Knoch-Out!
MONROEVILLE — For the first time in its history, the Knoch girls basketball team is set to appear in a WPIAL championship game.
By way of a commanding 56-45 WPIAL Class 4A semifinal victory over Southmoreland Tuesday night, the Knights punched their ticket to the Petersen Events Center.
Based off their immediate reaction, it hardly seemed like it. Maybe it’s because this group has become so accustomed to the unknown.
Before this one, no Knoch girls team had ever eclipsed 20 wins in a single season. The Knights (21-2) have reeled off 18 consecutive wins since starting with a 3-2 record. Last year, most of these same girls brought the program to the WPIAL semifinal round.
“They’ve done a lot of groundbreaking work,” Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said. “This is one more ground-breaking.”
Or it might be the importance with which the Knights treat their preparation.
“What a week of practice, man,” Andreassi said. “We had 12 girls and the entire team just pumped up. The scout team playing was giving us fits on defense.”
The poise and priming paid dividends against Southmoreland, which entered the game at Gateway High School with a five-game winning streak. The Scotties (18-4) had won 13 of their last 14.
On this particular night, their offense didn’t travel well. At halftime, Knoch’s Madilyn Boyer poured in almost as many points (13) as Southmoreland’s team as a whole (15).
“We started off very sluggish,” Scotties coach Amber Cernuto said. “I don’t know if we weren’t focused or we came in lightly. We just didn’t play like ourselves tonight, especially defensively. We were kind of lost a little bit.”
Southmoreland was forced into 13 first-half turnovers and shot 5-for-15 (33.3%) in that same span.
“They (Knoch) played tremendous defense tonight,” Cernuto said. “They really studied film. They knew that we like to put the ball in the paint. They came out and double-teamed us, sometimes triple-teamed us in the paint. We didn’t get the shots that we were looking for.”
When the Knights started the third quarter by missing on four of their first five shots, the door remained cracked for the Scotties. Boyer protected her team’s cushion by bucketing all nine of Knoch’s points in that period.
“This was a big game (and) being able to help my team in that way, it feels good,” Boyer said.
One of three Knight seniors, she totaled a game-high 27 points on the night and, according to her coach, her sunny disposition earlier in the day might have foretold her success.
“I saw her in school today and she said, ‘Coach, I feel great,’” Andreassi said. “She backed up her feeling.”
In the last eight minutes, Southmoreland pulled within eight twice. Despite 14 points by the Scotties’ Gracie Spadaro in the fourth quarter, they could never get over the hump.
Junior guard Nina Shaw tallied 15 points of her own, 11 of which came in the final frame. Hattie McGraw added another eight, including a pair of treys.
“As a team, we’ve all worked very well together and hard to get to this point,” said Karlee Buterbaugh, a freshman and the youngest starter on the team. “We work to our full potential every day and play the best we can at our game. We hope the best thing comes out of it.”
The Knights will face top-seeded Blackhawk (23-0) in the final on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Cougars defeated Elizabeth Forward, 76-53, in their semifinal.
“From last year, hardly playing any games and not making it to states and losing in the semifinals, this is a big accomplishment for the whole team,” said Boyer.
SOUTHMORELAND 45
Gracie Spadaro 7 5-5 19, Olivia Cernuto 3 3-4 9, Maddie Moore 3 3-4 9, Delaynie Morvosh 1 2-4 5, Reagan Carson 1 0-0 2, Kaylee Doppleheuer 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 14-19 45.
KNOCH 56
Madilyn Boyer 8 7-9 27, Nina Shaw 2 11-12 15, Hattie McGraw 2 2-2 8, Naturelle Ewing 1 2-2 4, Karlee Buterbaugh 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 22-25 56.
Southmoreland 7 8 11 19 — 45
Knoch 12 15 9 20 — 56
3-point goals: Southmoreland 1 (Morvosh); Knoch 6 (Boyer 4, McGraw 2)
