Sports

Baldwin Girls Fall to Oakland Catholic, 39-28, Bow Out of WPIAL Playoffs

The Highlanders' season is over unless Oakland Catholic wins the WPIAL championship.

UPDATE: Mount Lebanon defeats Oakland Catholic in the semifinals, 64-43, to end Baldwin's season.

There will be no rubber match ... most likely.

's varsity girls basketball team probably won't get another shot at Mount Lebanon High School this season, as Baldwin lost a WPIAL AAAA quarterfinals playoffs game to Oakland Catholic High School, 39-28, at neutral-site North Allegheny High School on Friday night, Feb. 25.

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Baldwin went on the road to defeat Mount Lebanon earlier this year, 48-46, on Jan. 3, before losing at home to the Blue Devils, 63-31, on Jan. 27.

A Baldwin win on Feb. 25 would have meant a best-of-three showdown against Mount Lebanon in the WPIAL semifinals on March 1. Instead, Mount Lebo will now face Oakland Catholic for the right to go to the championship game.

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The Blue Devils held up their end by defeating Gateway High School, 70-41, at neutral-site North Hills High School on Friday night, but the Highlanders couldn't get past Oakland Catholic and now must rely on Oakland Catholic winning the WPIAL title this year in order to keep their season alive.

The WPIAL's four semifinalists automatically advance to the PIAA playoffs, but the team that loses to the eventual WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals also earns a bid to the state tournament.

That could be Baldwin, which might then have another shot at Mount Lebanon in the PIAA tournament, much like last season when the Blue Devils knocked the Highlanders out of the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs.

Advancing to the state playoffs is a long-shot at best, though, according to Baldwin's Head Coach Dan Thayer, who pointed out in the moments after his team's loss on Friday night that Mount Lebanon (19-5 overall) had just won big over a very good Gateway (15-9) team.

Still, should Oakland Catholic beat Mount Lebo on March 1, the Highlanders will begin practicing again just in case, according to Thayer.

Make no mistake; Oakland Catholic (16-8) is very good. Indeed, the Eagles are the WPIAL AAAA playoffs' No. 4-ranked team. (Mount Lebanon is No. 1.)

Friday night marked the second time that the Highlanders (17-6) fell to Oakland Catholic this season, also losing to the Eagles, 49-34, on Jan. 8.

Despite the quality opponent, Baldwin led after the first and third quarters on Friday, 6-5 and 20-19, respectively. The score was tied at 12 at halftime.

The game truly went back-and-forth through most of the first three quarters until Baldwin took command late in third period. Senior Belma Nurkic, a Duquesne University recruit, made back-to-back jumpers near the midpoint of the third to give the Highlanders a 20-15 advantage.

Oakland Catholic called a timeout after that, but after missing two free throws a short while later, the score was still 20-15 in Baldwin's favor with 2 minutes, 48 seconds left in the frame.

The Eagles began to turn things around when Baldwin's junior Taylor Wentzel was whistled for a controversial charging call with 47 seconds left in the third. Both referees whistled play dead when Wentzel collided with an Eagles player, and after talking it over with each other, the charging call was made.

Oakland Catholic took advantage of the call and went into the final stanza down by just a point.

"Not to blame the [referees]," Thayer said, "but the call on the charge where they had to get together and talk about it and they come up with a charge – I don't think I've ever seen that before.

"That was bizarre, but that wasn't the outcome-decider. We didn't play well."

The teams traded 3-pointers to begin the fourth, but a jumper by junior Corey Taglianetti – daughter of former Penguins player Peter Taglianetti – gave the Eagles the lead for good at 24-23 a short while later.

Oakland Catholic followed that up with a traditional 3-point play when Nurkic fouled junior Bobbi Baker as Baker drained a bucket.

The score was 27-23 after Baker's free throw, and really, that was the beginning of the end for the Highlanders.

Baldwin's junior Anna Lauterbach answered with a layup to make it 27-25, but her team never got closer than two points the rest of the way and always seemed to be playing catch-up after Baker's hoop-and-a-harm play.

Indeed, Baker's 3-ball answered the Lauterbach bucket to push the Eagles back out to 30-25.

Baldwin did get the score to 30-28 near the midway point of the quarter when freshman Tori Johnston hit one of her three 3-pointers, but another controversial foul call put Baldwin in a bad spot again.

An apparent rebound by Nurkic with 2:50 left was nullified when she was whistled for another foul on Baker. Baker went to the line with a one-and-one chance and made both foul shots to push the lead to 32-28.

Oakland Catholic began to milk the clock following a Highlanders turnover on the next possession. The Eagles seized an opportunity with Baldwin in foul trouble and used up about a minute of time before Baker hit the front end of another one-and-one chance to make it 33-28 with 1:55 left.

Baldwin was forced to try to make 3-pointers as time was winding down, but the Highlanders never scored again.

The Eagles made enough free throws the rest of the way to ice the game.

"We didn't do a very good job scoring," Thayer said, "and we had our chances, too. We didn't really shoot all that well, but that's probably been our Achilles' heel all year.

"Last year, we were a really, really good shooting team. The year before, we were a tremendous shooting team, and we just weren't as good this year shooting the ball.

"It kind of came back and bit us a little bit when we got behind [on Friday]."

Nurkic, Baldwin's standout senior who scored eight points on Friday night, may have played her final game in a Highlanders uniform, though she should have much more basketball left in her interscholastic career when she enrolls at Duquesne in the fall.

Still, she wanted to leave Baldwin on a better note.

"I do have next year [at Duquesne] to look forward to," Nurkic said, "[but] I just wish it wasn't going to end like this [at Baldwin].

"I wish we could go to the WPIAL championship, but I guess we can wait and, hopefully, have Oakland Catholic win it all so that we can qualify for states."

Suzie McConnell-Serio, Duquesne's head women's basketball coach, was in attendance and sat on Baldwin's side of the gym, which prompted someone in the crowd to ask if she was sitting on the correct side. After all, McConnell-Serio led Oakland Catholic varsity girls basketball to three state titles and four WPIAL titles in 13 seasons as its head coach.

Unlike Nurkic, Johnston, who led the Highlanders with a season-high nine points on Friday night, has plenty of high-school basketball left.

"I'm fortunate enough to have three more chances [at a WPIAL championship]," Johnston said, "but you wanna win even your first year going into it.

"I hope that, each year, we can do better."

Baker and teammate and sophomore Mara Fitzgerald led all players with 12 points each. Baker scored a game-high 11 points in the final quarter, including plenty from the free-throw line.

Check back with the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch for updates on whether or not the Highlanders will qualify for the state playoffs.


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