Riley Stephans Makes Six 3-pointers to help Plum Topple Penn Hills, 39-29

Plum guard Riley Stephans looks to attack the rim against Penn Hills' Milani Oliver Tuesday night at Penn Hills High School. Stephans scored a game-high 23 points in the Mustangs' 39-29 win. Josh Rizzo/Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges

By Josh Rizzo
Riley Stephans got stuck with what inflicts many of us around the holidays. An illness kept the guard for the Plums girls basketball team longing for more time in the gym.

"Over Christmas break, I was sick," Stephans said. "I was out for a week straight, so I didn't get back in the gym until I think it was (last) Thursday. This is my first game back since probably two weeks ago."

The Mustangs looked a little tired and weary at the start of their Section 1-5A girls basketball game at Penn Hills Tuesday night. But Plum found a way to battle to a 39-29 win. Stephans finished with a game-high 23 points and knocked down six 3-pointers.

Stephans believed it was a career-high for 3-pointers she made in one game. She puts a lot of effort into being able to make those types of shots.

"I stay after practice every day and shoot until I make five to seven shots out of 10 from each spot that I go to," Stephans said.

One of Stephans' most important makes came at the first-quarter buzzer. Stephans shook free and made a trey to cut their deficit to 9-7. Plum (3-7, 2-2) felt fortunate to have the game be so close after the first quarter. The Mustangs struggled to defend Penn Hills forward Cara Crawford.

​Crawford scored seven of her 12 points in the first quarter. The Indians (1-9,1-3) also missed five layups that could have extended the lead. 

"We're really struggling at rebounding and making layups," Penn Hills coach Robert Cash said. "There's a couple of games where I thought the game would have been out of reach if we made a few layups in the first quarter and we got teams to chase us. We're allowing them to stay in the game by missing layups."

During the first quarter, Plum seemed to settle too often for long jump shots. 

"We weren't patient," Mustangs coach Rich Mull said. "We were pressing a little too much. Maybe part of it was the fact we haven't played since the Saturday before last."

Plum took the lead toward the end of the first half. Stephans completed a three-point play to put the Mustangs ahead 18-15. During the second half, Stephans made three more 3-pointers in the third quarter to stretch the lead out. Tamia West helped pick up the scoring for Plum.

West was the only other Mustang to score, contributing 16 points. Penn Hills would cut the lead to six, 35-29, with around 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game. Milani Oliver, who finished with 13 points, scored five in the third quarter to help the Indians rally.

But turnovers on the next few possessions stalled the momentum Penn Hills had momentarily built.

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