Breakout regular season leads Pine-Richland girls into playoff matchup with rival North Allegheny

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, February 19, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

The first two meetings with North Allegheny provided lessons for the Pine-Richland girls basketball team.

The third meeting yields an opportunity to pull an upset.

Pine-Richland received the seventh seed in the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs and will travel to No. 2 North Allegheny for a first-round matchup at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23.

In her first season at the helm of the Rams, Gabby Baldasare has guided the team to its first postseason appearance since 2019-20, which was an open tournament. The last time the Rams made it on merit was in 2017-18.

“We’re incredibly excited and proud of this group,” Baldasare said. “As the bar continues to rise, we’re not just satisfied with making the playoffs. We’re looking to go on a run. That’s the plan.”

To make a run, they’ll have to solve the Tigers, who they lost to twice in Section 1-6A play.

North Allegheny took the first meeting 59-48 on Jan. 6. Though they ended up falling by double digits, the Rams were in the game most of the way and Baldasare said it showed her team they could compete with anyone.

“It was a big confidence booster for us,” Baldasare said. “As a coaching staff, we had been telling the girls that we can hang with the best teams and that was the first time they started to realize that.”

The Rams took that confidence into the rematch at home a couple weeks later, led 24-22 at halftime and were tied after three quarters, but North Allegheny ended up pulling out a 51-46 victory.

“We were right there and it was a matter of finishing out a game,” Baldasare said. “NA has been in that position more times than we have, so it was just part of the process for us of learning to stay with the game plan for 32 minutes. If we do that and we don’t come out on top, we did everything we could.”

North Allegheny features Pitt recruit Jasmine Timmerson.

Timmerson had 21 points in the first meeting and scored 24 in the rematch. Lydia Betz and Kellie McConnell scored 11 each in the first game.

“They’re a really solid team all-around,” Baldasare said. “Everything they do revolves around Timmerson, but they also have Lydia Betz and Kellie McConnell and just a lot of talented players. They are seven or eight deep that they can play. They’re really well-coached. I have a lot of respect for (North Allegheny coach) Spencer Stefko. He’s a great guy and a great coach. He’s been a mentor for me. It’s fun to compete against them.”

Pine-Richland has been paced all season by Madison Zavasky, who is one of the top scorers in the WPIAL. Zavasky scored 20 and 23 in the two games against North Allegheny.

As the season has progressed, Zavasky has seen more attention on defense and has even been face guarded at times. Baldasare said Sarah Pifer, Katie Pifer, Maren Iski, Cate Gentile and Aubrey Bennett have risen to the occasion to ease the stress on Zavasky.

“Madison has embraced the fact that if she gets her teammates involved early, it’s going to open things up for her, because teams have to respect and defend everyone,” Baldasare said. “Sarah (Pifer) has had an incredible back half of the season and that’s made Madison’s job a lot easier in terms of scoring.”

Pine-Richland ended the regular season with wins over Butler and Beaver, which are both playoff teams. With a week and a half between the final regular season game and playoffs, Baldasare scheduled a scrimmage with Hampton.

“It’s a pretty long stretch,” Baldasare said. “We’re throwing in some team dinners and fun activities to break it up, so it’s not so monotonous with practice. Practicing everyday does get old, especially when you’re approaching March.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland