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Defense delivers for Belle Vernon girls

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BELLE VERNON – It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to say the least, but Belle Vernon downed Greensburg Salem, 33-27, Tuesday night to advance to the WPIAL Class 4A girls basketball quarterfinals after limiting the Golden Lions to one fourth-quarter basket.

“I would rather win ugly than lose pretty,” Belle Vernon coach Kaitlyn Slagus said. “It is our program’s first playoff win since 2018 and it is definitely exciting to win.

“Playoff jitters will be there, but we made enough plays.”

“Both teams were a little nervous early and maybe it was the big stage,” Greensburg Salem coach Rick Klimchock said. “We had so many balls that just didn’t go for us.”

There were only 19 baskets made, and the biggest shot gave the eighth-seeded Leopards a six-point lead with less than four minutes remaining.

Down 20-19 heading into the fourth quarter, the Leopards went on an 8-1 run and took a 27-21 lead after three-pointers by Presleigh Colditz and Kenzie Seliga sandwiched a Lilly Kerns basket.

Colditz’s three was Belle vernon’s first postseason three since 2021.

After the Belle Vernon run, the teams went scoreless until Farrah Reader hit a pair of free throws with 53 seconds to play, and the Leopards (15-8) made six of eight free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

Reader finished with team highs of 11 points and nine rebounds against the bigger Golden Lions team.

“We knew it would be a battle and I thought Farrah played tremendous defense on the inside and others helped,” Slagus said. “We crowded it inside as (Kait) Mankins is a good player.”

Mankins paced Greensburg Salem with 11 points.

Early on, both teams were nervous.

Greensburg Salem (14-9) held a 3-0 lead until there was 2:14 left in the first quarter when Reader finally got the Leopards on the scoreboard.

A Kerns free throw tied the game, but GS’s Ashlan Price scored to give the Golden Lions a 5-3 lead after one quarter.

The Leopards opened the second quarter on a 6-0 lead and took a 13-9 lead into halftime.

The Golden Eagles outscored the Leopards 11-6 in the third to take a 20-19 into the decisive fourth.

The officials let the teams play physical all game long, and Belle Vernon attempted 19 free throws with eight coming in the fourth quarter when Greensburg Salem had to foul.

“It allowed us to be aggressive,” Slagus said. “It always starts with the defense and trying to get transition points so they couldn’t get set up in the zone.”

With the win, the Leopards advance to play at top-seeded Blackhawk (19-3) Friday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

“They are a tough team and have shooters everywhere,” Slagus said. “They will come with an aggressive press.”

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