For the first time in 28 seasons, the Belle Vernon girls basketball team is moving on in the PIAA playoffs.
The Leopards (23-4) put on a rebounding clinic and pulled away in the second half for a 58-46 Class 4A win on District 9 champion Clearfield’s home floor.
“It’s just a phenomenal feeling to win this one,” BVA coach Cornelious Nesbit said. “These kids have put in a lot of work to get us to this point. We have competitive kids that are mentally tough. They needed that today. It’s never easy to travel over two hours and go out there and win a state playoff game.”
Sophomore Aubrey Brown led the way for the Leopards, ending her day with a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Saylor Lee finished with 13 points and a whopping 19 rebounds, 14 of those on the defensive end. She ended with one fewer rebound than the entire Bison squad as the Leopards won the rebounding battle 44-20.
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I was told that’s what my stats were going to be,” Lee said after the game. “It feels great for us to have that performance today. We’ve had people hurt, people sick. We were able to overcome that.”
The Leopards got off to a great start, leading 22-15 after a quarter of play and taking it to the D9 champs.
Junior Abby Russell scored all seven over her points in the opening nine minutes of the game to kick-start the Leopards. She started the game with a 3-pointer from the corner, and Brown scored 11 of her points in the frame.
“The D-1 kid came out tonight,” Nesbit said of Brown, a 6-foot-2 wing player. “We talked to the girls this week about it. In the state playoffs, this is the time you need your stars to play like it. I think most importantly for Aub was that she asserted herself early in the game.”
The lead swelled to 10 into the early second quarter, but that’s when Belle Vernon got a little sloppy. They turned it over eight times in the quarter, allowing the Bison (18-7) to go on an 11-0 run and take a brief 26-25 lead.
Lee ended a six-minute scoreless drought for BVA with a 3-pointer from the corner, and Brown scored on a drive to the basket to give the visitors a 30-28 lead at the half.
“I think we just kind of got out of control,” Lee said. “We were just trying to go too fast.”
Nesbit used a timeout once his team lost the lead to calm them down.
“It’s not that they were panicking, but again, we have very aggressive kids. It’s not always easy when you get that 10-point lead because they want to keep going,” Nesbit said. “We just had to calm down. There was no panic in the girls. There never really is. It was just a matter of coaching them through it.”
The game remained tight in the third quarter, and the Leopards had trouble holding on to the ball. They finished the game with 24 turnovers, seven more coming in the third.
Sonny Diehl, who finished with a team-high 23 points, did her best to keep her team in the game. She scored six of her team’s 11 points in the quarter.
The answer for Belle Vernon was freshman guard Lyla McConnell, who started inserting herself into the offense more. She finished with eight of her 10 points in the second half.
“She was the difference in that third, fourth quarter,” Nesbit said. “Again, we’re that team that it can be anyone that scores. Aubrey did it all game. Abby was huge in the first half. In the second half, Saylor and Lyla were stepping up. That’s how we’re built.”
A Lee putback after three chances at the hoop with 12 seconds remaining in the third gave Belle Vernon a 42-39 lead heading into the fourth.
Her basket also kicked off a 13-0 run that really put the game in the Leopards’ pocket thanks to a tenacious defensive effort.
Evie Helsel was the only other scorer to hit double figures for the Bison, finishing with 11, seven points off her average for the season. But Clearfield was missing contributions from senior Mia Helsel, who came into the game averaging 14 points. A great shooter, she finished with only two points in the loss.
“That’s because we put our lockdown defender on her. Abby did such a great job doing what she does,” Nesbit said. “We watched a lot of their games and watched her hit nine 3-pointers in one of them. Abby was fantastic. She was up in her all day. She had little to no room, and you can tell she was frustrated. Abby’s used to watching the other team’s leading scorer.
“When she’s hitting shots, their offense gets going and they’re tough to stop. I think we had them out of sorts all day. Everything they run goes through the left side, and we did a great job of not letting them get into the paint.”
A Diehl free throw was the first point of the final quarter for the Bison, coming with 3 minutes, 30 seconds remaining with the Leopards leading by 13.
Belle Vernon increased the lead to 18 with 2:47 remaining to wrap it up.
“I think maybe we came in a little overconfident. That’s what led to the issues when they came back,” Lee said. “I think we knew we were the better team, we just had to calm down, listen to the coaching and do what we’re good at.”
The Leopards move on to the second round to face WPIAL runner-up Blackhawk (23-1) on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. The Cougars were a 45-34 winner over Fairview on Saturday.
“I think we match up well against them, and we’ll start working immediately to prepare,” Nesbit said. “We want to stretch this thing out as long as possible. We’re not ready to be done. We’re playing well, and we’ll see how far we can go.”