Blackhawk and McKeesport are WPIAL title contenders, but neither will have to beat each other to reach that goal due to the teams being in different classifications.
The teams did meet Tuesday on just the fifth day of the season, only it felt more like a playoff game than an early season non-section contest.
In what was a hard-fought game throughout, Class 4A Blackhawk used a late surge to grab a 46-43 home win against Class 5A McKeesport in a showdown of two of the district’s top teams.
“I told the girls, whether we won or lost that game, this game makes us better,” Blackhawk coach Steve Lodovico said. “It was a great playoff atmosphere. Both teams went down to the wire, and that’s what you want.”
Both teams returned most of their top players from last season when Blackhawk went 26-1, won a WPIAL title and reached the PIAA quarterfinals, while McKeesport finished 23-6 after advancing to both the WPIAL and PIAA semifinals. Each team also entered Tuesday’s game with 2-0 records.
A back-and-forth final quarter saw six lead changes. McKeesport’s Brooke Evans scored to put the Tigers ahead, 41-39, with 2:18 left, but Blackhawk would end the game on a 7-2 run. Quinn Borroni made one of two free throws to pull the Cougars within one before converting a layup to put them in front by one with 1:25 left. Haley Romigh then scored off of a nice dish from Kassie Potts and Potts connected on two free throws, and all of a sudden Blackhawk held a 46-41 advantage with 37 seconds left.
McKeesport didn’t go away, though. Evans converted a basket to pull the Tigers within a point with 28 seconds to go. The Tigers then forced a turnover, giving them the ball with 17 seconds remaining. However, Maddie Cherepko misfired on a shot from the corner and Evans caught the back iron on a 3-point attempt from the top of the key just before the final buzzer.
Following the game, McKeesport coach Amy Gumbert was disappointed in the finish, but she did draw some positives from the loss.
“We missed some layups and we had some open looks, but from the last two games that we played until this game, I want to say we were 100% back,” she said. “That’s a great basketball team. A great coached team. I feel like the past two games that we played maybe we had a target on our back and felt a little bit of pressure. I told the kids today, don’t worry about anything. We’re still having fun.”
Potts scored a team-best 15 points for Blackhawk, eight coming in the first quarter. Borroni added 13 and Alena Fusetti chipped in 12. Evans (16 points) and Rachael Manfredo (10 points) each scored in double figures for McKeesport.
“We watched film [on McKeesport], but we didn’t know what to expect, so it was like a new look,” Potts said. “And it did feel like a playoff game.”
The fact that the game was close was no stunner, but it not being a higher-scoring game was a bit of a surprise. Blackhawk is typically one of the top scoring teams in the WPIAL and McKeesport hasn’t been a slouch in the point production department, either. Both teams shot poorly Tuesday — Blackhawk was 15 of 44 (34%) and McKeesport was 17 of 48 (35%). Blackhawk gave McKeesport some problems with its man-to-man defense, while McKeesport made life difficult for Blackhawk due to its 2-3 zone. Blackhawk often reaches double-digit 3-point totals, but the Cougars converted only four triples Tuesday.
“We’re a high scoring team and we get up and down,” Lodovico said. “I think we feed so much off our defense. I think the difference tonight was we had a tough time turning them over because they had five solid kids on the floor that can handle the ball. We got some turnovers, but that length gave us so much trouble with that 2-3 zone.”
Following an hour-and-a-half bus ride, McKeesport got off to slow starts in each of the first two quarters, something Gumbert said has been an issue at times. The Tigers made just 1 of their first 9 shots as they fell behind, 13-5. After a strong finish to the first quarter in which they took a one-point lead, the Tigers started the second quarter 0-7 and ended up trailing at the half, 26-20.
McKeesport held Blackhawk to 2 of 11 shooting in the third to pull even, 30-30, heading into the fourth. Evans (6) and Manfredo (4) combined to score all but three of McKeesport’s points in the final quarter, but Blackhawk’s strong finish gave the Cougars a big early win.
Said Potts, “It’s early in the season, so beating a good team gives us a lot of confidence.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.