Penn Hills Progress notebook: Palumbo places at Gateway tournament

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, December 19, 2021 | 11:01 AM

Anthony Palumbo was the top performer for the Penn Hills wrestling team when it opened the season at the Eastern Area Invitational on Dec. 10 at Gateway.

The 215-pound senior beat Bethel Park’s Anthony Zaborowski to finish in fifth place at 215 pounds. Palumbo went 4-2 at the tournament with two pins to help the Indians place 16th as a team.

Three Penn Hills wrestlers won in the first round. Palumbo, Dominic Frollo (152 pounds) and Aidan Pham (215) all recorded pins to move into the quarterfinals.

Strong start

The Penn Hills boys basketball team moved to 3-0 after winning a close decision over City League giant Allderdice, 61-54, last Tuesday. Penn Hills (3-0) was able to score the victory thanks to 14 points from Jaden Dugger and Daemar Kelly.

The Indians opened the season by winning both of their games at the Central Catholic Tournament, toppling defending WPIAL Class A champion Bishop Canevin and beating Class 6A Mt. Lebanon.

Getting their feet wet

Penn Hills junior Olivia Grainey leads the Indians’ girls bowling team with 121.17 average after the first two matches of the season with a high game of 131. Indians freshman Nick Hepler has a 164 average for the boys’ team with a high game of 214. Both the boys and girls team are off to 0-2 starts.

Sipple thrives

Stephanie Sipple, a Penn Hills graduate, had a strong performance at the three-day Wooster Invitational for Edinboro. Sipple won the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly. She also teamed up with Leia Ross, Avery Zuk and Paige Smith to win the 800 freestyle relay.

Looking for scoring punch

The Indians girls basketball team knew there would be growing pains following graduation losses. Penn Hills’ 0-3 start reflects that. Teams haven’t put up a ton of points on the Indians — Penn Hills limits its opponents to 44 points per game — but they haven’t scored much.

Penn Hills is being limited to 26.3 points per game and has yet to score over 30 in a game this season. The Indians scored 29 in losses to Our Lady of Sacred Heart and Plum.

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