Beaver girls eliminate Belle Vernon at PIAAs

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 7:15 PM

Beaver girls basketball coach Greg Huston said his team held a mini-eulogy at practice Monday to bring closure to the Bobcats' heartbreaking buzzer-beater loss to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in the WPIAL championship last Friday. Then it turned the page to the PIAA playoffs.

The Bobcats started their journey into states by racing out a 14-point lead in the first quarter and didn't look back, ending the careers of five senior starters on one of the more successful Belle Vernon girls basketball teams in the last two decades.

Beaver led by double digits for the majority of the game and cruised to a 74-43 victory over the Leopards in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs Saturday at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

Beaver (19-6) also topped Belle Vernon (18-7) in the WPIAL quarterfinals 63-32. The Bobcats advanced to play Villa Maria in the second round Wednesday at a site and time to be announced.

Robert Morris recruit Bella Posset had a game-high 29 points for the Bobcats and went 12 for 12 from the free-throw line. Paige Ziggas had 17 points, and Sydney Barney scored 15.

“I told them it was our best offensive game of the year, and that is certainly encouraging,” Huston said. “When you have a player like Bella, it makes things a lot easier,” Huston said. “She handles a lot of the heavy lifting and makes me look like I'm really smart. Aside from her, Paige did a good job hitting 3s, and Sydney did a good job down in the low block. We have a lot of girls who can put the ball in the hoop, and when everyone is shooting well it makes us really tough to defend.”

Beaver led 16-2 at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 17 points in the second but got into some foul trouble with Posset and Barney picking up their third fouls a minute apart late in the first half. Belle Vernon chipped the lead down to 12 points, but missed layups and a 7-for-16 performance at the free-throw line in the first half kept the Leopards from getting any closer.

“In the first half we missed a lot of layups and foul shots. If we converted some of those in the first quarter, maybe it's a 16-12 game instead of a 16-2 game,” Belle Vernon coach Lisa Fairman said. “We made it a little interesting there in the second, but we just couldn't capitalize. Then credit (Paige) Ziggas. She comes out in the second half and hits two 3s. Then we gave up a layup, and all of the sudden it's a 20-point deficit again.”

Beaver connected nine times from beyond the arc, including three by Ziggas in the third.

Caitlyn Trombley hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points for the Leopards. Kelsey Green also had 12 points for Belle Vernon, and Kylie Campbell scored eight.

The five Belle Vernon starters — Trombley, Green, Campbell, Keira Boff and Taylor Kovatch — led the Leopards to their first state playoff appearance in 20 years and amassed 18 wins, the most since the 1998-99 season. Reserves Grace Henderson and Allyiah King also will graduate.

“Over the four years of them being with me at the high school level, we have so many great memories and that's what I want them to focus on,” Fairman said. “All good things come to an end, but I told these girls they made a mark at Belle Vernon. They're good role models for the youth coming up through the program, and they've set the tempo to keep our program moving in a positive direction.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Beaver, Belle Vernon