Let the dance begin: Red Raiders, Leopards, Lady Falcons among teams opening basketball playoffs tonight and Saturday
The WPIAL basketball playoffs begin tonight and Saturday for 13 of the 23 area teams that have qualified for the postseason and most of those will be hitting the road.
Only four of those 13 – Uniontown, Monessen and West Greene boys tonight, and Waynesburg Central girls on Saturday – were awarded first-round home games by the WPIAL pairings committee.
Traveling tonight will be Elizabeth Forward, Southmoreland, Belle Vernon, California and Jefferson-Morgan boys squads along with Beth-Center and California girls teams. Brownsville and Mount Pleasant girls will be on the road Saturday.
Winning first-round games are crucial for any team that wants to also advance into the PIAA tournament. An opening loss means the end of the season.
In Class AAAA boys, the No. 4 Red Raiders, a state final four team a year ago, host No. 13 Quaker Valley, No. 10 Belle Vernon goes to No. 7 South Allegheny, No. 12 Elizaeth Forward travels to No. 5 North Catholic and No. 14 Southmoreland is at No. 3 Montour, all at 7 p.m.
The Leopards lost to the Gladiators in their season opener, 59-58 at the MVI Shootout Classic at Charleroi on Dec. 2, but that Belle Vernon team is much different than the one that will take the court tonight.
“In the beginning of the season, because of football lasting so long (the Leopards won the PIAA Class AAA championship on Dec. 9), you have to wait for the football players to get back and it takes some of them pretty long to get into the mindset of basketball,” Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino said.
The Leopards have played a tough schedule that included losses to several Class AAAAA playoff teams. Belle Vernon fell to North Hills (12-9), 68-67, Gateway (16-6), 73-63, and Thomas Jefferson (19-3), 99-90.
“We have been up and down,” Salvino said. “We’ve played some good games against some really good teams but then there were other teams we lost to that I thought we should’ve beaten.”
One reason could be Belle Vernon’s youthful roster which has no seniors.
“Because of that we may be lacking a little bit in the leadership department,” said Salvino, who felt a late-season win over Uniontown was mentally uplifting to his players. “That was a great confidence boost. I think that showed them how much talent we really had.”
The Leopards also feature the WPIAL’s regular-season scoring leader in junior Zion Moore at 26.3 points per game. Moore does a lot more than just put up points, though, according to Salvino.
“Zion’s come a long way from just being a plain scorer,” Salvino said. “We talked about it at the beginning of the season to try to get his teammates involved in the offense more because then defenses won’t focus on stopping just one person all the time. And he has played a lot better defense this year than he has in the past.
“Him being the WPIAL scoring leader, well that’s an individual thing but I think our team realizes there are times in games when the ball has to be in his hands.”
In Class A boys, No. 4 Monessen hosts No. 13 Summit Academy, No. 8 West Greene entertains No. 9 Avella, and No. 11 Jefferson-Morgan travels to No. 6 Carlynton in 7 p.m. starts, while No. 10 California travels to Peters Township’s AHN Arena to take on No. 7 Aquinas Academy at 8 p.m.
In Class AA girls, No. 13 Beth-Center plays No. 4 Fort Cherry in a 6 p.m. game at AHN Arena and No. 15 California, which boasts the area’s second-leading scorer in Rakiyah Porter at 19 ppg, is at No. 2 Aliquippa.
In Class AAA girls on Saturday, No. 6 Waynesburg Central hosts a very formidable No. 11 Seton LaSale team that is led by the WPIAL’s fourth leading scorer in Mallory Daly at 23.8 ppg at 12 noon, No. 12 Mount Pleasant is at No. 5 South Park at 2 p.m. and No. 13 Brownsville is at No. 4 Neshannock at 12 noon.
Brownsville was coming off a 5-15 season that included a 0-10 mark in section play but turned its fortunes around this season under coach Patty Columbia, improving to 12-9 and 5-5 with a third-place finish in Section 4.
“We definitely made great strides this season,” Columbia said. “At the beginning of the year our goal was to be a competitive team in the section and make the playoffs. We accomplished that. Even in our losses, we gave Waynesburg and South Park very tough games.
“I’m proud of how much our girls have grown. Our younger girls have really matured. We have three girls averaging double figures: Skyler Gates, Ava Clark and Zhariah Reed.”
Gates, a sophomore who averaged 17.7 points per game, wound up as the leading scorer in the section. Clark is also a sophomore and Reed is a junior.
“We really saw a lot of major growth out of those three. Zhariah plays so hard and has evolved into a leader on our team. She just gives it everything she has and raises our energy level.”
Filling out the starting lineup are seniors A’zyia Dade and Megan Velosky.
“A’zyia has been a four-year player who’s a phenomenal defensive player,” Columbia said. “I’m glad my two seniors get to go out like this, making the playoffs, after such a tough year last year.”
Columbian acknowledged the Lady Lancers, who were co-champions of Section 1, will present a strong challenge for Brownsville.
“It’s a long drive for us and it’s going to be a tough place to play,” Columbia said. “But we have to go in there with the belief we can give them a good game and beat this team. That’s how we’re preparing.”