All-time WPIAL girls basketball championship games No. 8: 1986 Penn Hills team defeats Elizabeth Forward
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Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | 6:39 PM
The TribLive High School Sports Network will be counting down the Top 10 boys and girls WPIAL basketball championship games leading up to the 2018 title games March 1-3 at the Petersen Events Center.
TRIBHSSN is the exclusive audio and video home for all 12 WPIAL championship games, which will be broadcasted and video streamed live at TribHSSN.triblive.com.
Here is the third installment of a 10-part series ranking the top WPIAL girls basketball championship games in district history.
No. 8: 1986 — WPIAL Class 4A finals: Penn Hills 42, Elizabeth Forward 39
Teams that have won multiple championships in a row or over a short period of time always seem to have a special place in their heart for that first title. So it was for the Penn Hills girls basketball team, mostly because its three-point victory over Elizabeth Forward in 1986 was by far the closest of their seven consecutive WPIAL championship game victories.
Penn Hills had a breakout season under first-year coach Bill Lind. After beating Beaver Falls in the WPIAL semifinals, the Indians carried a 24-1 record into the third ever Quad-A girls finals against a tall Elizabeth Forward team. The Warriors had won 22 straight games to propel them into the WPIAL finals for the first time in 10 years.
While she did not finish among the game's leading scorers, Barb Sweeney of Penn Hills was pivotal in a tight fourth quarter, scoring six points, including a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left that helped ice the victory. Connie Hurt led the Indians with 14 points while teammate Kris Josefoski added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Elizabeth Forward standout Diane Dobrich led all scorers with 23 points.
These two teams would meet again in the 1990 Quad-A district title game with Penn Hills winning 51-26. Elizabeth Forward did not make another girls basketball title game appearance until 2013.
Penn Hills' magical seven-year championship run from 1986 through 1992 is still the longest consecutive WPIAL title run in girls basketball history.
Don Rebel is a TribLIVE High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.
Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Penn Hills
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