It seems unthinkable that a team with the pedigree of South Fayette girls basketball would come into a game such as Saturday’s PIAA semifinal against Baldwin and not execute on its game plan.
But that’s what coach Bryan Bennett saw after his team took a slim, five-point lead at halftime.
“We didn’t execute our game plan,” he said. “At halftime, I told the kids, you know, everything we were looking to do before the game started, like, we did the opposite.”
In the second half, the defending Class 5A state champions executed their original game plan and ran away from Baldwin, 67-46, to advance to their second straight PIAA semifinal.
Two things that Bennett noted his team failed to do in the first 16 minutes were to properly attack the Highlanders 1-3-1 zone and defend Lynsey Bernotas.
“We saw some holes in the zone that we thought we could exploit,” he said. “They were there. We didn’t throw it to it. You know, Bernotas is a talented kid. (We) said (we) have to take away her left hand. We let her get to the left at will.”
Nearly four minutes into the game, South Fayette (28-1) held a 10-4 lead, but things weren’t coming easily against the zone. Baldwin (23-6), behind 10 points from Bernotas, took advantage of the Lions’ slow start and closed on a 13-6 run to take a 17-16 lead into the second quarter.
South Fayette quickly reclaimed a 21-17 lead early in the second after Juliette Leroux made a layup and Ryan Oldaker made a 3. But Bernotas continued to make plays to keep Baldwin in the game. The junior guard was responsible for the Highlanders’ next six points, starting with a driving layup against Lailah Wright. Bernotas then found her sister, Laci Bernotas, for a 3. Then Lynsey Bernotas got to her left again to give Baldwin a 24-23 lead with 3:48 left in the half.
South Fayette closed the half on an 11-5 run to take a 34-29 lead into the locker room, but Lynsey Bernotas (14 points) and Laci Bernotas (11 points) were getting anything they wanted.
“(In the) second half, you know, we made an adjustment,” Bennett said. “(We) put Haley (Lamonde) on her. And I thought Haley did a really nice job taking away that left hand. … (We) also looked to double her drives a little bit more in the second half and not leave (Laci Bernotas) … because she’s a great shooter.”
That defensive adjustment was all South Fayette needed. Not only did Lamonde play a huge role in holding Lynsey Bernotas to zero points in the second, but she also scored a game-high 22 points. While Lynsey Bernotas continued to force the issue, South Fayette slowly built a 12-point lead heading into the fourth.
In the closing period, the Lions scored 19 of their 33 second-half points to walk away with a 67-46 win.
Lamonde led the way in the scoring column for the Lions, but they also got 15 points from Oldaker and 10 from Leroux.
Lynsey and Laci Bernotas finished the game with 14 and 11, respectively, while Jules Ott chipped in 10 for Baldwin.
South Fayette will face Peters Township on Tuesday in the semifinals. But before any game planning takes place, Bennett wants his team to just enjoy the moment.
“We’re going to enjoy today,” he said. “These are kids. The thing I think about this group is everyone talks about their talent, but they’re still high school kids, and they need to enjoy it. … I have full belief that when we see them tomorrow to come back and regroup, (they’ll) get prepared for our next opponent.”