Fourth Quarter Surge Seals Victory For Bethel Park

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The Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team was able to hang within striking distance for the first three quarters at Bethel Park on Thursday night, but it was all Black Hawks in the final eight minutes.

Bethel Park outscored Mt. Lebanon 24-11 in the fourth, including starting the quarter on a 18-3 run to come away with a 58-35 Section 2-6A win.

The win kept the Black Hawks a game behind undefeated Peters Township for first place in the section.

One of the differences in the game was the free throw shooting from both teams. Bethel Park finished the game 17 of 18 from the line, including 11 of 12 in the second half. Mt. Lebanon was just 2 of 7 from the free-throw line.

The other difference was the play from sophomore Olivia Westphal. Westphal finished with a game-high 27 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Senior Maria Cerro and junior Maddie Dziezgowski finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

For Mt. Lebanon, freshman Ashleigh Connor led with 10 points.

With the win, Bethel Park improves to 14-1 overall and 9-1 in the section. The Black Hawks will go for their seventh straight win on Saturday against West Allegheny when they host the Joey Fabus Memorial Classic. Their game will begin at 6 p.m.

Mt. Lebanon drops to 8-9 overall and 7-3 in the section. The Blue Devils had their 3-game win streak snapped. They will look to get back on track when they host Baldwin in a section game on Monday at 7:30 p.m.