Westmoreland basketball playoff capsules: Games for Saturday, March 6, 2021

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, March 5, 2021 | 4:47 PM

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Boys

Quarterfinals

Class 5A

10-Latrobe (8-6) at 2-New Castle (18-2)

Noon Saturday

Coaches: Brad Wetzel, Latrobe; Ralph Blundo, New Castle

Winner plays: Winner of 6-Penn Hills (13-4) at 3-Laurel Highlands (13-3), 6 p.m. Wednesday in semifinals

About Latrobe: Senior Ryan Sickenberger converted a three-point play with 43 seconds left to push the Wildcats past No. 7 Thomas Jefferson, 61-59, in the first round. Frankie Newill had 17 points, Sickenberger 16 and Landon Butler 11 in the win. The Wildcats have scored 886 points and allowed 885.

About New Castle: The uptempo Red Hurricanes ran to their fifth straight win, 68-38 over Plum in the first round. Mike Wells scored 21 and Sheldon added 18 as New Castle returned to the quarterfinals for the 11th straight year. The program has won six WPIAL titles in the last eight years, five of them in 4A.

Class 2A

13-Winchester Thurston (9-4) at 5-Jeannette (14-4)

Noon Saturday

Coaches: Justin Walther, Winchester Thurston; Adrian Batts, Jeannette

Winner plays: Winner of 8-Shenango (16-7) at 1-Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (18-0), 6 p.m. Wednesday in semifinals

About Winchester Thurston: A section opponent of Jeannette, the Bears beat the Jayhawks, 65-60, earlier this season in a foul-plagued finish that saw all five Jeannette starters foul out, and the teams’ second meeting was postponed. The Bears, led by junior guard Jackson Juzang (28 ppg), beat Jefferson-Morgan in the preliminary round, 76-61. Juzang had 36 in the win and teammate Lance Nicholls added 24.

About Jeannette: After losing its playoff opener last season to Shenango, Jeannette rolled in the first round this year with a 69-34 win over Burgettstown. Keith Rockmore had 17 points and Anton Good added 15 in the win. Jeannette is allowing 43.7 points per game, second-lowest in 2A.

10-Sewickley Academy (10-7) vs. 2-Greensburg Central Catholic (14-3)

2 p.m. Saturday at Norwin

Coaches: Win Palmer, Sewickley Academy; Christian Hyland, Greensburg C.C.

Winner plays: Winner of 11-Fort Cherry (13-6) at 3-Sto-Rox (10-5), 6 p.m. Wednesday in semifinals

About Sewickley Academy: The perennially strong Panthers handed GCC a loss in the final game of the regular season, 47-42, as senior guard George Zheng scored 21 points. The Panthers held GCC scoring leader Brevan Williams to 12. In the first round, Max Belt had 21 points and Zheng added 17 in a 49-34 win over No. 7 Carlynton.

About Greensburg Central Catholic: After playing on the road in the first round, GCC will play closer to home in this round … at Norwin. The Centurions squeaked past Serra Catholic, 54-53, on the road in the first round as Brevan Williams scored 24 points and Christian McGowan had 13.

Girls

Quarterfinals

Class 6A

6-Butler (10-8) at 3-Norwin (12-4)

Noon Saturday

Coaches: Mark Maier, Butler; Brian Brozeski, Norwin

Winner plays: 2-Upper St. Clair (13-2), 6 p.m. Wednesday in semifinals

About Butler: The Golden Tornado took care of Hempfield in the opening round, 48-36, as junior 5-foot-9 swing-guard Makenna Maier scored 25 points. She made three 3-pointers and 8 of 10 free throws. Butler could not respond to Norwin’s pressure in a pair of Section 1 games, falling 49-26 and 54-29.

About Norwin: Could the Knights cruise in back-to-back rounds? They steamrolled North Hills in their opener, 55-12, as Danielle Rosso had 13 points and Brianna Zajicek 12. Norwin is 7-1 at home this season. Looking ahead, the Knights did not play Upper St. Clair, a team they lost to in last year’s quarterfinals, 52-39.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Butler, Greensburg C.C., Jeannette, Latrobe, New Castle, Norwin, Sewickley Academy, Winchester Thurston