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Waynesburg stunned in OT by Beaver Falls

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WAYNESBURG – There aren’t many 13-loss teams still playing basketball in the WPIAL playoffs, so one thing you have to say about the Beaver Falls girls is the Tigers know a good thing when they see one.

Beaver Falls pulled off its second upset of a top-6 seed in Class 3A Saturday afternoon when it outlasted sixth-seeded Waynesburg 39-36 in overtime.

The win sends 14th-seeded Beaver Falls (7-13) into the semifinals of the WPIAL’s first open tournament since 1984. And an open tournament is the only way the Tigers could have gotten into the postseason after finishing in sixth place in rugged Section 1.

“Our section is one of the toughest sections,” explained Beaver Falls coach Dom Henderson. “We play in a section with North Catholic, the No. 1-ranked team in the state, and Mohawk, the No. 2 team, and Laurel, which is either the No. 5 or 6 team. The non-section teams we played were also good teams. All of those games helped us in the long run.”

Beaver Falls won the game despite being held scoreless in the first quarter as Waynesburg (13-6) extended what might be a WPIAL playoff record for defense. In a first-round win over East Allegheny, Waynesburg held the Wildcats without a point over the final 13 minutes, ending the game on a 33-0 run. Beaver Falls didn’t score for the first 9:20 against Waynesburg, which meant the Raiders went more than 22 minutes of playoff basketball without surrendering a point.

“We played well enough defensively,” Waynesburg coach Dave Sarra said.

Beaver Falls also can play sticky defense. Despite the Tigers’ early offensive woes they trailed by only 5-0 after one quarter. Waynesburg stretched its lead to 13-6 late in the first quarter but Beaver Falls ended the first half with a pivotal flurry. Cali Lagzdin made a three-pointer – her only basket of the game – and Macyla Collins turned a steal into a three-point play. Collins, who had a team-high 14 points, then made a 25-foot three-pointer at the halftime buzzer that gave Beaver Falls its first lead, 15-13.

“We were up seven late in the first half, then we give up a couple of threes and we’re down at halftime,” Sarra said. “We battled back and got it to overtime but had some foul trouble at the end.”

Beaver Falls led throughout the third quarter but was up by only 25-24 at its conclusion. Waynesburg took its first lead of the half at 29-27 when Clara Paige Miller made a three-pointer with 4:44 left in regulation.

A Brenna Benke drive and basket put Waynesburg up 31-28 before baskets by Beaver Falls’ Avina Norman and Sincere Conley put the Tigers back on top, 32-31. Waynesburg’s Kaley Rohanna made one of two free throws with 1:31 left in regulation that sent the game to OT tied at 32. Waynesburg was only 9-for-16 at the free-throw line.

“That was very uncharacteristic of us,” Sarra said.

Beaver Falls scored the first four points of overtime and never trailed. Another Benke drive for a basket pulled Waynesburg to within 37-36 with less than 30 seconds left but Collins sank two free throws to make it a three-point game with 11 seconds remaining. The Tigers made only nine of 23 free throws.

With the three-point lead, Henderson said he instructed his team not to foul. Waynesburg was able to get off a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it was desperation heave from 30 feet that fell short.

Miller led Waynesburg with 14 points and Rohanna had 11 before fouling out.

“Beaver Falls did a good job of clogging the lane. They didn’t allow us to penetrate to the hoop,” Sarra said. “Early in the game, we didn’t hit outside shots.”

Even with the loss, Sarra said it was an outstanding year for Waynesburg.

“I’m going to hang on to the positives. We didn’t know if we were going to have a chance to play and we ended up winning 13 games, challenging for the section title, winning one playoff game and sending another to overtime. We lose only one senior … so the program is moving forward.

“One big thing is we brought excitement to the community. If it wasn’t a COVID year, I don’t know how many people we would have packed in here.”

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