A-K Valley girls basketball playoff capsules: Games for Monday, Feb. 17, 2020
By:
Sunday, February 16, 2020 | 6:41 PM
Monday’s games
Girls
Class 4A
First round
No. 7 Freeport (16-6) vs. No. 10 Belle Vernon (16-6)
6:30 p.m. at North Hills
Winner plays: No. 2 Southmoreland (22-0) on Saturday in quarterfinals
Coaches: Fred Soilis, Freeport; Ronnie Drennen, Belle Vernon
Points scored/allowed: Freeport, 55.8/44.4; Belle Vernon, 50.5/39
Players to watch: Sidney Shemanski, Freeport (Sr., G/F); Rachel Wobrak, Belle Vernon (Sr., G/F)
About Freeport: Freeport tied with Knoch for second place in Section 1. The Yellowjackets have a pair of 1,000-point scorers in Shemanski and Harley Holloway. They have the fifth-ranked scoring offense in Class 4A. Freshman Melaina DeZort is a shooting threat from outside.
About Belle Vernon: The Leopards finished third in Section 3 but won eight of their last 10 games, including a victory over second-place McKeesport. They rank third in team defense in Class 4A. Seniors Wobrak and Vienna Bertram and junior Taylor Rodriguez are complemented by a talented freshman crop led by Viva Kreis and Jenna Dawson.
No. 6 Knoch (16-6) vs. No. 11 New Castle (13-9)
6:30 p.m. at Fox Chapel
Winner plays: No. 3 Central Valley (17-3) on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Coaches: Chris Andreassi, Knoch; Kara Joseph, New Castle
Points scored/allowed: Knoch, 52.7/43.6; New Castle, 49.3/50.2
Players to watch: Madilyn Boyer, Knoch (soph., G); Aayanni Hudson, New Castle (soph., G)
About Knoch: The Knights finished tied for second place in Section 1-4A with Freeport at 11-3. The teams split their season series. Knoch is in the WPIAL playoffs for the third straight year and is seeking its first postseason victory since 2009. Boyer, seniors Lauren Cihonski and Abbey Shearer, junior Nevaeh Ewing and freshman Nina Shaw are scoring threats for the Knights. An eight-game winning streak was halted by Class 4A No. 1 seed North Catholic in the regular-season finale.
About New Castle: Hudson fuels the Red Hurricanes offense at 17.0 points a game. New Castle finished as the No. 4 team from Section 2-4A behind No. 3 seed Central Valley, No. 4 Blackhawk and No. 8 Quaker Valley. The Red Hurricanes are in the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2012, when they went 1-1 and made the quarterfinals. New Castle won back-to-back WPIAL Class AAA championships in ‘09 and ’10 and captured Class AAAA titles in ’04 and ’07.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Knoch, New Castle
More Basketball
• WPIAL launches investigations into Baldwin, Imani Christian over ‘possible recruiting violations’• Penn Hills notebook: Basketball grad to play professionally in Ireland
• New coach Gabby Baldasare excited to fill big shoes with North Allegheny girls basketball
• Woodland Hills provides ‘right situation’ for Steve Scorpion’s 2nd chance as head coach
• Gene Brisbane resigns as Derry girls basketball coach
