Young Lady Leopards show no fear in PIAA win at Clearfield
A coach taking a team with a senior-less starting lineup on a long road trip for its first PIAA playoff game would likely expect to see plenty of nerves from his players.
Belle Vernon’s girls basketball team showed little if any jitters, though, in disposing of host Clearfield, 58-46, in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament on Saturday.
Sophomore Aubrey Brown and junior Saylor Lee both turned in double-doubles as the Lady Leopards (23-4) extended their team record for wins in a season in advancing to Wednesday’s second round against Blackhawk with the site and time to be determined. It was Belle Vernon’s first win in the PIAA tournament since 1998.
Cornelious Nesbit wasn’t surprised.
“I’ll be honest with you. It’s what I expected from this group, being around them all season,” Nesbit said. “I think they were loose these last two days. You try to kind of see when you’re going through practice, has anything changed with the kids? And they were still laughing and joking and asking me to play music.
“I could sense on the bus ride out there they’re ready.”
Lee totaled a game-high 19 rebounds with 13 points and three assists and Brown scored a game-high 24 points with 12 boards, four assists and a blocked shot. Lyla McConnell, one of two freshmen starters for Belle Vernon along with Isis Albyty, added 10 points.
Junior Abby Russell scored all seven of her points, including a 3-pointer, in the first quarter when Belle Vernon grabbed a 22-15 lead. She also contributed four assists.
“I thought Abby Russell hitting some early shots helped us really get settled in.” Nesbit said. “Our plan was to get off to a good start in the first quarter. We felt like if we could do that we’d be fine. It helped us take the fans out of the game a little bit and let Clearfield know that they’re in for a battle today, like this isn’t going to be easy for them just because we’re young.”
The Lady Leopards faltered slightly in the second quarter but still wound up with a 30-28 halftime lead.
“We were up 10 in the second and then some of our youth showed up and they went on a run and took a one-point lead,” Nesbit said. “We didn’t have a good second quarter and a lot of that was when we went up 10 our kids went for the jugular and I’m OK with that. We just didn’t do it the right way.
“We were trying to jump on them more and I thought we sped ourselves up a little too fast and we had some turnovers, but that’s a great learning experience for us.”
The Lady Leopards maintained their advantage the entire third quarter, then scored the first 11 points of the fourth to all but put the game away.
“We were up two to four points throughout the third quarter and ended up ahead by three (42-39) and then we played really well in the fourth quarter,” Nesbit said.
“It was our defense. Abby Russell is a lock-down defender. She held one of their girls, a really good shooter who averages 14 points for them (Mia Helsel), to two points on two free throws.”
The Lady Leopards dominated the boards as well.
“What we thought would be an advantage for us was our size,” Nesbit said. “We thought that we could out-rebound them and make them take some tough shots. We ended up out-rebounding them 42-20.”
Sonny Diehl led the Bison (18-7) with 23 points.
Nesbit cited leadership and competitive practices as reasons for the composure his team shows despite its youth.
“Even though we’re a young team, we have leaders in the locker room,” he said. “Abby Russell is our quiet leader who is just going to go out there and show you how to do it. She’s not a big rah-rah person, doesn’t really like the limelight. She just wants to play and be a great teammate.
“Saylor Lee is more of our vocal kid. She’ll challenge teammates. She’s more of a talker and one who will go out there and hold herself to a certain standard.
“Also, we have some really good practices. We compete all the time in practice. Some days we’re competing because we’re playing live five-on-five or three-on-three. There are other days we just compete with shooting drills where it’s timed and they’ve got to get a certain amount of points.
“Everything we do is competition-based. So I know these kids are going to compete, I never have to worry about that.”
With a section championship, wins in the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs and a school-record for wins already chalked up, Nesbit is looking for more from his squad.
“We want to live in the moment,” he said. “I told the kids we’ll celebrate all the successes once the season is finally over. I don’t think a lot of people thought we’d be here right now. I get people saying you’re playing with house money but I don’t believe that because I believe this team is really good.
“We believe we deserve to be at the table with everybody else.”