Rich Mull knows that for his Plum girls basketball team to earn a playoff berth and contend for a title in Section 1-5A, it is going to have to make sure to take care of the little things that often form a razor-thin line between triumph and defeat.
“The section, every year, is so competitive, and we’re seeing that already this year,” Mull said. “We have to continue to be ready to execute at the pressure moments. That is why every practice is crucial in preparation. We saw that against Franklin Regional a couple weeks ago where it was a play here and a play there that decided the (33-31) win for us.”
Plum starts the new year 7-3 overall after splitting games earlier this week at Shady Side Academy’s Peter Sauer Memorial Tournament. It lost to Pine-Richland, 67-63, on Monday before rolling past Woodland Hills, 69-35, on Tuesday.
With a mix of trusted veterans such as seniors Riley Stephans and Gia Tavella and junior Tamia West leading the way, the Mustangs are 2-1 in section with the key win over Franklin Regional and a 38-32 loss to Shaler highlighting the December portion of the league slate.
“I think a big thing for us so far this year is the team chemistry we’ve built,” said Stephans, who has formed the connection in games with West and Tavella as well as others such as junior forward Caydence Morgan, junior guard Taylie Auth, junior forward Kailyn Lafferty and freshman guard Tori Glogowski.
“We are comfortable in knowing when to make the extra pass and when is the best time to make a play. There’s always room to work on things like rebounding, scoring and free-throw shooting, and we are working hard on that in practice.”
Stephans scored a game-best 35 points — including six 3-pointers — in the loss to Pine-Richland. West added 17 points.
“I think we have shown our speed and how we can get up and down the court and use that to our advantage,” West said. “We love to play fast.”
Plum knows Monday’s home game against rival Penn Hills (5-4, 3-1) will play a huge factor in where both teams eventually settle in the playoff chase.
“We are all ready for Monday’s game,” West said. “We’re ready to win. We expected the section to be hard and competitive. We have to keep our focus on being prepared for every game.”
Penn Hills owns section wins over Franklin Regional and Shaler, last year’s section co-champions, and lost by just one point to Fox Chapel in its section opener Dec. 12. The Indians and the Mustangs took care of business against Armstrong.
“Penn Hills is a strong team with some talented players who can score the basketball,” Mull said. “We have to be at our best to get that win.”
West led the way with 13 points against a Franklin Regional team that rallied from nine down in the fourth quarter. Auth sank 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds left before the Mustangs’ defense prevented the Panthers from getting off a final shot at the other end.
Half of Plum’s 32 points against Shaler came from the free-throw line. West was 12 of 14 from the line and finished with 16 points, while Stephans was 4 of 4 from the line and tallied 10.
Mull said his players were in position to score more with open looks in the loss to Shaler, and the frustration rose with not being able to take advantage of some of those opportunities.
“The positive was that the effort was there,” he said. “We kept working. Again, with everything else, it comes down to being consistent.”
Mull said the team has been more consistent with its free-throw shooting. The Mustangs were 11 of 15 against Pine-Richland and 9 of 15 against Woodland Hills.
Stephans scored 24 of her 35 points against Pine-Richland in the second half and finished 5 of 7 from the line.
Plum trailed by seven at halftime but outscored the Rams, 26-21, in a high-paced third quarter that saw the Mustangs connect on 10 field goals, including five from long range.
“I didn’t expect it to be that high of a scoring game,” Mull said. “Pine-Richland is a solid team. They should be a playoff team in 6A. It was a really good test for us.
“I think we played pretty well together. We moved well without the ball and got out and got some points in transition. I was a little disappointed defensively that we gave up that many points. If we score that many, we figure we’re going to win the game. That helped us see some things we can work on, so it was good in that respect.”
Glogowski hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with six points.
“Riley and Tamia have produced the majority of our points, but there have been opportunities for other kids,” Mull said. “They are gaining more and more confidence. They know they will be counted on in games the rest of the season.”
Stephans tallied 24 points with four 3-pointers against Woodland Hills. West added 19, and Tevella also reached double digits with 11.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start with it being a morning game (10:30 start), but we woke up and did some things well,” Mull said. “That was a game where everyone got an opportunity to get in the game, even the younger girls, to get a little taste of varsity. That was a pretty positive thing for us.”