Westmoreland basketball playoff capsule: Game for Tuesday, March 9, 2021
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Monday, March 8, 2021 | 2:33 PM
Mt. Pleasant’s Tiffany Zelmore (back) fouls Southmoreland’s Gracie Spadaro during their WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal playoff game Friday, March 5, 2021, at Southmoreland High School.
Here’s a look at Tuesday’s WPIAL basketball playoff game involving a Westmoreland County team:
Girls
Class 4A
Semifinals
3-Southmoreland (16-4) at 2-Quaker Valley (14-4)
6 p.m. Tuesday
Coaches: Amber Cernuto, Southmoreland; Tom Demko, Quaker Valley
Winner plays: Winner of 4-Knoch (10-1) at 1-Beaver (18-0) in WPIAL championship, 5 p.m. Friday at Peters Township
About Southmoreland: A win away from their second straight WPIAL title game appearance, the Scotties will take to the road for the first time this postseason after two wins that upped their home winning streak to 32. They defeated fellow Westmoreland team Mt. Pleasant in the quarterfinals, 54-23, shutting out the Vikings in the third quarter. Sophomore Maddie Moore led the scoring with 17 points, and sophomore Olivia Cernuto added 15 and junior forward Gracie Spadaro 11. Southmoreland is allowing the second-fewest points in 4A with a 32-point average. Cernuto, Spadaro, Moore and junior Delaynie Morvosh have playoff experience from last year’s run. The Scotties used a hot-shooting night to take down Central Valley, 64-51, in last year’s semifinals to improve to 24-0, before losing to North Catholic in the championship.
About Quaker Valley: The Quakers have won five in a row, one of the wins by forfeit, and 10 of 11. They took care of No. 7 Montour, 68-39, in the quarterfinals as 5-foot-11 senior standout Bailey Garbee scored 23 points. Garbee (18 ppg) is an American recruit. Another 5-11 senior, Claire Kuzma, had 14 points and Corrine Washington — she’s 5-11, too — had 10 in the victory. Washington is a 1,000-point scorer and a Boston U commit. Garbee scored 32 against Blackhawk. The Quakers accepted a forfeit from New Castle in the first round. They have two tight losses to Beaver, the No. 1 seed, by scores of 40-37 and 48-42. They beat 2A semifinalist Sewickley Academy, 34-30, and lost by only three to 6A Mt. Lebanon. Quaker Valley lost to North Catholic in the quarterfinals last year, 47-31.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Quaker Valley, Southmoreland
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