Lady Scotties fall to juggernaut Trojanettes in final, 61-44
Paul S. Brittain
Southmoreland鈥檚 Grace Spadaro (15) looks for room while being double-teamed by North Catholic鈥檚 Belle O鈥橦ara (left) and Kylee Lewandowski in Friday鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A championship game at Petersen Events Center. Spadaro scored a team-high 12 points, but the Lady Scotties lost, 61-44.
Paul S. Brittain
Southmoreland鈥檚 Delaynie Morvosh (2) is fouled by North Catholic鈥檚 Tess Myers (23) during Friday鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A championship game at Petersen Events Center.
Paul S. Brittain
Southmoreland鈥檚 Sarah Pisula (24) tries to drive past North Catholic鈥檚 Kylee Lewandowski (21) during Friday鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A championship game at Petersen Events Center.
PITTSBURGH 鈥� Southmoreland鈥檚 perfect season was wrecked by an almost perfect opponent.
Top-seeded North Catholic pulled away in the second quarter and handed the second-seeded Lady Scotties their first loss of the season, 61-44, in the WPIAL Class 4A girls basketball championship game at Petersen Events Center on Friday.
The Trojanettes, loaded with a talented senior class that includes Kylee Lewandowski (14 points), Tess Myers (13 points) and Emma Pospisil (game-high 18 points), won their fourth consecutive district title.
It was Southmoreland鈥檚 first appearance in the title game.
鈥淚 knew we had a special group, and even though we lost, it鈥檚 an honor to be here,鈥� said Lady Scotties senior Sarah Pisula, who scored eight points. 鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of us for getting this far.
鈥淲alking in here, it鈥檚 like a movie, I can鈥檛 explain it, the feeling getting to play here. That鈥檚 what you work for.鈥�
Southmoreland (24-1) held early leads of 2-1 on Olivia Cernuto鈥檚 runner and 5-3 on Cernuto鈥檚 3-pointer, but North Catholic followed with a nine-point run that forced Lady Scotties coach Brian Pritts to call timeout.
The Trojanettes (24-1) still led by seven late in the quarter when Charity Henderson came up Southmoreland鈥檚 play of the game by nailing a half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 19-15.
鈥淚 practice those every day, but I only made one in practice,鈥� Henderson said with a laugh. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥榃hoa!'鈥�
鈥淐harity hit a big shot and I thought that was momentum,鈥� Pritts said.
It didn鈥檛 last long, however.
Erika Sherbondy hit a driving shot to open the second quarter to get the Lady Scotties back within two, 19-17, but North Catholic went another nine-point run to go up 31-18 and the Lady Scotties (24-1) never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
The Trojanettes led 42-26 at halftime and 52-33 after three quarters.
鈥淚 thought we were getting good looks on the offensive end,鈥� Pritts said. 鈥淲e just weren鈥檛 getting the ball to go in. And they shot the ball extremely well. They were shooting with confidence. I felt we were a little sluggish in the first half. We couldn鈥檛 get into a groove and that鈥檚 because of the team that they are.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e won four years in a row, their 20th overall. It鈥檚 an historic program.鈥�
Gracie Spadaro led Southmoreland with 12 points, Cernuto had 10 and Henderson finished with seven.
Five different players made 3-pointers for North Catholic, including four by Pospisil.
Both teams will now prepare for the PIAA tournament.
Trojanettes coach Molly Rottman praised the Lady Scotties.
鈥淚 give Southmoreland a lot of credit,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 thought they played hard the entire time. They never quit. They have a nice team and we have the utmost respect for them. They have nice length. They have great depth.鈥�
Pritts felt last year鈥檚 success, when his team made the postseason and won a playoff game, carried over to the 2019-20 season.
鈥淭his group of girls has always had a lot of drive, a lot of potential,鈥� Pritts said. 鈥淭hat experience helped mold this team for this year. And, hopefully, this experience and getting to the state playoffs is going to help to mold next year鈥檚 team.
鈥淭he nice thing about this group of girls is they gel. They care about each other and they respect the game.鈥