The girls basketball team defeated Bethel Park 53-36 on Tuesday night. 

Senior Bella Niles said Baldwin had an extra determination to beat Bethel.

“We’ve had a rivalry with Bethel over the past couple of years, so we had to beat them,” Niles said.

Duquesne’s women’s basketball team and other athletes from that university were in attendance for the game, along with many Bethel female athletes of all ages. Today is National Girls & Women in Sports Day.

“It was really cool to be represented that way,” Niles said.

In the first quarter, the team came out strong with the lead. Baldwin then was able to keep the lead the entire game.

Niles said the team maintained a positive energy throughout the game, but had to keep their focus despite their lead.

“As much as we had a lead, our shots weren’t really falling. We just knew that we had to keep taking the shots and that they would fall sooner or later,” Niles said. “We just had to keep our heads up the whole time.”

Senior shooting guard Laci Bernotas said the team did well moving the ball.

“We had good ball movement and had a lot of pressure on the ball, which caused turn overs,” she said. 

Bernotas said that junior Lynsey Bernotas played well during the game, especially on offense.

“She was able to stay in control and be the highest scorer,” she said. 

Niles added that Laci Bernotas helped the team maintain their lead with three-pointers.

“She also had a good attitude about everything, even when she got taken out,” Niles said. “She was still supporting everyone.”

Facing off against Bethel’s style of play was a challenge, according to Niles.

“They were very scrappy. Usually, we are the really scrappy team to play, but they were giving it right back to us,” she said. “There was just a lot of aggression.”

Bernotas said Baldwin hopes to improve for their next game by working on their sets.

“We could work on running through our sets and executing them,” she said. 

For future games, Niles said that it is a matter of keeping up the same style of play and determination that they had against Bethel.

Baldwin’s next game is at home at 5:45 p.m. Friday against Thomas Jefferson, the section leader. 

Bernotas said Baldwin fell to TJ in January by six points. She said that despite not being eligible to win sections, the team hopes to win Friday’s game to move from the fourth playoff seed to the third.