PIAA Basketball Semifinals Wednesday Recaps

By: Bruce Markey
Thursday, March 22, 2012 | 12:59 AM

The 2012 WPIAL Class A girls champs and the lone district team remaining in Class AAA were eliminated on Wednesday, two WPIAL teams got their ticket punched to Happy Valley. Beaver Falls boys and North Catholic girls will join Montour, Lincoln Park, Oakland Catholic and Seton-LaSalle at Penn State University this weekend participating in the state championship games. Here are recaps from the games involving D-7 teams on Semifinals Wednesday in the PIAA Basketball Playoffs.

Thanks to Bob Barrickman, Ryan Lucas and Jason Lucia for their help with these recaps.

PIAA BOYS CLASS AA SEMIFINALS: Beaver Falls Tigers 55 – Quaker Valley Quakers 45

Quaker Valley enjoyed a 32-24 late third quarter lead but Beaver Falls scored the final six points of the period and then outscored the Quakers 25-13 in the fourth quarter to win the boys PIAA AA west final at Ambridge, 55-45.  

Quaker Valley jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first period before the Tigers went on a 13-2 run to lead, 19-16.  But, the Quakers regrouped and went on am 11-2 run to end the second quarter leading 27-21.  Quaker Valley frustrated Beaver Falls into the third quarter with its deliberate motion offense.  Beaver Falls turned up the defensive pressure late in the same period to force a number of turnovers and start its way toward victory. 

The Tigers 6’8 Division 1 prospect Sheldon Jeter had only three points on three free throws in the first half after scoring 40 points a game earlier against Greensburg Central Catholic.  Jeter had only five points after three quarters but had 10 in the final frame to lead all scorers with 15 points.  Joe Peduto came off the bench to pace Quaker Valley with 14 tallies.  

The Quakers, the final team to qualify for the state playoffs from the WPIAL, finished 24-5 on the season.  Beaver Falls won its 15th straight to improve to 28-2.  The Tigers will meet defending PIAA AA champion Imhotep Charter on Saturday at 2pm in the state final at Penn State University’s Bryce Jordan Center.

PIAA GIRLS CLASS AAA SEMIFINALS: Archbishop Wood Vikings 42 – Chartiers Valley Colts 37

For the second time in three seasons, the Chartiers Valley Lady Colts were in the Class AAA Western Final. In 2010, CV fell to Indiana, 54-52 at Plum. This season the trip was a little bit further. The Lady Colts dropped a 42-37 defeat to the Archbishop Wood Vikings at the beautiful gymnasium in Chambersburg High School.

The District 12 Archbishop Wood came out in the first quarter to a quick 6-1 advantage, a lead that they would never relinquish. AW senior Taylor Kaminski and junior Haley Scullion each scored five points in the opening eight minutes. The Vikings led 11-6 after the first quarter.  AW would take to the break with an 18-10 lead after five points from junior Jackie Pierson in the second quarter.   Sophomore Jenna Devinney had a 3-pointer for CV to lead their halftime scoresheet.

Archbishop Wood came out of the break and scored the first five points of the quarter as the lead swelled to 13 points, 23-10. The young Lady Colts could have folded, but they responded with a 10-2 run.  Junior Mariah Wells and freshman Kristin McGeough each had four points in the 3rd quarter for CV.  The Lady Colts found themselves down 27-23 with just eight minutes remaining in their season.

AW started out the quarter again with a flurry and stretched the lead again to 33-25.  The Lady Colts had one more push, scoring five points including a trifecta from junior Kassidy O'Keefe to cut the lead to 33-30.  After a steal, freshman Alexa Golden appeared to bring CV back to a one point deficit with a layup, but she was called for a travel and the Lady Colts could get no closer.  Some timely free throw shooting for the two-time defending state champion Vikings down the stretch secured a 3rd consecutive visit to State College. Char Valley ends the best season in school history with a 25-4 record.  Archbishop Wood improves to 19-10 and they will meet Lancaster Catholic (30-3) for the Class AAA Championship on Saturday at 6:00pm.  All of the scoring for CV tonight came from underclassmen.  The Lady Colts will move to Quad A next season but the future is clearly bright for Chartiers Valley Girls' Basketball.

PIAA GIRLS CLASS A SEMIFINALS: North Catholic Trojanettes 71 – Vincentian Academy Royals 58

North Catholic clinched their first berth in a PIAA state title game by jumping out to an 18-13 lead after one quarter, then scoring 9 of the second quarters first 11 points en route to a 13 point victory that split the season series with rival Vincentian Academy at 2-2. The Trojanettes (24-6) were led by 19 points for Sarah Goetz while Lauren Wolosik scored 18 points and Lynzi Mueller added 17 points for North Catholic. Vincentian Academy finishes 28-2 and was led by freshman Brenna Wise's 19 points.

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Vincentian Academy