A-K Valley basketball notebook: Stretch run for playoff contenders

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 17, 2019 | 7:57 PM

The WPIAL basketball season is hitting its stretch run, as girls basketball teams began the second half of section play Thursday. Boys will do the same Friday. If the standings at the midpoint of the section season are any indication, there should be some intriguing playoff races in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

A pair of boys basketball results Tuesday — Burrell’s 49-42 win over Valley in Section 3-3A and Riverview’s 59-39 triumph over Springdale in Section 1-2A — forced three-way ties for third place in each section.

Burrell is deadlocked at 3-3 in the section along with Shady Side Academy and Steel Valley, a game behind second-place Valley. Riverview and Springdale are tied with Winchester Thurston at 4-3, two games behind co-leaders Sto-Rox and Summit Academy and a game ahead of Apollo-Ridge at 3-4.

Leechburg, meanwhile, earned a first-place tie with St. Joseph in Section 3-A thanks to a 59-46 win Tuesday, and Knoch, Highlands and Freeport make up the top three teams in Section 1-4A.

In girls basketball, Fox Chapel is tied with Seneca Valley for third place in Section 1-6A at 4-3. Both are a game ahead of Shaler. Plum is tied with Armstrong for fourth place in Section 2-5A at 3-3, and Deer Lakes is tied for second place in Section 3-3A, a game ahead of Derry and East Allegheny.

The most crowded race involving local teams is in Section 1-4A, where Knoch holds third place with a 4-3 record, with Apollo-Ridge, Greensburg Salem and Indiana tied for fourth at 3-4, and Burrell still in the running at 2-5.

Given the top four teams in each section, plus ties, advance to the playoffs, any section victory likely means double in the second half of the season.

“Our plan since we won last year is to come back and play every team as hard as possible and hopefully be back in the section race for a championship,” Burrell senior Andrew Bigler said.

Matinee matchup

Leechburg boys basketball coach Corey Smith gave his team a specific instruction before last week’s Section 3-A game at Clairton: no sleeping on the bus.

While most section games start at night, the Blue Devils and Clairton played at 4 p.m. The WPIAL required Clairton to play its home games in the afternoon this season and next, part of the discipline the league handed down after a brawl between the Bears and Monessen during a game last February, a melee that even involved spectators leaving the stands to join the fight.

With the unusual start time, Smith said he made sure to emphasize the importance of having something to eat and not sleeping on the bus in order to avoid sluggishness during the game.

“I told them it was a huge section game,” Smith said.

Leechburg (9-5, 5-1) pulled out a 60-54 road win.

St. Joseph will have to deal with the section matinee Jan. 25 when the Spartans visit Clairton for a 4 p.m. tipoff.

Passing over

Riverview junior Sydney McDonough scored 14 points in the Raiders’ 57-8 win over Springdale on Wednesday, but her ball distribution helped her set a school record.

McDonough had seven assists in the victory, setting the Riverview career record with 251 by surpassing 2016 graduate Nicole Munion’s total of 249.

McDonough was averaging 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game through Wednesday.

Mustang rally

The Plum girls basketball team got off to a slow start after making a run to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs last season, but the Mustangs appear to be stabilizing.

Even after a Section 2-5A loss to Class 5A No. 4 Gateway on Tuesday, Plum (6-7, 3-3) goes into Friday’s nonsection game at Class A No. 2 Greensburg Central Catholic with four wins in its past five games.

An improved defense is keying Plum’s success: the Mustangs allowed 33.5 points per game, 10 fewer than their season average, during the four-game winning streak that preceded the Gateway loss.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Leechburg