Peters Township avoids upset at the hands of Thomas Jefferson

For a large portion of Saturday’s WPIAL Class 5A semifinal between No. 6 Thomas Jefferson and No. 2 Peters Township, it seemed like the third time might be a charm.

The Jaguars jumped out to an early 17-6 lead in their third matchup against the Indians, and they had managed to keep Miami basketball commit Natalie Wetzel relatively quiet.

Once she scored her first points at the very end of the first quarter to make it 17-8 after one, it served as a precursor for what was to come in a gutsy 46-43 win for Peters Township.

She came alive in the second with seven points as the Indians (22-3) too woke up and slashed the TJ (20-5) lead down.

Starting with her two points in the first, Wetzel went on a 7-0 run on her own to quickly make it 17-13 just two minutes into the second. TJ’s Kaylee DeAngelo nailed a triple to settle things down for a few moments before the Indians tied it.

Alina Sopko started another 7-0 spurt for her squad with a layup as a Wetzel putback, a Bri Morreale layup and a Daniela Radulovich free throw followed to make it 20-20.

Maggie Spell and Sopko traded points before Spell nailed a long jumper to make the halftime score 24-22 in favor of the Jaguars.

At the break, Spell was up to 10 points and three assists while Allie Wilson had posted seven points and DeAngelo added five for Thomas Jefferson. On the other end for Peters, Wetzel was all the way up to nine while Radulovich was up to seven ahead of another competitive half.

Radulovich tied it up to open the half before Spell and Riley McCabe, who had her seven points all in the final two quarters, pushed TJ back up four with a 28-24 advantage.

DeAngelo nailed a triple before Taylor McCullough, who started to find her shooting touch for the Indians, matched it to make it 31-29. After Radulovich and McCabe each traded two’s, McCullough closed the quarter with a three that gave Peters Township its first lead of the entire game at 34-33.

Emma Altavilla opened the fourth with a layup to regain the lead for TJ before PT scored five straight points from a Mc-Cullough three and a Radulovich layup to open up a 39-35 advantage. But the Jaguars again closed the gap with a three from Mc-Cabe and a free throw from Wilson to tie it up at 39-39 with 3:50 left to play.

From there, McCullough and Altavilla each scored to make it 41-41 about a minute later.

The back-breaking shot came next from Wetzel. She showed why she’s one of the top players in the entire state with a clutch trifecta that put Peters Township ahead 4441 with less than two minutes left.

Spell made a strong pass to find Altavilla for a layup with 39 seconds left to make the Jaguars’ deficit one point at 44-43, but they were unable to score again as the Indians got to the charity stripe twice and earned two free throws, one from McCullough and one from Wetzel, to end the game at 46-43.

The loss put an end to district play for Thomas Jefferson this year, but they have firmly earned their place in the state-playoff bracket with eight WPIAL teams going to the PIAA Class 5A bracket. Meanwhile, Wetzel and the Indians will match up with No. 1 South Fayette on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.

South Fayette is 24-1 and has not lost to a WPIAL opponent, dropping one at the Tampa Bay Invitational in December against St. Mary’s, N.Y.