Hilary Sauer scored 11 points and her twin sister
Haley Sauer added nine, as
Shaler Area (Pittsburgh) overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to stun two-time defending WPIAL and PIAA champion
Mt. Lebanon (Pittsburgh) 41-35 in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game Saturday at Duquesne University.
"No one gave us a chance," Shaler head coach Eric Mozzetti told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We love being the underdogs. I'll be the underdog the rest of the way."
Shaler (26-2) trailed 18-9 at halftime but outscored Mt. Lebanon (20-6) 21-7 in the third quarter to get back into the game.
Mt. Lebanon, which was held to its lowest point total since scoring 33 in a loss to North Catholic Jan. 6, 2007, shot 15.3 percent from the field and 17 of 39 from the free-throw line.
Notre Dame recruit
Madison Cable led the Blue Devils, who will still get a shot at defending their PIAA title, with 12 points.
BLACKHAWK, SETON LaSALLE, NORTH CATHOLIC WIN WPIAL GIRLS TITLESThe other three WPIAL girls championships went to
Blackhawk (Beaver Falls) in Class AAA,
Seton LaSalle (Pittsburgh) in Class AA and
North Catholic (Pittsburgh) in Class A.
Blackhawk won its first WPIAL title since 2000 while picking up the 600th win in school history with a 63-49 win over Ambridge Saturday thanks to 21 points from
Alexa Hayward, who hit five 3-pointers.
Alexis Graham (12) and
Halle Denman (11) also reached double digits for the Cougars (21-5).
Sam Santiago scored 18 to lead Ambridge (20-7)
Seton-LaSalle had no trouble topping defending champion Jeannette 74-29 Friday night. The 74 points are the most ever in a WPIAL Class AA title game and the 45-point margin is the largest ever in a WPIAL girls championship game. The Rebels (24-2) led 37-15 at halftime thanks to a 22-6 second-quarter advantage and then outscored the Jayhawks 25-11 in the third quarter. Freshman
Naje Gibson led Seton-LaSalle with 16 points with most coming after the game was decided.
Angela Heintz added 14,
Jordan Dwyer 13,
Emily Marecic 11 and
Amy O'Keefe 10. Sophomore
Ciara Gregory, the hero of last year's title game for Jeannette (17-9), had a team-high eight points.
North Catholic took home its 16th WPIAL title with a 49-43 win over a Fort Cherry squad that didn't quit despite being down 18 late in the game. The Rangers (22-4) used a 12-0 run late to put a scare in the Trojanettes (19-7), who led 31-14 at halftime.
Kendall Hoffman led North Catholic with 15 points, while
Rebekah Bellhy had 13 for Fort Cherry.
GATEWAY, MONTOUR, MONESSEN, VINCENTIAN ACADEMY WIN WPIAL BOYS TITLESFirst-time champions were the story of the WPIAL boys basketball championships with
Gateway (Monroeville) in Class AAAA,
Montour (McKees Rocks) in Class AAA and
Vincentian Academy (Pittsburgh) winning the first titles in school history, while
Monessen won the fourth title under head coach Joe Salvino, who has been at the school 27 years.
Tyler Scott scored 20 points and
Barnett Harris added 11 to lead Gateway (22-4) to a 58-43 win over Chartiers Valley (20-6), which won the Class AAA WPIAL title last year and was the PIAA runner-up before moving up to Class AAAA this season.
Matt Noszka led the Colts with 16 points. A 17-6 fourth quarter helped Gateway pull away.
After losing twice in the regular season to South Fayette, Montour beat the Lions, who won the PIAA Class AA championship a year ago before moving up to Class AAA, when it counted the most getting a 45-34 win Friday night. Austin Heter led the Spartans (19-7) with 11 points and Devin Wilson added 10.
Mike Lamberti had 13 points to lead South Fayette (22-2).
Monessen (23-2) had four players score in double digits to beat Greensburg Central Catholic 63-43.
Jalin Madison had 13 points to lead the Greyhounds, who are actually a Class A team playing up a classification, with
Cam Johnson adding 12 and
Jeff Francia and Earl Pinkney 11 each.
Jesse Reed led all scorers with 20 points for Greensburg Central Catholic (22-3), which was the top seed in the tournament.
John Bray scored 21 points to lead Vincentian Academy (24-1) to a 67-61 win over Lincoln Park Friday. Lincoln Park (17-7) lost despite getting 22 points and 20 rebounds from
Devontae Watson and 19 points from
Chaquille Pratt. Adam Dian added 13 points for Vincentian.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC, BROOKVILLE, ST. MARYS TAKE HOME DISTRICT 9 BOYS TITLES In District 9,
Elk County Catholic (St. Marys) (Class A),
Brookville (Class AA) and
St. Marys (Class AAA) took home boys' championships with Brookville winning its second in a row.
ECC (24-4) won its 19th District 9 title (17 in Class A) since 1981 and its ninth in 11 years thanks to a 51-39 win over Union-Rimersburg (20-7), which was looking for its first title since 1981. Mitch Haberberger led ECC with 16 points, while Brody Pollock had a game-high 21 points for Union.
Brookville took home its second straight Class AA title with a 58-49 win over Moniteau, which was looking for its first championship. Six-foot-6 junior Zane Hackett led the Raiders (22-2) with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Kyle Armagost paced Moniteau (15-9) with 22 points.
St. Marys won its first District 9 Class AAA title since 2000 with a 49-37 win over defending champion Bradford (7-17).
Justin Quiggle had 17 points and
Ryan Mancuso 16 for the Dutchmen (17-7), who were 2-18 last year.
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