WPIAL basketball playoffs ready to begin
As the dust settles on the 2014-15 high school basketball season, Greene County will have three teams alive in the WPIAL playoffs starting next weekend.
The Jefferson-Morgan girls and the Jefferson-Morgan and the Waynesburg Central boys have qualified for the WPIAL’s second season and are postseason bound in 2015.
But before we talk playoffs, let’s talk about the final night of the regular season tonight.
J-M welcomes Mapletown in a Section 3-A girl-boy doubleheader tonight. The girls game starts at 6 p.m., while the boys will play at 7:30.
Carmichaels hosts Waynesburg tonight in a Section 4-AA basketball doubleheader with the boys game at 6 p.m. and the girls competing at 7:30.
West Greene boys travels to Avella this evening to conclude the season with a tip-off at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Pioneers ended their season Thursday with a trip to Avella.
In the game of the week, the J-M boys qualified for the playoffs on Tuesday after a 49-33 victory over West Greene.
Both teams played evenly over the first 24 minutes, but the Rockets (10-9, 5-5) dominated the action in the fourth quarter by holding a 15-0 scoring advantage.
J-M connected on seven 3-pointers in the contest and made 9-of-10 free throws in the final 1:25 to secure the section triumph.
Jefferson-Morgan followed that up with a convincing 72-44 victory over visiting Geibel Catholic on Wednesday and can clinch third place in the section behind Monessen and California with a win over Mapletown tonight.
For the Pioneers (7-14, 4-7), they were denied a postseason trip this year and are still in search of its first playoff spot over the last two decades.
Despite a non-section road loss to California on Tuesday, the Raiders (13-7, 8-3) have won four of their last six Section 4-AA games and are looking towards the playoffs.
If Waynesburg wins at Carmichaels tonight and if Brownsville drops their section finale to Frazier, the Raiders will tie the Falcons for second place in the section.
Despite having difficult seasons with their young and inexperienced rosters, the Mikes (5-15, 1-9) and the Maples (2-19, 1-10) will be playing for county pride tonight.
On the girls’ side, the Lady Rockets (18-2, 11-2) will finish in second place in Section 3-A behind California.
J-M is ranked fifth in the latest MSA Sports Class A Top 10 rankings.
Both the Lady Maples (5-16, 3-10) and the Lady Pioneers (0-21, 0-13) will finish in the bottom half of Section 3-A, while the Lady Mikes (8-13, 2-9) and the Lady Raiders (2-14, 0-11) are outside of the playoff picture in Section 4-AA.
Jefferson-Morgan saw its wrestling season come to an end on Saturday at Canon-McMillan with a 38-30 semifinal defeat to Burrell and a 37-30 consolation loss to South Fayette.
The Rockets were eliminated from the PIAA Team Wrestling tournament with the losses
Despite the two close defeats, J-M did have something to celebrate as senior Brendan Howard broke the school record for wins in a career with 144. Howard recorded technical fall decisions at 126 pounds in both bouts
J-M, along with Mapletown and West Greene, will compete in the WPIAL Class AA Individual Sectionals on Feb. 14 at McGuffey High School.
As for Waynesburg, the WPIAL Class AAA Individual Sectionals are on Feb. 21 at Trinity High School.
With basketball and wrestling campaigns coming to an end, the rifle season for Waynesburg and West Greene is also ending.
Both squads concluded their regular seasons on Feb. 5 with the Raiders traveling to Washington and the Pioneers hosting McGuffey.
Waynesburg is currently second in Section 1 behind undefeated McGuffey, while West Greene sits in fifth place in the competitive section.
The WPIAL Team Rifle Championships are on Feb. 10 and the WPIAL Individual Rifle Championships are on Feb. 12.