Waynesburg upends South Park in double OT thriller
Waynesburg Central players celebrate after defeating South Park, 71-68 in double overtime in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal game at South Park on Feb. 23. The victory clinched a spot for the Lady Raiders in the PIAA tournament which began this week. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Clara Paige Miller drives in for a layup after making a steal against South Park during Wednesday night’s WPIAL playoff game at South Park. Miller scored a game-high 31 points and forced a turnover that led to the winning basket in the Lady Raiders’ 71-68 double overtime win.
Waynesburg Central’s girls basketball team poses for a photo after defeating South Park, 71-68 in double overtime, in a WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal playoff game Wednesday night at South Park. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Kaley Rohanna splits two South Park defenders as she drives into the lane during Wednesday night’s WPIAL playoff game at South Park. Rohanna scored 22 points in the Lady Raiders’ 71-68 double overtime win.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Addison Blair hits a 3-pointer over South Park’s Nora Ozimek during Wednesday night’s WPIAL playoff game at South Park. Blair scored 10 points in the Lady Raiders’ 71-68 double overtime win.
Waynesburg Central coach Dave Sarra draws up a play for his team during a timeout in Wednesday night's WPIAL playoff game at South Park.
Waynesburg Central’s Brenna Benke is defended by South Park’s Nicole Kempton during Wednesday night’s WPIAL playoff game at South Park. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Waynesburg Central's Kaley Rohanna hits a foul shot for the final point of the Lady Raiders' 71-68 WPIAL playoff victory at South Park on Wednesday night. Rohanna made all 10 of her free throws in scoring 22 points.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Nina Sarra dribbles into the front court after eluding South Park’s Kierra Moelber during Wednesday night’s WPIAL playoff game at South Park.
Waynesburg Central's Addison Blair (left) and Kaley Rohanna trap South Park's Nora Ozimek during Wednesday night's WPIAL playoff game at South Park.
Waynesburg Central girls basketball coach Dave Sarra poses for a photo with his daughter Nina Sarra after the Lady Raiders defeated South Park, 71-68 in double overtime, in a WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal playoff game at South Park. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
South Park's Maddie Graham (0) passes to a teammate as Waynesburg Central's Kaley Rohanna defends during Wednesday night's WPIAL playoff game at South Park.
Waynesburg Central girls basketball players rejoice with their fans who attended the Lady Raiders' 71-68 double overtime WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal playoff win on Wednesday night at South Park.
SOUTH PARK TWP. — South Park stood in the way of the two main goals Waynesburg Central’s girls basketball team set for this season.
The first was for the Lady Raiders to win their first section title since 1986 and they did that with a split in their two regular-season meetings with the Lady Eagles. Waynesburg’s 58-53 home victory in the second contest sent it on a path to claim a share of the Section 2-AAA championship with South Park.
The second was for the Lady Raiders to advance at least one game further in the postseason than they did a year ago when they fell in the WPIAL quarterfinals to Beaver in overtime.
Waynesburg again had to work overtime — in fact two overtimes — but it finally got the host Lady Eagles to grudgingly relent the second goal to the Lady Raiders, who earned a 71-68 victory in a WPIAL quarterfinal thriller at South Park on Wednesday night.
In a roller-coaster of a battle, Kaley Rohanna’s layup with 13 seconds left off Brenna Benke’s inbounds pass gave fifth-seeded Waynesburg a 69-68 lead and Rohanna made two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining to make it 71-68.
After South Park’s Maddie Graham barely missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Lady Raiders rushed the floor in celebration.
“This is a feeling like no other,” said Waynesburg’s Clara Paige Miller. “We worked so hard for this and sometimes it felt out of reach. But we did it.”
“Just a great, tremendous game by both teams,” Waynesburg coach Dave Sarra said. “The girls set those goals at the beginning of the season and they worked hard all year and were confident they could do it. They worked extra hard tonight to get it done.
“I’m just so proud of them.”
