Allderdice had a terrific guard tandem last season when Bailey White and Peyton Lynch played big roles in the Dragons winning their first City League championship since 2020.
White and Lynch returned this season, and the team added a third standout guard when a “Sister Sledge” joined the Allderdice family.
The addition has transformed a dangerous duo into a three-headed monster — a three-headed Dragon to be exact — one that has Allderdice looking like a heavy favorite to win a repeat title.
Joining White and Lynch this season has been Rhyan Sledge, a 5-foot-4 sophomore who played at Oakland Catholic her freshman season. Sledge is the sister of RJ Sledge, a star guard at Imani Christian and one of the top boys players in the WPIAL.
“She’s kind of been in his shadow a little bit,” Allderdice coach Ellen Guillard said. “She’s a little more introverted. Great kid. Great addition. She’s found a way to make an impact very fast.”
Sledge plays point guard for Allderdice, which improved to 2-0 in the City League and 8-5 overall on Tuesday when the Dragons thumped Brashear, 69-15. It was the team’s fourth win in a row. Sledge is second on the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game and leads the team in assists with 4.6 a game.
“She’s helped us a lot,” White said. “She gives us another good guard. She’s fast with the ball. She passes, but she looks to score, too. It’s good to have another scorer.”
Allderdice has two more of those in White and Lynch, both of whom were all-City League picks a season ago. White is a 5-4 junior who leads the Dragons with 20.9 points and 5.3 steals per game, while Lynch is a 5-9 sophomore averaging 12.6 points and a team-best 9.1 rebounds a game.
White is the reigning City League Player of the Year. She can really light up the scoreboard, evidenced by her knocking down seven 3-pointers and pouring in 34 points in last season’s City League title game. White pumped in 37 points, including the 1,000th of her career, in a win against Clairton last month. White’s father, Carey, is the longtime coach of the Brashear boys.
“She’s been on a tear,” Guillard said. “She’s just so consistent and always has a great attitude. The only flaw Bailey has is that she’s so hard on herself. She’s a great shooter and is awesome on defense.”
In addition to playing on the perimeter, Lynch spends a good bit of time down low, as well. That makes her a tough assignment to guard for opposing defenses.
“I’m asking a lot of her,” said Guillard. “I told her that the last girl that did what she’s doing for me got a Division I scholarship. Brooklyn Jones. So, she’s been warming up to it. She’s a mismatch. And she’s been blocking a lot of shots.”
Junior forward Monica Neely and sophomore guard Seena Teshome are Allderdice’s other starters. Teshome scored 13 points to help the Dragons beat Perry in their City League opener.
“I think we can go pretty far,” White said. “This team is a lot stronger and better than we were last season. We’re hoping to win the City again. I think we can. We hope we can win the first game of the state playoffs, and I definitely think we can do that, too.”
Deer Lakes turns it around
One of the biggest turnarounds in the WPIAL has taken place at Deer Lakes, which has already won more games this season than it has since the 2019-20 season.
At the center of the revival is a coach who has more than 500 career wins.
Dana Petruska (526 wins) had retired as a high school girls basketball coach following the 2022-23 season after an eight-season run at Mars (her second at the school). But the retirement didn’t last long, with Petruska returning to the sidelines at Deer Lakes following one season as a volunteer assistant at Saint Vincent College, where her son, Jimmy, is the women’s head coach. Petruska, a 1975 Deer Lakes graduate, was previously the girls coach at Deer Lakes for eight seasons before leaving for Mars following the 2014-15 season.
Petruska’s second run as Deer Lakes coach is off to a rousing start, as the Lancers boast an 8-3 overall record. It’s an impressive run for a team that lost its final 13 games last season when it finished 4-17 and didn’t win a section game. The Lancers had gone 5-17 the season before and last finished with a winning record during the 2019-20 season when they went 13-10.
This season, Deer Lakes sits in third place in a very strong Class 3A Section 2 with a 3-2 mark. The section also includes Shady Side Academy and Greensburg Central Catholic, both WPIAL champions last season, along with Avonworth, the Class 3A runner-up a season ago.
Deer Lakes has been getting after it defensively, as the Lancers are surrendering only 30.7 points per game, fewest of any Class 3A team. They have not given up more than 31 points in any of their eight wins and have limited four opponents to fewer than 20 points.
Down to three
Finishing a regular season unbeaten is a big ask, but three WPIAL teams find themselves without a loss entering Wednesday’s play.
Class 5A Penn-Trafford (11-0), Class 3A Shady Side Academy (12-0) and Class 1A Union (10-0) have yet to drop a game. It’s the best start for Penn-Trafford and Shady Side Academy in at least two decades, while Union’s start is its best since the Scotties won their first 19 games during the 2021-22 season.
Shady Side Academy and Union both returned key players from teams that won WPIAL titles last season, so their early success isn’t much of a surprise. But the same can’t be said about Penn-Trafford, which went 14-9 and lost in the first round of the playoffs a season ago. The Warriors own wins against Class 6A Section 1 co-leader Seneca Valley and defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Norwin, and limited their last three opponents, West Mifflin, North Hills and McKeesport, to a combined 70 points. Senior Lauren Marton (11.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg) leads the Warriors in scoring and rebounding, while junior Torrie DeStefano is averaging 10.4 points per game and senior Kamryn Pieper 8.8 points a game. Pieper is a Point Park recruit.
Shady Side Academy will face a giant test Thursday when the Bulldogs host Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2) in a section game. Both are defending WPIAL champions — Shady Side Academy won the Class 3A title and Greensburg Central Catholic the Class 2A title last season. It will be a showdown of talented junior guards with Shady Side Academy junior Karis Thomas going up against Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Gribble. Gribble recently committed to Richmond.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.