WPIAL girls basketball semifinals continue for Class 6A, A in Tuesday’s 3 games to watch

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 26, 2018 | 6:09 PM

Three days of WPIAL girls basketball semifinals continues Tuesday as the spotlight shines on Class 6A and Class A with four Final Four contests.

Three of the four finalists a year ago in these two classifications — North Allegheny, Bethel Park and Winchester Thurston — are still alive and hope to punch their ticket to The Pete again if they can win Tuesday.

Class 6A semifinals: North Allegheny vs. Mt. Lebanon at Fox Chapel, 6 p.m.

After winning gold a year ago for the first time in 45 years, the wait for more gold for North Allegheny fans may not take nearly a half-century. The Tigers have been nothing but dominant all season in winning 23 straight games. Only four of those wins have been decided by single digits, and only one of those four was against WPIAL competition (NA beat Norwin, 61-52, on Dec. 9).

As the top seed, North Allegheny made its playoff debut Friday after a first-round bye and cruised past Upper St. Clair in the quarterfinals 45-26. NA only led 9-7 after the first quarter, but the Tigers pitched a shutout in the second quarter and led 17-7 at the half. Rachel Martindale once again led North Allegheny with 19 points.

Mt. Lebanon has been a dominant program since Dori Oldaker took over in 2003, including three district titles in four years between 2009 and 2012. Alyssa Hyland hit a pair of late free throws as Mt. Lebanon held on to beat Penn Hills, 31-30, in the first round. Hyland scored 15 points again, but Haley Sabol led the Blue Devils with 16 points in their 53-40 ousting of Norwin in the district quarterfinals.

Class 6A semifinals: Peters Township vs. Bethel Park at Baldwin, 6 p.m.

One of the more-anticipated semifinals pits neighboring school districts against each other for a third time as Peters Township looks for the sweep against Bethel Park.

Peters Township squeezed out a 38-37 victory on the road four days before Christmas with the Indians scoring nearly half of their points in a big 16-point second quarter. Junior Makenna Marisa led Peters Township with 19 points.

In the rematch at Peters Township in January, Marisa scored 23 points as the Indians cruised to a 58-44 win. Marisa had 20 points in Peters Township's playoff debut in the quarterfinals, a 48-40 win over Hempfield.

Bethel Park began the season with a pedestrian 5-3 overall record before winning 12 of its final 15 games. The Black Hawks have yielded only 43.5 points per game, the fourth lowest total in the classification. Maria Cerro has picked up her game on offense for Bethel Park. She had 19 points and Olivia Westphal tallied 17 in the Black Hawks' convincing 70-50 victory over Latrobe in the district quarterfinals.

Class A semifinals: West Greene vs. Quigley Catholic at Peters Township, 6 p.m.

West Greene reached the semifinals a year ago, but had the misfortune of being on the same side as eventual WPIAL champion Winchester Thurston and fell by five to the Bears. Now, like the softball team last spring, Pioneers' fans hope their favorite team made up of many of the same players is ready for a golden run on the hardwood.

After winning Section 2-A by four games in the regular season and finishing 20-2 overall, West Greene opened the playoffs with a 73-45 whacking of Rochester in the WPIAL quarterfinals. The always-dangerous Lampe twins enjoyed postseason success with McKenna leading the way with 25 points and Madison adding 18 points. Kaitlyn Rizor added 12 for the Pioneers. This unprecedented hardwood success for West Greene comes only three years after the program finished 0-22 overall.

Quigley Catholic has enjoyed great success in recent years in girls basketball, but it has not been able to translate that into a title run. Two years ago, the Spartans reached this semifinals only to be crushed by eventual champion Vincentian Academy, 91-50. Quigley Catholic won the battle of the Spartans by beating St. Joseph in the quarterfinals 73-62.

One of the top players in the classification is Taylor Kirschner, who averages more than 19 points. She scored 27 in the opening-round win. Ashley Minert had 13 points and Haylee Drutarosky had 12 for Quigley.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Bethel Park, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, Peters Township, Quigley Catholic