans to attend either N.C. State or Tennessee for business.

This week, she took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started with basketball?

My sister used to play when she was younger. So after seeing her play, I joined in-house when I was in third grade. Ever since then I kept it.

What was your fifth-place game win against Baldwin like?

We knew that they got a lot better from the way we played them, and coming off a loss, we kind of were down a little. But we felt like we had to like, restart, reset, we still had states to keep going, so we really pushed ourselves, and we were a little bit tired from all the games we played. We tried to focus on shutting down the main players because they really were good with the 3 that game, too. So we had to make some adjustments in, like, the middle of the half. As you can see, we had to get up on them. But, yeah, after winning, it felt relieving.

What do you see as your role on the team?

I know that I’m not going to be a leading scorer, and I’m not really the offensive type. I’m more of a defensive player, honestly. My role is to defend and then pick up shots when they’re open and try to help my team score. My focus is just trying to get rebounds and loose balls and then trying to give effort to the little things and not just on offense and shots and all that. I really try to focus on defense and getting all the loose balls I can, and I know I’m probably going to be one of the shortest girls on the court, but I’ll try to box them out and still try to get a rebound to help my team because the little things really do matter, and they help us win games.

What impact does coach Giannikas have on you as a player, and what’s it like playing for him?

He really is a great coach. He knows the game very well. He knows how to make adjustments in the middle of the game. Against certain teams, we’ll try something, and then it won’t work. He’s quick to make plays and adjustments when we need them. Especially at the end of games, he’s quick to draw up a play.

What is one thing that people may not know about you?

One thing people may not know about me is that me and my dad are big into fishing and hunting. My dad’s always enjoyed it when he was a little kid, so ever since I was born, my siblings were already into all of that, so I just kind of naturally forced into it and we like to do it because it’s a great way to spend time with each other.