South Hills sports notebook: Brentwood boys start 2018 strong

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 5, 2018 | 11:00 PM

Items from around the South Hills:

• Brentwood's boys basketball team ended the first month of the season on a winning note, defeating Sto-Rox, 68-55, in the consolation round of the Sto-Rox holiday tournament.

The Spartans were led by senior guard/forward Michael Trent, senior forward Tanner Wells and sophomore guard C.J. Ziegler, who connected for 23, 15 and 12 points, respectively.

• The Baldwin girls basketball team wrapped up December with a 57-16 nonsection win over visiting Brashear.

Three players scored in double figures for the Highlanders: senior guard Abbey Larkin (19 points), freshman forward Kayla Radomsky (11) and senior forward Michaela Cavataio (10).

• Five Thomas Jefferson graduates are playing basketball at Carlow.

Charlie Sharbo, Zach Talley and Cameron Sarber are teammates on the men's team.

Sharbo is a 6-foot-4 senior forward and business management/human resources major. Talley, who is majoring in respiratory care, is a 5-11 senior guard. Sarber is a 6-3 junior guard and business management major.

Alexis Yanief and Caroline Willig are teammates on the women's team.

Yanief, a biology major, is a 5-7 senior guard and Millersville transfer. Willig is a 5-4 sophomore guard and nursing major.

• Seton LaSalle boys basketball opened the year with an 81-51 nonsection win at Bishop Canevin as 6-3 senior guard/forward Jakob Richardson led the Rebels with 24 points.

Richardson was complemented by sophomore guard Jon Weir and senior forward/center George Mike IV, who contributed 10 points apiece.

Seton LaSalle ended December with a 62-40 win over Shore (N.J.) in the Albert E. Martin Buc Classic in New Jersey.

The Rebels lost their first two games in the tournament, falling to Sayreville War Memorial, 62-51, and Middletown North, 73-65.

• Two local basketball players are teammates at La Roche.

Arnes Bajgora is a 6-7 senior forward from Baldwin. Ryan Norkus is a 6-3 junior forward from Seton LaSalle.

Bajgora is a fourth-year starter for the Redhawks and scored his 1,000th career point last season (Feb. 11) in a victory at Penn State Altoona. He was an all-conference selection the past two seasons and was lauded as the AMCC Newcomer of the Year as a freshman. Bajgora is averaging 11.1 points this season.

Norkus is a third-year letterman and is averaging 7.7 points.

• Brentwood graduate Stephanie Thomas is a 6-0 freshman forward on the La Roche women's basketball team.

Thomas, the tallest player on the Redhawks, was an all-section selection in high school and averaged a double-double in scoring and rebounding in her senior season.

She is averaging 3.4 rebounds this season.

• Dan Deabner, a sophomore guard, netted a team-high 14 points for Thomas Jefferson in a 63-52 section loss last week at home to Belle Vernon.

Sophomore forward Shane Stump and sophomore guard Isaac McNeil added eight points apiece for the Jaguars, and junior guard John Adams and senior guard/forward Garret Fairman chipped in with seven apiece.

• Baldwin's Jamil Khalil (160), Gehrig Hutchison (182) and Connor Sidoruk (170) placed fourth, fifth and sixth in their respective weight classes at the 2017 Steve DeAugustino holiday wrestling classic at West Mifflin.

• The Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team, with an 8-1 record, was ranked No. 7 in the TribLIVE High School Sports Network's latest power rankings, which have zero classification boundaries. The Jaguars were ranked No. 1 in Class 5A in the Tribune-Review weekly basketball rankings.

• Seton LaSalle's boys team was ranked third in Class 3A by the Tribune-Review: Brentwood's girls team was ranked fifth in Class 2A.

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Baldwin, Brentwood, Seton-LaSalle, Thomas Jefferson