The Lady Raiders were down by three after the Lady Eagles’ Nora Ozimek made two free throws with 23.5 seconds left but Nina Sarra, the coach’s daughter, hit a driving layup to get Waynesburg within one with 15.9 seconds left.
“The plan was to shoot a three if it was open,” Nina Sarra said. “But I had the lane so I just went in and took the layup.”
Miller forced a turnover on South Park’s ensuing inbounds pass, deflecting the ball off a Lady Eagles player out of bounds.
“That was huge,” Dave Sarra said.
“I was thinking we’re not done yet, I have to make a play and I got my hands on the ball and they knocked it out of bounds,” Miller said.
Benke then passed to Rohanna looping to the basket on a set inbounds play and the sophomore dropped in the winning two points.
“We just put that play in,” Rohanna said. “I set a screen and then rolled to the basket and Brenna gave me a perfect pass and I put it in.”
“We worked on that play in practice,” Benke said. “It was just an in-the-moment play and we did it.”
“We were faking an elevator screen with a quick rollback,” Dave Sarra said. “They executed it perfectly.”
Miller poured in a game-high 31 points in an outstanding all-around performance despite battling foul trouble all night. She drew her fourth foul with 5:26 left in the third quarter but never did foul out.
“I think Clara being able to avoid that fifth foul and stay in the game was important,” Dave Sarra said. “She played defense, she came up big on the boards, and obviously she scored a lot of points. She just played a great game.”
“I’d say it was the best game of my career,” said Miller who made two 3-pointers and nine of 10 free throws.
Rohanna followed with 22 points, including a 10-for-10 performance at the foul line, and Addison Blair tallied 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Nina Sarra added six points.
Waynesburg converted 25 of 30 free throws.
Ozimek led fourth-seeded South Park (19-4) with 26 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Maya Wertelet had 17 points and Graham scored 14 points.
Waynesburg (17-4) will face top-seeded North Catholic in the semifinals on Saturday with the site and time to be determined. The Lady Raiders, who have four seniors in Miller, Sarra, Benke and Emily Bennett, earned a trip to the PIAA tournament as well.
Waynesburg held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter but South Park pulled even at 21-21 by halftime and surged to a 37-31 advantage in the third quarter.
The Lady Eagles pushed their lead up to nine, 42-33, when Ozimek made two free throws with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. Waynesburg fought back and took a 49-48 lead when a determined Rohanna scored with 2:40 remaining after twice having her shot blocked inside.
Rohanna made two free throws to put the Lady Raiders ahead 51-48 with 20.7 seconds on the clock but Ozimek’s 3-pointer five seconds later knotted the score at 51-51 and Rohanna missed a contested shot in the final seconds.
The Lady Raiders built a five-point lead in the first overtime after Miller’s three-point play with 2:38 left only to see the Lady Eagles come storming back to tie it. South Park’s Kierra Moelber missed an off-balance shot just before the buzzer and the teams headed into a second extra frame.
Lady Eagles first-year coach Steve Limberiou was proud of his team’s effort despite the loss.
“I don’t think we lost it as much as they won it,” Limberiou said. “You have to give them credit. They just made a few more plays than us down the stretch. I don’t think they missed more than one free throw in the second half. That’s what the difference is in a game like this.
“This is just a group of winners. They might not have won the game tonight but they never give up ever.”
Limberiou thought Graham’s final shot would fall through.
“It certainly looked good from where I was standing,” Limberiou said. “It just hit off the rim. She made a walk-off three in a playoff game last year against Ellwood City.”
Dave Sarra lauded the Lady Eagles after the game.
“It was a great team effort with good team defense,” Sarra said of his squad. “South Park is a very good team. They have no weaknesses on offense. They get good post play, they’ve got three good guards.
“It was just an unbelievable game. I’m just so happy for our girls to achieve what they set out to do. They worked so hard and put so much time into it, not just the girls who start but the girls on the bench, too.”