Mar 5, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Cornelious Nesbit didn’t dangle any goals in front of his players when he began his second season as head coach of the Belle Vernon girls basketball team.

With a senior-less starting lineup he was content to concentrate on the now.

“One thing about us is we actually didn’t set any goals this year,” Nesbit said. “What we wanted to focus on is can we get better every day at practice, can we get better after every game.

“We felt if we took the short-term process and just focused on the then and now that anything could be possible with this group.”

What a pleasant surprise the Lady Leopards turned out to be.

Belle Vernon’s regular season included a 19-3 record, a 14-game winning streak and an outright Section 3-4A championship with a 13-1 mark.

The Lady Leopards are now 22-4 after going 3-1 in the WPIAL postseason with a first-round win over Lincoln Park, 85-62, second-round loss to section foe Elizabeth Forward, 61-56, and then a pair of consolation wins over Burrell, 42-25, and South Park, 44-27, to secure the district’s fifth seed for the PIAA tournament.

The first consolation win over the Lady Bucs clinched a spot in the state playoffs.

“We didn’t come out and say hey we want to make state playoffs or we wanted to win the section title,” Nesbit said. “We just focused on getting better. With a young basketball team, I thought the best approach for this group was let’s just focus on getting better one day at a time.”

Belle Vernon’s starting lineup is made up of two juniors (5-foot-5 guard Abby Russell and 6-0 forward Saylor Lee), one sophomore (6-2 forward Aubrey Brown) and two freshmen (5-8 guard Lyla McConnell and 6-1 forward Isis Almyty).

Nesbit considers the playoff experience his youthful squad has gotten to be invaluable.

“The more games we can play in one-and-done situations playing against quality opponents can only make us a better basketball team in the long run,” Nesbit said.

Belle Vernon faces probably its stiffest test of the season with a long road trip to District 9 champion Clearfield (18-6) on Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m.

“Clearfield is a very good basketball team,” Nesbit said. “They have three very good basketball players that we’re going to have to be our best defensively to contend with.

“We understand we’re going on about a two-and-a-half-hour road trip. Part of the plan is getting up there early enough to get us off the bus, get our legs going, get moving around and things of that nature. Let the kids get loose.

“We talk about living in the moment, embracing what they’ve done and then have no fear. We’re OK going on the road.”

The Lady Leopards are in the midst of a nine-day break between games. Nesbit said his team continues to hit the weight room and intends to play one scrimmage before Saturday.

“We focused on ourselves, what areas we need to improve at to win this basketball game,” Nesbit said. “It gives us an opportunity to do some self-reflection, some self-correction, figure out what we’re good at, talk to the players about what they feel comfortable with going into this. You keep some things, you get rid of some things.”

A game plan for the Bison is in the works.

“Now it’s time for us to turn a lot of our attention to Clearfield these next three days.”

The winner of Saturday’s game will face either Blackhawk or Fairview in the second round on Wednesday.