After slow start, No. 1 North Allegheny girls rally past Mt. Lebanon in WPIAL semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 | 9:45 PM

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A win, is a win, is a win and North Allegheny girls basketball coach Spencer Stefko will take it and move forward.

The defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Tigers showed that, in perhaps their poorest shooting performance of the season, they still are one of the most complete teams in the WPIAL.

No. 1 North Allegheny rallied in the second half to get past No. 5 Mt. Lebanon, 34-20, in the semifinals Tuesday night at Fox Chapel to advance to the WPIAL championship game.

“I think that we were prepared from watching film, that we knew that this game wasn't going to be 60 (points) and that neither team was going to win by 15 (points),” North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko said. “We knew that this is going to be a two- or three-possession game and that possessions were going to be important.”

North Allegheny (24-0) advances to play No. 2 Peters Township (21-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Pitt's Petersen Events Center. North Allegheny beat the Indians, 67-54, on Feb. 8.

“They kept themselves together,” Stefko said about his team's poor first-half shooting. “We've been in big games, and we've played good teams. Part of it was, there was no shock. They're really good. They're in the final four a reason.”

While the Tigers struggled to connect on shots, especially from behind the 3-point arc, speedy and aggressive Mt. Lebanon (13-12) didn't help matters. The Tigers' top 3-point shooter, Rachel Martindale, struggled for much of the first half. After the first quarter, North Allegheny trailed 9-3 on a Piper Morningstar basket and a free throw from Lizzy Groetsch. Morningstar's basket came with just 2 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the quarter.

“The first half, the first period especially, they were getting a lot of rebounds, loose balls and we stepped up our toughness in the second quarter and that helped us get a lead at halftime,” Morningstar said.

Morningstar ignited the Tigers late in the second quarter. Trailing 11-5 with 2:27 left, Morningstar hit a 3-pointer. Martindale then drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 11 before Groetsch added one more from behind the arc to give the Tigers the lead for good at 14-11. Morningstar closed out the first half with a reverse layup to extend North Allegheny's lead to 16-11 at the buzzer. Morningstar finished with a game-high 12 points to lead the Tigers and was the only player to score in double figures.

“The halftime speech was mainly to just stay on the rebounds and go after loose balls,” Morningstar said.

The Tigers got the message. North Allegheny was on offense for nearly the entire third quarter. The Tigers controlled the pace of play and took a 22-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We might not have played with urgency to start, but I think we developed it pretty quickly,” Stefko said.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers started to resemble a team on a 23-game winning streak. The Tigers went on a 10-0 run and wore the Blue Devils down. Morningstar added a basket and came right back to bury a 3-pointer to extend North Allegheny's lead to 27-18 with 5:30 remaining in the game. Martindale paced the Tigers in the final minutes with her free-throw shooting.

“I'm super pumped,” Morningstar said about going back the WPIAL championship game. “I think if we just play our game and play our defense that we'll be fine.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny