By Chris Rossetti, www.d9sports.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
JEANETTE – After a shocking 41-36 loss in late December to Butler, which has seven wins this year, things weren’t looking all that pretty for the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AA boys champion Jeannette.
But since that loss, which dropped the Jayhawks to 7-3 on the season, Jeannette has caught fire winning 12 straight to close the regular season with a mark of 19-3 overall and 12-0 in Section 4-AA while running its section winning streak to 40 games across two sections. Not only have the Jayhawks been winning, but they have done it in convincing fashion outscoring their opponents by over 20 points a game (67.1 points per game to 45.9 points per game) with only two games decided by less than 10 points.
Jeannette put a capper on that streak with a strong second-half performance Friday in a 70-59 win over rival Greensburg Central Catholic.
The Jayhawks found themselves tied with the Centurions at 31 headed into halftime and trailing GCC (15-7, 9-3) 37-35 in the third quarter. But Jeannette used an 11-3 run to take a 46-40 lead going to the fourth quarter, and then, thanks in large part to a 14-1 spurt in the quarter, outscored the Centurions 24-19 in the final eight minutes to secure the win.
“I love beating these guys (GCC),” Jeannette’s Moziah Harris, who had 19 points, told the Greensburg Tribune-Review. “There’s nothing better than beating these guys, the way they talk … and on their Senior Night, one of their guys said they were going to beat us. But we proved them wrong.”
Jordan Hall, an Ohio State football signee, led Jeannette with 28 points, while Chris Tamasy had 19 and Adam Palcic 18 for GCC.
WPIAL Girls Basketball: Elizabeth-Forward earns share of Section Title
Elizabeth-Forward earned a share of the WPIAL Section 5-AAA title Thursday night with a 39-36 win over Thomas Jefferson, which could have won the Section outright with a win.
Both teams finish section play at 9-1 with their only losses coming to each other.
“We’ve been all playing together since fourth grade,” E-F forward Paige Pearce told the McKeesport Daily News. “It’s just amazing for all of us to still be here and win section champs. Even as co-champs, it’s still amazing.”
Pearce played a big role in the win over TJ (12-9) scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds for the Lady Warriors (13-9), who won the 11th Section title in head coach John Hearn’s 22-year career.
“I’m really, really, really proud of these kids,” Hearn told the McKeesport Daily News. “I can’t say enough about these five seniors. They are good players, good people.”
Kristen Hawkins added 11 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots for E-F.
In other WPIAL girls basketball action Thursday, Greensburg Central Catholic denied Jeannette, which got 29 points from Kayla Cook, its first section title in 23 years going on 10-0 run to erase a nine-point deficit and get a 62-61 win. Megan DePrimio had seven of her team-high 26 points during the run for GCC, which claimed a piece of the Section 4-AA crown with Shady Side Academy thanks to an 81-47 win over Riverview Friday.
DePrimio added 27 points in that win over Riverview and then followed it up with 13 more Saturday in a 63-46 victory over Derry giving her 66 points in three days.
Also on Thursday, the four MaxPreps.com Top 25 teams from the WPIAL each had easy times.
No. 6 Mt. Lebanon topped Upper St. Clair 67-36 behind 16 points from Emily Miller and 14 from Madison Cable, while No. 17 Bethel Park, whose only two losses have come to Mt. Lebanon, beat Baldwin 61-30 thanks to 18 points from Candice Martino and 14 from Danielle McNabb. Meanwhile, No. 21 Butler gave head coach Dorothea Epps her 100th career victory 64-49 over Seneca Valley behind 19 points from Olivia Bresnahan and 14 from Casie Cygan, and No. 22 New Castle rolled over Ellwood City 90-27 thanks to 17 points from Shelby Rogers.
On Friday, Monessen coach Major Corley went out a winner in his final home games thanks to a 69-25 win over California. Corley, who is stepping down after the season following 23 years as Monessen’s head coach, watched his team take a 43-13 lead into halftime. Samone Stepoli led the Greyhounds (17-5) with 18 points.
WPIAL Boys Basketball: Seneca Valley wins first Section title
Behind 18 points from Christian Durbin and 15 from C.J. Brown Seneca Valley won its first-ever Section title in boys basketball with a 72-60 win over visiting Butler Friday night.
With the victory, the Raiders claimed the Section 3-AAAA title with a 9-3 mark.
“These kids deserve it,” Seneca Valley head coach Vic Giannotta told the Butler Eagle. “They’ve worked for it all year. Our theme all season has been ‘Next,’ but I didn’t have a section title in mind with that. It was about doing something more in the postseason.”
Also on Friday, Serra Catholic’s T.J. Heatherington scored his 1,000th career point in an 80-36 win over Clairton that helped the Eagles earn a tie for the Section 3-A crown with the Bears, while sending a message to the rest of the WPIAL Class A that the Eagles are serious about defending their WPIAL title from last year. Heatherington had 29 points for the defending PIAA Class A championships giving him 1,011 for his career.
Meanwhile, the three MaxPreps.com state ranked teams from the WPIAL got wins Friday as well.
No. 2 Chartiers Valley, the lone unbeaten boys’ team in the WPIAL at 21-0, rolled past West Allegheny 90-63 thanks in large part to a 52-point first half.
Two Colts players reached double figures led by 23 points from Teagan Lindsey. Eli Maravich added 20 points, while T.J. McConnell had 13 and Qayne Capers 10.
