Peters Township Defeats Upper St. Clair, 52-35
The Peters Township Indians won their seventh game in a row with a 52-35 home triumph over the Upper St. Clair Panthers in a Section 4-AAAA game on Thursday night. USC’s feisty defense held Peters Township stars Madison Kerr and Alyssa Konopka to a combined 13 points, but the Indians speed and depth was too much for the Panthers to overcome. Indians freshman Makenna Marisa netted a game-high 14 points and was selected as the Player of the Game by Quad-A Sports.
Peters Township started cold from the field and managed a 5-0 lead on free throw shooting. Upper St. Clair, meanwhile, was flustered by the Indians pressure defense and had only one shot attempted by midway through the first quarter. The Panthers did connect on the first two field goals of the night, both courtesy of Mattie Groninger, to cut the Peters Township lead to 5-4. The Indians quick-strike offense used a 7-0 run to end the period to take a 14-4 lead into the second quarter.
Upper St. Clair settled into the game in the second quarter and was able to break the press of PT thanks to good ball-handling from sophomore Liv McClelland. McClelland repeatedly drove to the rim with success to help the Panthers cut the score to 21-14 by halftime. McLelland, along with senior Ally Steve, finished with a team-best nine points for USC.
In the second half, Peters Township pulled away because of the play of underclassmen Marisa and Lillian Young. Marisa scored six points in the second half and Young totaled 8 of her 9 points after intermission.
With the win, Peters Township advances to 11-1 overall and 5-1 in Section 4-AAAA. Upper St. Clair dips to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in section play.
Chartiers Valley vs. Upper St. Clair Game Summary
SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL |
Chartiers Valley | 6 | 16 | 12 | 15 | 49 |
Upper St. Clair | 11 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 41 |