With three WPIAL titles and more than 250 wins to his credit during his 14-year stint at Norwin, Brian Brozeski knows as well as anybody that defense wins championships.
His Knights moved one step closer to proving it once again on Tuesday night.
With a spot in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game on the line at Mt. Lebanon, No. 1 Norwin put together arguably its finest defensive performance of the season in a 42-26 win against No. 4 Canon-McMillan (14-9). The Knights saved their best for last after a third-quarter rally by the Big Macs cut the deficit to five, outscoring Canon-McMillan in the final quarter, 13-2.
“One thing I have to give a lot of credit to — our scout team did a great job preparing us,” Brozeski said. “We had two squads who were able to replicate as many looks as Canon-Mac had for us. … I think that gave us a good sense and the girls put a good effort out there.”
Senior guard Kendall Berger had another virtuoso outing for Norwin (15-7), scoring a game-high 18 points while doing all the little things necessary to win on both sides of the ball. Isabella Bobitski finished with a team-leading 11 points in the loss for the Big Macs.
“[Berger] leads more by example than word of mouth,” Brozeski said. “She’s pretty much always been that way. She’s not only looking to do it on the offensive side, but she’s really bought in for us to do some complementary work.”
Tuesday’s win marked the third victory over Canon-McMillan this season for the Knights, who will now try to capture back-to-back titles for the second time under Brozeski. Norwin also repeated as WPIAL AAAA champions in 2015-16.
“It’s something the girls set out as far as a goal to get back to the Pete, so right now, it’s kind of surreal in its own way,” Brozeski said. “We’re just trying to take it all in.”
Other Class 6A semifinal
• Kent State recruit Rylee Kalocay led all scorers with 19 points for No. 2 Upper St. Clair (18-6), steering the Panthers back to the WPIAL championship game for the fourth time in the past five seasons with a 55-39 triumph against arch rival Mt. Lebanon at Bethel Park. Meredith Huzjak tacked on 12 points in the win, while Anessa Donoghue scored a team-high 15 points for the No. 6 Blue Devils (14-10).
Class 2A semifinals
• Following a two-year stint in Class 3A, No. 1 Neshannock is going back to the WPIAL Class 2A championship game, where the Lancers won back-to-back titles in 2021-22 and three in a four-year span from 2019-22. After taking a 23-point lead into halftime, Neshannock (23-2) withstood a furious second-half comeback attempt by No. 4 South Side (19-6), hanging on for a 55-50 win at North Allegheny. Payton Newman tallied 27 points with 13 rebounds and 5 steals for the Lancers, while Ashtyn Michael led the Rams with 15 points to go with 14 from Eden Schrier.
• After coming up short in the semifinal round each of the previous two seasons, the third time turned out to be the charm for No. 2 Aliquippa in a 50-43 win over No. 3 Winchester Thurston (21-4) at Pine-Richland. The Quips (19-4) went into halftime with an 11-point cushion, then saw their lead dwindle to five at the end of the third quarter before hanging on in the fourth to preserve the victory. Denim Odom led the way with 17 points in the win to go with 14 from Carla Brown.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
