Westmoreland girls basketball notebook: Penn-Trafford savors dramatic victory

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 | 7:23 PM

Penn-Trafford showed a flair for the dramatic Tuesday night against a quality opponent.

Sophomore Maura Suman ignited a celebration when she made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the wing to lift the Warriors to a 59-58 upset of No. 2 Gateway in a Class 5A nonsection game in Harrison City.

Suman scored a game-high 20 points, and Kenzie Powell had 12 and Allie Prady 10 for Penn-Trafford (2-1).

After catching a pass on the elbow right in front of her team’s bench, Suman turned and fired.

“It was an awesome feeling to come back and win the game like that, but it was a total team effort,” Suman said. “I am fortunate that my teammates had confidence in giving me the ball. I knew Morgan Hilty was going to pass it off to me, and I just wanted to walk off that court with a win.”

The Warriors will get a shot against another perennially strong team Thursday night when they host Penn Hills, a WPIAL semifinalist last season and an eight-time WPIAL champion.

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Playing up

Ligonier Valley is set to join the WPIAL next year, and at least one team has chosen to play up.

The girls basketball team plans to move up to Class 4A, presumably to avoid lengthy road trips and try to stay with schools closer in proximity, such as Mt. Pleasant, Yough, Southmoreland and Greensburg Salem, all 4A teams this season.

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Mankins leading GS

Greensburg Salem opens Section 1-4A play Thursday night at Freeport. The Golden Lions (2-0) are the only team in the section without a loss, thanks much to the efforts of sophomore Abby Mankins.

The 5-foot-10 guard averaged 23.5 points in the team’s first two games, finishing with 21 plus five rebounds, five assists and seven steals to lead the Golden Lions past Ligonier Valley, 62-31, in the Greensburg Salem tip-off tournament.

She added 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals in 41-37 win over Derry.

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Brisbane wins opener

It did not take veteran coach Gene Brisbane long to get his first win with his new team.

Brisbane, 67, who has had several local coaching stints, most notably with the Hempfield girls, and the WCCC women of late, led Derry to a 47-43 victory over Mt. Pleasant in the season opener at the Greensburg Salem Tournament.

Hannah Wedon scored 13 points, and Tianna Moracco added 10 for Derry (1-2).

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Yough snaps streak

Freshman Laney Gerdich scored a game-high 21 points, and junior Kaylynn Odelli added 12 points for Yough on Tuesday as the Cougars (1-3) snapped a 15-game losing streak that dated to last season.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Derry Area, Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley, Penn-Trafford, Yough