Young Plum girls team might be finding way in new year

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, January 4, 2023 | 6:46 PM

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Rich Mull saw ups and downs from a youthful Plum girls basketball team in his first season as coach last year.

The Mustangs finished outside of the playoff mix for the first time in six seasons.

The still young team, with just forward Dannika Susko and guard Cam Rogers as seniors, hopes it is putting the pieces together for a return the postseason as it heads into the meat of its Section 1-5A schedule.

“I would like to think that things have slowed down for us a little bit,” Mull said.

“Last year, everything was new. Now, this is the second time around for a lot of those things. I hope that is a benefit as we move forward.”

Plum stands at 7-4 as it hopes to shake a three-game losing skid. It also is 2-1 in section with close wins over Gateway (38-36) and Franklin Regional (40-38) and a 62-47 loss Monday to Woodland Hills.

The Mustangs return to section play Tuesday at Penn Hills before a key section matchup Jan. 12 at home against Kiski Area.

Plum and Franklin Regional are 2-1, one-half game behind section leader Indiana (6-4, 2-0) which plays Gateway (4-6, 0-3) on Friday.

Mull said a challenging schedule so far has helped his team begin to find itself just a few days into the New Year.

Plum steps away from section action Thursday against perennial WPIAL contender Peters Township. The Indians are 8-3 overall and No. 4 in this week’s Triblive HSSN Class 6A rankings. Natalie Wetzel, a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward, fuels their engine.

“We’ve played some good teams this year, and Peters is no different,” Mull said. “Playing tough out-of-section games will hopefully pay off down the line. It’s definitely going to be a great challenge, but the girls are excited for that challenge.”

Junior Megan Marston, an all-section performer last year and a Valley News Dispatch all-star, picked up where she left off and is the team’s leading scorer at nearly 17 points a game.

She scored a team-best 17 in a 36-28 victory over West Allegheny on Dec. 21 but suffered a foot injury in the game that sidelined her for Plum’s two games at the Latrobe tournament, a 47-35 setback to the host Wildcats and a 41-36 loss to Bethel Park.

“She’s tough,” Mull said. “She actually went back in after the injury. That’s just the way she is. She is willing to keep playing to help her team win. She played really well and helped us win that game.

“We were competitive against both Latrobe and Bethel Park, but we really missed her presence.”

After an original diagnosis of a break in the foot where she feared she might miss a significant amount of time, Marston sought a second opinion that offered a more favorable outcome.

With no break but the foot still sore, she returned to the lineup against Woodland Hills and hit for a team-high 21 points.

“I felt good in the game,” said Marston, who canned a trio of 3-pointers among her eight made field goals.

“There were times where I went up with the ball or to get a rebound, and it hurt a little bit. But I had it taped well and was working with the trainer every day. It felt really good to get back. I think we have a good chance to make a nice run to the playoffs, and I want to make sure I am a part of that.”

Plum’s game with Woodland Hills was close in three of the four quarters, but the difference in the Wolverines’ victory was an 18-5 second quarter en route to the 15-point result.

“Woodland Hills played well, and I was disappointed in that we didn’t play as well as we are capable,” Mull said.

“We scored 47 points, which isn’t bad, but we had been doing pretty well defensively. We were giving up around 37 or 38 points a game, and Woodland Hills scored 62. That was a lot of points. That one girl for Woodland Hills (6-1 junior forward Hope Hawkins) rebounded really well and shot well. She was a real difference-maker for them.”

Susko, a veteran starter who isn’t afraid to mix it up in the paint and get physical while feeling the effects of that physical play, added 11 points against the Wolverines.

She came up big in the section win over Gateway as she converted five field goals and was 7 of 13 from the line for a team-leading 17 points. Four days later against Franklin Regional, she was injured in a first-quarter collision and missed the rest of the game.

“Dannika has had some big moments for us,” Mull said. “She just hasn’t been 100 percent this year as she has been banged up. Hopefully, we can get her full strength soon. She and Cam are two veteran players who the younger girls really look to for leadership.”

Mull said junior 6-1 forward/center Pascale Olczak is stronger at both ends of the court in a bigger role this year. She led Plum with 10 points against both Latrobe and Bethel Park.

“The biggest thing for her is having that consistency in her game night in and night out,” he said.

Mull said sophomore Serena Carnahan, freshman Riley Stephens, and junior Rayla Smith have stepped up and provided quality minutes.

Stephens, in her first varsity game against Freeport on Dec. 2, hit a buzzer-beater to give the Mustangs a come-from-behind 49-48 win.

“The thing for us is we just have to keep working and use every opportunity to be on the court to be better, both individually and as a team,” Mull said.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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