High School category, Page 153
Westmoreland County basketball playoff preview capsules for Friday, Feb. 21, 2025
Girls Class 6A Quarterfinals 8-North Allegheny (9-12) at 1-Norwin (13-7) 7 p.m. Friday Winner plays: Winner of 5-Butler (11-10)/4-Canon-McMillan (13-8) on Tuesday (time, site TBD) in semifinals Players to watch: Maddie Williams, North Allegheny; Kendall Berger, Norwin Layup lines: North Allegheny gets a rematch with Norwin after falling to the...
Westmoreland County basketball notebook: Penn-Trafford thrives as gritty underdogs
Penn-Trafford coach Doug Kelly had referred to his team as the “road warriors” several times this season. Kelly does not play up the underdog role but rather looks to unleash the “dog” in his boys basketball teams. Dog and grit are two of his favorite words when talking about the...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Feb. 19, 2025
High schools Basketball WPIAL playoffs Boys Class 6A Quarterfinals Thursday’s schedule Woodland Hills (12-11) at Upper. St. Clair (20-2), 7 p.m.; Central Catholic (13-9) at Fox Chapel (16-6), 8 p.m.; Butler (16-6) at New Castle (19-3), 7 p.m.; Mt. Lebanon (16-7) vs. Imani Christian (13-7) at Montour, 7:30 p.m. Class...
High school roundup for Feb. 19, 2025: Greensburg Central Catholic fends off Mimi Thiero, Quaker Valley
Erica Gribble scored 22 points and No. 2 Greensburg Central Catholic survived a big game by Quaker Valley star Mimi Thiero to secure a 56-47 victory in the WPIAL Class 3A girls basketball quarterfinals Wednesday night at Mt. Lebanon. Thiero scored 32 points for the No. 7 Quakers (14-9). Jayla...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports for Feb. 20, 2025: Class 6A boys teams set for quarterfinal clash
It’s the middle of three nights of the district basketball quarterfinals with the spotlight shining on the elite eight of boys 6A, boys 2A, girls 4A and girls Class A. Upper St. Clair is the defending WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball champion, however prior to the Panthers taking home the...
Trib HSSN Pennsylvania high school girls basketball rankings for Feb. 19, 2025
Only two teams lost their spot in the latest Trib HSSN girls basketball state rankings this week as the first round of the 12 district postseasons wrap up. The undefeated season for Penn-Trafford in District 7 ended with a quarterfinal loss to Thomas Jefferson in Class 5A. One week after...
Trib HSSN Pennsylvania high school boys basketball rankings for Feb. 19, 2025
District playoff byes and early round victories have left this week’s Trib HSSN boys basketball rankings looking a lot like last week’s. One exception, though, is in Class 5A, where two ranked teams were stunned in the opening round of their respective district postseason. No. 2-seeded Baldwin from the WPIAL...
Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: GCC’s Christian Hyland recalls hectic moments of ’24 playoffs
Christian Hyland did an interview after Monday’s first-round playoff win over Laurel with a special guest in his lap, his pint-sized daughter, Nova. Well-behaved and quiet, the 11-month-old sat still as her father, the coach of the Greensburg Central Catholic boys basketball team, discussed a 67-42 win that moved the...
South Fayette shuts down upset hopes early in 5A quarterfinal win over Baldwin
A lot of young kids like to spend their vast amounts of energy at the park, running around, going down the slides and enjoying the monkey bars and jungle gyms. When South Fayette junior Ryan Oldaker was young, her playground was the gym at Mt. Lebanon High School. On Wednesday,...
Cool, collected Thomas Jefferson knocks off unbeaten Penn-Trafford in Class 5A quarters
A nine-point fourth quarter lead was gone. One of their star players fouled out in the closing minute of regulation. And their undefeated and higher-seeded opponent went on a sudden heater. Essentially, Thomas Jefferson’s check engine light came on as a lively WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinal turned toward...
Belle Vernon boys show grit in playoff win vs. Elizabeth Forward
Ahead of its WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal matchup Wednesday night against Mon Valley rival Elizabeth Forward, the Belle Vernon boys basketball squad had a lot going against it. The No. 1-seed Leopards were battling a 15-day layoff, and they were trying to beat the Warriors for the third time this...
Avonworth boys hold off Knoch in WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals
Avonworth maybe didn’t win the game in the first 5 minutes, but its hot start Wednesday night certainly shaped the final three quarters. The Antelopes ran out to an early 11-point lead, putting Knoch in a hole it couldn’t quite escape. Avonworth’s Rowan Carmichael bolstered his status as the WPIAL’s...
