Young Lady Leopards show no fear in PIAA win at Clearfield
A coach taking a team with a senior-less starting lineup on a long road trip for its first PIAA playoff game would likely expect to see plenty of nerves from his players.
Belle Vernon鈥檚 girls basketball team showed little if any jitters, though, in disposing of host Clearfield, 58-46, in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament on Saturday.
Sophomore Aubrey Brown and junior Saylor Lee both turned in double-doubles as the Lady Leopards (23-4) extended their team record for wins in a season in advancing to Wednesday鈥檚 second round against Blackhawk with the site and time to be determined. It was Belle Vernon鈥檚 first win in the PIAA tournament since 1998.
Cornelious Nesbit wasn鈥檛 surprised.
鈥淚鈥檒l be honest with you. It鈥檚 what I expected from this group, being around them all season,鈥� Nesbit said. 鈥淚 think they were loose these last two days. You try to kind of see when you鈥檙e going through practice, has anything changed with the kids? And they were still laughing and joking and asking me to play music.
鈥淚 could sense on the bus ride out there they鈥檙e ready.鈥�
Lee totaled a game-high 19 rebounds with 13 points and three assists and Brown scored a game-high 24 points with 12 boards, four assists and a blocked shot. Lyla McConnell, one of two freshmen starters for Belle Vernon along with Isis Albyty, added 10 points.
Junior Abby Russell scored all seven of her points, including a 3-pointer, in the first quarter when Belle Vernon grabbed a 22-15 lead. She also contributed four assists.
鈥淚 thought Abby Russell hitting some early shots helped us really get settled in.鈥� Nesbit said. 鈥淥ur plan was to get off to a good start in the first quarter. We felt like if we could do that we鈥檇 be fine. It helped us take the fans out of the game a little bit and let Clearfield know that they鈥檙e in for a battle today, like this isn鈥檛 going to be easy for them just because we鈥檙e young.鈥�
The Lady Leopards faltered slightly in the second quarter but still wound up with a 30-28 halftime lead.
鈥淲e were up 10 in the second and then some of our youth showed up and they went on a run and took a one-point lead,鈥� Nesbit said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have a good second quarter and a lot of that was when we went up 10 our kids went for the jugular and I鈥檓 OK with that. We just didn鈥檛 do it the right way.
鈥淲e were trying to jump on them more and I thought we sped ourselves up a little too fast and we had some turnovers, but that鈥檚 a great learning experience for us.鈥�
The Lady Leopards maintained their advantage the entire third quarter, then scored the first 11 points of the fourth to all but put the game away.
鈥淲e were up two to four points throughout the third quarter and ended up ahead by three (42-39) and then we played really well in the fourth quarter,鈥� Nesbit said.
鈥淚t was our defense. Abby Russell is a lock-down defender. She held one of their girls, a really good shooter who averages 14 points for them (Mia Helsel), to two points on two free throws.鈥�
The Lady Leopards dominated the boards as well.
鈥淲hat we thought would be an advantage for us was our size,鈥� Nesbit said. 鈥淲e thought that we could out-rebound them and make them take some tough shots. We ended up out-rebounding them 42-20.鈥�
Sonny Diehl led the Bison (18-7) with 23 points.
Nesbit cited leadership and competitive practices as reasons for the composure his team shows despite its youth.
鈥淓ven though we鈥檙e a young team, we have leaders in the locker room,鈥� he said. 鈥淎bby Russell is our quiet leader who is just going to go out there and show you how to do it. She鈥檚 not a big rah-rah person, doesn鈥檛 really like the limelight. She just wants to play and be a great teammate.
鈥淪aylor Lee is more of our vocal kid. She鈥檒l challenge teammates. She鈥檚 more of a talker and one who will go out there and hold herself to a certain standard.
鈥淎lso, we have some really good practices. We compete all the time in practice. Some days we鈥檙e competing because we鈥檙e playing live five-on-five or three-on-three. There are other days we just compete with shooting drills where it鈥檚 timed and they鈥檝e got to get a certain amount of points.
鈥淓verything we do is competition-based. So I know these kids are going to compete, I never have to worry about that.鈥�
With a section championship, wins in the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs and a school-record for wins already chalked up, Nesbit is looking for more from his squad.
鈥淲e want to live in the moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 told the kids we鈥檒l celebrate all the successes once the season is finally over. I don鈥檛 think a lot of people thought we鈥檇 be here right now. I get people saying you鈥檙e playing with house money but I don鈥檛 believe that because I believe this team is really good.
鈥淲e believe we deserve to be at the table with everybody else.鈥