No. 16 Peters Township (19-2) rebounded from a loss earlier in the week to beat Cannon-McMillan 92-82 in overtime behind 34 points from Nick Wilcox and 22 from Craig Wolcott. Cannon-McMillan got 27 tallies from Chad Hagan and 26 from Kionte’ Davis but was outscored 18-8 in overtime. The Indians then beat Thomas Jefferson 64-38 Saturday behind 28 points from Wolcott and 19 from Wilcox.
Meanwhile, No. 24 South Fayette had four players score in double figures led by 17 points from Mike Lamberti and 13 from Mike Burroughs in a 67-51 win over Carlynton.
District 9 Girls Basketball: Coudersport; ECC win league title
In District 9 girls basketball action Friday, Coudersport and Elk County Catholic each won league titles.
Coudersport captured its fourth straight North Tier League crown with a 73-31 win over Smethport thanks to 24 points and seven rebounds from sophomore Jenna Matzinger, who was in sixth grade the last time the Lady Falcons weren’t NTL champs. The win was the 55th straight NTL victory for Coudersport, which is now 121-3 in NTL play since 2001 and 143-8 since 1999 when Matzinger was in kindergarten. The win was also the 69th straight NTL win for Coudersport head coach Brian Green, who won the league title in 2005 when he was at Northern Potter before moving over to coach Coudersport in 2006.
ECC, meanwhile, clinched the D9 League title with a 53-44 win over St. Marys. Kaitlyn Geci led three players in double figures with 17 points for the Lady Crusaders, who early in the year clinched the AML-North title (they play in two different leagues).
Also on Friday, Kane’s Bree Bergman scored 10 points in a 43-34 overtime win over Curwensville to become the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,040 points surpassing Jessica McDivitt’s total of 1,037.
On Wednesday, Keystone’s Sam Schwabenbauer became the fifth player in school history to score 1,000 career points when the junior netted nine in a 46-41 upset win over Union. She also had 19 rebounds and eight steals in the victory.
Wednesday also saw Karns City’s Ashley Campbell score a District 9-season high 41 points in a 59-40 win over A-C Valley. Campbell scored 23 of her points from the foul line where she went 23 of 26. She is just the third District 9 girls’ player since 2001 to score 40 points in a game joining Smethport’s Jen Cole (42 in 2003) and Venango Catholic Sarah McNellie (41 in 2007).
District 9 Boys Basketball: North Clarion; Clearfield take home titles
North Clarion claimed the KSAC-North title, its first conference or division championship in at least a decade and a half with a 73-31 win over Karns City Saturday. The Wolves, who will played Keystone Saturday in the KSAC title game, got 28 points from sophomore Jeremy Schmader.
On Wednesday, Clearfield clinched its first D9 League title since 1999 with a 64-56 win over Elk County Catholic. The Bisons, who were the last team not named ECC or Bradford to win the D9 League title, got 18 points from Matt Shiner and 13 from Jarrin Campman.
Also on Wednesday, Venango Catholic sophomore Maxx Rynd scored a career-high 42 points in a 70-69 win at Clarion. The Vikings won the game on two free throws from Mark Kulinksi with 7.1 seconds left. It was the fourth time this season Rynd has gone over 30 points, and the 42 points are a season-high in District 9 and are tied for the 10th most in the district since 2001. Rynd scored 25 points in the second half and 37 in the final three quarters.
District 10 Boys Basketball: Conneaut Valley needs six overtimes to grab win
If playing a six overtime game isn’t unusual enough in itself, Conneaut Valley and Cochranton added a twist to the unusual Friday night combining to score six points in the extra sessions – including four completely scoreless overtime periods, before Conneaut Valley secured a 45-43 win over a jumper in the lane from Casey Baker with 2.6 seconds left in the sixth extra session.
Conneaut Valley, which was tied with Cochranton at 41 at the end of regulation, held the ball for the entire length of the first two overtimes before missing buzzer-beating shots at the end of both.
Then, after the third overtime had gone nearly the entire four minutes without a score, Cochranton fouled Conneaut Valley’s Jeff Conley with seven seconds left. Conley hit both free throws to put the Indians ahead 43-41, but Cochranton’s Adam Roche forced a fourth overtime with a horn-beating layup. Neither team scored in the fourth extra session, and then they played a scoreless fifth overtime before Baker, who had missed buzzer-beating shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime, finally ended the strange affair at the end of the sixth extra session.
On Saturday, Mercyhurst Prep’s Josh Chojnacki, a 6-foot-8 center, scored 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots to lead Mercyhurst Prep to a convincing 59-34 win over Erie Strong Vincent Saturday. Twenty of Chojnacki points came in the first half helping the Lakers (18-2) take a 37-15 halftime lead.
Also on Saturday, North East’s David Coburn had 30 points in a 71-66 win over Harbor Creek, while Oil City’s Matt May had 27 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots in a 43-39 victory over Meadville.
District 10 Girls Basketball: No. 24 Villa Maria claims Region 4 title
Villa Maria, ranked 24th in Pennsylvania girls basketball by MaxPreps.com, claimed the outright District 10 Region 4 title with a 58-37 win over Eisenhower Thursday. Kayla McBride led the Victors with 16 points and seven assists.
Also on Thursday, General McLane beat Mercyhurst Prep 52-49 in a showdown of two of the top teams in Class AAA in both District 10 and the state while avenging its only loss of the season.
Julia Myers led General McLane with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Autumn Anderson had 15 points and Lindsay Stamp 14 for Mercyhurst Prep.
On Wednesday, Greenville’s Larae Tymochko scored 18 points in a 42-28 win at Mercer to become Greenville’s all-time leading scorer with 1,337 points. The previous school mark of 1,333 was held by Pualani Spurlock.