North Catholic boys beat Deer Lakes for 3rd time this season
It’s often said it’s a challenge to beat the same team three times in a season. The North Catholic boys basketball team bucked that belief Wednesday in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal against section rival Deer Lakes on its home court at the Graham Events Center. Three players scored in...
Serra Catholic junior claims WPIBL boys singles championship
Serra Catholic junior Preston Smith defeated Hempfield junior Braylon Johnson, 216-205, in a closely contested final to win the WPIBL boys singles championship Wednesday at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes. Johnson was the top bowler in qualifying with a 672 series. Smith was second with a 669 series, but he had...
A-K Valley basketball playoff preview capsules for Thursday, Feb. 19, 2025
Boys Class 6A Quarterfinals 5-Central Catholic (13-9) at 4-Fox Chapel (16-6) 8 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: Winner of 1-Upper St. Clair (20-2)/9-Woodland Hills (12-11) on Monday in semifinals (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Enzo Khalil, Central Catholic; Caden Kaiser, Fox Chapel Layup lines: The Vikings finished third in Section...
Westmoreland County basketball playoff preview capsules for Thursday, Feb. 19, 2025
Boys Class 2A Quarterfinals 8-Union (17-6) vs. 1-Greensburg Central Catholic (21-2) 6 p.m. Thursday at Shaler Winner plays: Winner of 5-Northgate (14-9)/4-Neshannock (20-2) on Monday (time, site TBA) in semifinals Players to watch: Lucas Stanley, Union; Brady O’Rourke, Greensburg Central Catholic Layup lines: Union, a Class A program for decades...
Trib 10: Power-ranked teams survive and advance … with 1 exception
While there were a few bracket busters here and there in the first round of the WPIAL basketball playoffs, only one affected the teams in the Trib 10. It had been a ho-hum opening round for the District 7 power teams with many receiving first-round byes or rolling past teams...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Feb. 19, 2025: Basketball brackets reach quarterfinals
Welcome to the first of three nights of WPIAL basketball quarterfinals action. Outside of Class 6A and boys Class A, all the teams playing in second round games have a bit of a safety net. For now, there is no sudden end to the season. Teams that don’t reach the...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Feb. 18, 2025
High schools Basketball WPIAL playoffs Boys Class 6A Quarterfinals Thursday’s schedule Woodland Hills (12-11) at Upper. St. Clair (20-2), 7 p.m.; Central Catholic (13-9) at Fox Chapel (16-6), 8 p.m.; Butler (16-6) at New Castle (19-3), 7 p.m.; Mt. Lebanon (16-7) vs. Imani Christian (13-7) at Montour, 7:30 p.m. Class...
High school roundup for Feb. 18, 2024: No. 15 Penn-Trafford stuns No. 2 Baldwin in 5A 1st round
Zach Feldman scored 20 points and No. 15 Penn-Trafford pulled off the upset of the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs thus far, beating No. 2 Baldwin, 60-45, in the Class 5A first round Tuesday night. Brayden Stone added 16 points and Evan Gross had 10 for the Warriors (14-9), who took...
Chartiers Valley punishes Thomas Jefferson’s mistakes in Class 5A 1st-round win
Early in the first two quarters of their WPIAL Class 5A first-round boys basketball playoff game, No. 13 Thomas Jefferson was able to go toe to toe with No. 4 Chartiers Valley. However, lapses and mistakes at the end of those two quarters allowed the Colts to gallop free and...
Latrobe cools off Kiski Area to end playoff drought
Two streaks ended Tuesday in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. First, Latrobe ended its playoff drought. And secondly, Kiski Area saw its 12-game winning streak end. Senior Max Butler scored 18 of his team-high 26 points in the first half, and Latrobe defeated Kiski Area, 59-51,...
Noah Felentzer leads Southmoreland boys to 1st playoff win since 2017
Southmoreland’s front man wanted another show, and he got it. “This felt like it was going to be a special night,” high-scoring junior guard Noah Felentzer said. “We wanted to keep the band together.” Now comes the encore. Before fouling out, Felentzer scored a playoff career-high 31 points, including 12...
Rochester stages huge rally in 2nd half, defeats Riverview in girls 2A 1st-round game
The Rochester girls basketball team trailed Riverview by 15 points with 4 minutes, 6 seconds left in the third quarter of Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game at Kiski Area High School. But the 10th-seeded Rams roared back. They controlled the boards, forced turnovers and made shots in the...
Wrestling notebook: Hempfield’s Kapusta returns with a bang after injury layoff, quick rehab
When Nico Kapusta injured his left elbow during a preseason wrestling tournament in October at Edinboro, he was told by his doctor (James Bradley) that recovery time would be six months. He resigned himself to the notion that his junior season at Hempfield would be lost. His dad, Brian, who...
