A year ago, the
Indiana (Pa.) girls basketball team nearly made history coming within a game of winning the PIAA Class AAA title before falling to Archbishop Wood.
This season, the Lady Indians are looking to make a return trip to State College with a pit stop in Pittsburgh for the WPIAL Class AAA championships, a spot Indiana missed out on last year after losing to New Castle in the WPIAL semifinals.
This season, Indiana is right back on top at 18-1 with the lone loss coming to District 10 powerhouse Mercyhurst Prep by three at the end of January.
"Our team motivation is we want to get that No. 1 seed in the WPIAL," Indiana head coach Dave Woodall told the Indiana Gazette. "To do that, we're going to have to win the rest of our games. We really want to go after that No. 1 seed, which would really help us down the road. I think that's our motivation."
Senior
Leslie Stapleton leads the way for Indiana averaging 17.5 points per game, the 17th-best mark in the WPIAL. Stapleton is one of five seniors on the Indiana team, and those seniors have gone a combined 66-10 over the past three seasons.
"The seniors just don't like to lose," Woodall said. "They're not kids that are accustomed to losing, and they don't want to lose. They've already tasted that once this year. They don't want to do it again."
SCHOOL RECORD SETTERS ABOUNDThree school scoring records fell in western Pennsylvania over the past two weeks with new record holders at Venango Catholic in Oil City, Mars Area and North Clarion.
At Venango Catholic,
Maxx Rynd broke a school record that had stood for 41 years and now has 1,588 career points through Monday. He broke the record of 1,512 set by Dave Lynch way back in 1969. Venango Catholic is 18-0 on the season and is looking for its first District 9 title and its first district title since winning the District 10 championship in 1984.
At Mars,
Christian Locher became the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,210 points and has helped the Planets get into a position to win their first section title since 1987, the only section title in school history.
It was a family affair at North Clarion, as
Jeremy Schmader topped the school record of 1,548 points set by his older brother Justin in 2007. He scored 24 points Monday night and has 1,549 career tallies.
BURRELL, CANON-McMILLEN DEFEND WPIAL TEAM WRESTLING TITLES
Burrell (Lower Burrell) and
Canon-McMillan (Canonsburg) successfully defended their WPIAL team wrestling crowns Saturday.
Burrell won its WPIAL-record fifth straight Class AA title with a 54-20 win over Chartiers-Houston, while Canon-McMillen took home its second consecutive title with a 36-19 win over Latrobe.
It was a pinfest for Burrell, as the Buccaneers posted eight falls out of its 10 wins. Zach Kelly at 112 pounds, Dave Makara at 130, Jeremy Landowski at 135, Cole Harkins at 140, Travis McKillop at 160, Dakota DesLauriers at 171, Jay Taylor at 189 and Brian Beattie at 215 recorded the Burrell pins.
Canon-McMillen got four wins on its way to the title with the biggest coming from heavyweight Cody Klempay who came up with a fall after the Big Macs had fallen behind 16-15. That started a run that saw Canon-McMillen get three pins down the stretch to get the victory. Also picking up pins for the Big Macs were Colton Shorts at 103, Sammy Minor at 125 and Alec Hutchin at 130.
MT. LEBANON GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM BACK IN CONTENTION
The
Mt. Lebanon (Pittsburgh) girls basketball team is the two-time defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA champion and has made three straight PIAA Class AAAA title games.
But with only two starters back from last season, things got off to a slow start for the Blue Devils, who were 1-4, albeit against a tough schedule after five games. But since then, Mt. Lebanon has won 13 of 14 games and 11 in a row to cement itself as the favorite to tri-peat in the WPIAL.
Senior
Madison Cable, a Notre Dame recruit who had 30 points in last year's PIAA Championship game, leads the way for the Blue Devils, averaging 17.5 points per game.
BROCKWAY BOYS BASKETBALL HAS FIRST 1,000-POINT SCORER IN 13 YEARS
Nick Anderson of Brockway became the first 1,000-point scorer at the school since Bill Clinton occupied the White House when he scored 15 points in a loss to Ridgway last week.
Anderson is the first Rover to reach 1,000 points since Charlie Martz did it in 1998.
