Riley Stephans stepped to the top of the arc and accepted a pass from Tamia West.
Flashing a quick glance at the hoop, she took the shot.
The bank was open as she used a little backboard to complete the milestone field goal.
That 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 41 seconds left in the third quarter of Wednesday’s nonsection clash with Penn-Trafford put her at exactly 1,000 points for her career. It also gave Plum a three-point lead in a close, back-and-forth battle with the Warriors at Plum High School.
Stephans finished with a game-best 31 points — 20 in the second half —as the Mustangs got contributions up and down the lineup down the stretch in a 54-52 victory in the matchup of leaders of their respective sections.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking, but we knew we had to keep our composure and keep playing as a team,” Stephans said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a really tough game. We just had to do our thing and fight through any of the tough moments.”
Plum won its ninth game in a row while ending Penn-Trafford’s 12-game win streak. The Mustangs improved to 15-3, whereas the Warriors fell to 14-4.
“I am just so proud of the girls,” Plum coach Rich Mull said after the game, his voice full of emotion.
“Playing a quality team like Penn-Trafford is such a great opportunity. They are just so good and so well coached. We weathered the storms and the ups and downs in the game. It was going to be that type of game where we might make a few mistakes, but I told the girls to keep fighting and looking to make plays. I am so proud of their effort.”
Plum returns to Section 1-5A play Friday at 6 p.m. in a key matchup at Penn Hills. The Mustangs are 8-1 in the section.
“Friday is going to be a big game for us,” Mull said. “It’s not going to be easy. We have to be ready to play.”
Penn-Trafford is 9-0 in Section 2-5A and will continue its push towards a section title with a game against McKeesport on Friday.
“I just went in and told the girls that this game is over, and we know what we did wrong,” Warriors coach Chuck Fontana said.
“We’re going to fix a few things (Thursday), and we have to be ready for McKeesport. The good thing about basketball is that it is often a quick turnaround. The girls don’t have to wait too long to turn this hurt into better feelings.”
Plum took the lead for good on a layup from Stephans with 1:54 to play.
She then sank two foul shots with 41 seconds to go to extend the Mustangs’ advantage to 53-50.
West, a junior, grabbed her 14th and final rebound with 29 seconds left to halt a Penn-Trafford possession. She was fouled and sank one of her two free throws to give Plum a four-point advantage.
The Warriors had the final possession. Plum’s defense forced a couple of errant shots from close range in the final 10 seconds before senior Olivia Weishaar scored at the buzzer.
“We got a few good looks, but we just didn’t put it in until the last second,” Fontana said. “That was the way it was the whole game. We didn’t make enough layups when we needed them. We also missed a few too many of our foul shots. That is unlike us, but Plum played good defense on us, and they played hard. We just didn’t make enough plays.
“We played some similar teams with similar results, so I expected this to be a pretty tough game, especially over here at Plum.”
Mull said everyone was where they were supposed to be on that final defensive sequence.
“We’ve worked a lot on our defense, and tonight showed that,” Mull said. “We were really solid down the stretch in getting some key stops. I was happy with our defense and rebounding effort tonight.”
Plum trailed by eight at the end of the first quarter, but it rallied in the second behind the play of its leading scorers.
West scored seven in the stanza, and Stephans tallied six.
The Mustangs came close to taking their first lead of the game on several occasions in the quarter but finally went ahead 25-24 on a 3-pointer from West with 50 seconds remaining until the break.
Penn-Trafford senior Annabella Aquino grabbed a rebound and put in a layup with two seconds left in the third quarter to give her team a 42-40 lead heading to the fourth.
Sophomore Raya Johnson sank two free throws with 3:10 left to give Penn-Trafford its final lead at 50-49. Johnson led the Warriors with 15 points, and junior Izzy Fontana scored 10.
Senior Torrie DeStefano scored all nine of her points for Penn-Trafford in the third quarter.