For the better part of 32 minutes on Monday night, Alyssa Terza could do no wrong.
By the end of Elizabeth Forward’s 60-31 beatdown against section-rival Laurel Highlands (15-2, 7-2), though, Terza could only think about the one shot she wished she could have back — a missed layup late in the game that had no effect on the outcome, but would have given her a career-high 30 points. Instead, Terza had to settle for a season-high 28, good enough to tie her career high while extending the Warriors’ winning streak to 15 games in a row.
“I’m so mad I missed that layup,” Terza said with a laugh after the game. “I didn’t realize I had 28 [at the time].”
A 6-1 senior forward, Terza is equally effective working in the low post as she is shooting from beyond the arc, and she showed off her versatility on Monday by knocking down a trio of 3-pointers in succession to blow the game open early in the fourth quarter. She also buried a pair of buzzer-beaters — one at the end of the first quarter and another at the end of the third — and also made a major impact on the glass and on the defensive end.
In essence, other than one harmless missed layup, Terza was virtually flawless.
“The energy was great. The stands were packed,” Terza said. “It was a great win for us. We needed that.”
With Monday’s commanding win, Elizabeth Forward (17-2, 10-0) is looking like a near-lock to win the Class 4A Section 3 title outright in year one under coach Noah Yartin. At just 26 years old, Yartin is one of the youngest coaches in the WPIAL, and he only had two years of experience as an assistant at Belle Vernon before taking his first head coaching role with the Warriors. So far, Yartin sure appears to be the right man for the job.
“Even before this year, they ran the same press that I’m used to coaching, so it was like a perfect match,” Yartin said. “I got on them about pressuring the ball a little more. They were a little passive in years’ past, but they pressured the ball well tonight.”
A staple of Elizabeth Forward’s success this season has been its suffocating full-court press on defense, with junior guard Chloe Zombek and sophomore guard Kaelynn Settles excelling at deflecting passes and generating turnovers, leading to fastbreak points the other way. Zombek finished with 11 points and a handful of steals on Monday.
“Beating [Laurel Highlands] is a big accomplishment for us,” Zombek said. “From here on out, we’re going to do great and we’re going to be ready for the playoffs. … Even though some of these games might be easy to us, we still have to work hard.”
The Warriors wasted little time taking control of the game, racing out to an early 9-2 lead while generating tons of disruption and forcing several turnovers with their full-court press. Zombek handled most of the scoring in the first quarter — that is, until Terza banked in a buzzer-beater to stretch Elizabeth Forward’s lead to double digits going into the second quarter at 20-10.
Both Terza and Zombek finished with nine points in the first half as the Warriors built a 15-point lead at the break, and things would only get worse from there for the Mustangs. Laurel Highlands went more than five minutes into the third quarter before scoring its first points of the half, and by the time Terza drained her second buzzer-beater of the game to end the quarter, Elizabeth Forward had taken firm control of the game with a 42-21 lead.
Not satisfied yet with her performance, Terza started out the fourth quarter on fire, nailing back-to-back 3-pointers before a “heat check” 3-point attempt rattled in-and-out from way downtown. Terza then added a couple more buckets later in the quarter, giving her 19 points for the second half as she completely took over the game down the stretch.
“We run a lot of things through her,” Yartin said. “She puts in the work. We’ve been coming in before school and shooting with multiple girls every day. … She came ready to play. She’s focused. She’s locked in.”
Now, with the section title all but secured and a top-three seed for the WPIAL tournament well within reach, it will be interesting to see if the Warriors can challenge perennial powers North Catholic and Blackhawk for a spot in the Class 4A title game. Most are already penciling in the Trojanettes and Cougars for a championship rematch, but if anybody can crash the party at Petersen Events Center, it’s Elizabeth Forward.
It’s still too soon to label them as a front-runner to win it all, but if Terza keeps catching fire and the defense keeps shutting teams down, nobody will want to see these Warriors come playoff time.
“We’re sticking together, we’re practicing hard every day for the bigger picture,” Yartin said. “We want to take that next step in the playoffs. We want to get to the WPIAL championship.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
