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North Allegheny's Brynn Serbin jumps to pass over the head of Pine-Richland's Caitlyn Byerly.
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North Allegheny avenges its only loss in girls basketball with win over Pine-Richland

Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette

North Allegheny avenges its only loss in girls basketball with win over Pine-Richland

Two-pointers are fine and all, but North Allegheny sharpshooter Rachel Martindale prefers to knock down a 3-point shot when the opportunity arises.

“They’re just an extra-enthusiastic shot,” said Martindale, a sophomore guard. “They give you momentum and everything else and that helps in a back-and-forth battle.”

The Tigers certainly had reason to be excited Thursday night. Martindale connected on 3 of 6 3-point attempts and finished with 21 points as Class 6A No. 2 North Allegheny avenged its only loss this season by beating Pine-Richland, 55-49, in a Section 1 showdown to hand the top-ranked Rams their first loss of the season.

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As a team, North Allegheny, was 7 of 18 from behind the arc. Just as important was free-throw shooting. North Allegheny (16-1, 6-1) made 12 of 14 and finished the game by making eight in a row shortly after Pine-Richland had fought back to within a point midway through the fourth quarter.

Hailey Zeise added 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals for the Tigers. Piper Morningstar also made a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.

Defensively, the Tigers opted not to press the action, as they typically do, but rather sat back in half-court sets, determined not to allow the Rams to penetrate. Pine-Richland (17-1, 6-1) settled for long-range shots 24 times, but only made seven of those.

“We’re used to shooting a lot better than we did tonight,” said Pine-Richland coach Tom Reighard. “But we’ll get better from this game. These kids will respond well to this loss.”

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So who developed North Allegheny’s brilliant defensive game plan? It wasn’t the coaching staff.

“There was zero coaching done tonight,” North Allegheny coach Spencer Stefko said. “[The players] came up with the game plan during the week.”

Pine-Richland senior guard Amanda Kalin was held to 11 points. She began the game as the third-leading scorer in the WPIAL averaging 24.7 points per game.

The last time Pine-Richland lost a game was in the second round of the WPIAL playoffs last season to North Allegheny, who beat the Rams three times. Reighard and his squad would love to have a playoff rubber match this season.

“I’m sure we’re going to see them again at some point later in the playoffs, hopefully,” Reighard said.

North Allegheny raced to a 17-9 first-quarter lead, but the Rams rallied within two, 28-26, at halftime. The Tigers controlled the game for most of the first half, but Pine-Richland took a brief lead when Taylor Brenner hit a corner 3 to give the Rams a 26-25 edge. The Tigers’ Rachel Martindale answered on the next possession with a 3-pointer, and North Allegheny took a lead into the locker room.

The score was tied three times in the first half and the lead changed hands four times. North Allegheny’s biggest lead was 10 points, 19-9, early in the second quarter.

First Published: January 27, 2017, 5:00 a.m.

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North Allegheny's Brynn Serbin jumps to pass over the head of Pine-Richland's Caitlyn Byerly.  (Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette)
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Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette
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