Lady Raiders ready for challenge
Uniontown girls basketball coach Jason Winfrey knows better than to think his Section 3-AAA championship team can win in the playoffs simply by showing up.
When Winfrey witnessed Central Valley’s 60-27 preliminary round win over Trinity, he was convinced that his Lady Raiders would have to play well against the Lady Warriors in order to advance past the first round.
Uniontown (17-4) takes on Central Valley (15-7) at 6:30 p.m. today at Canon-McMillan High School in the WPIAL Class AAA first round. While Central Valley is in its second season as a jointure of Monaca and Center, Uniontown is coming off its third section championship overall and its first since 1981.
“They are pretty athletic,” Winfrey said. “Their girls inside are very good. They are one of the better skilled teams we’ve seen, so we’ll have to play well if we want to advance.”
Winfrey said his team has had a “productive” week of practice and is “ready to go.”
He noted that Central Valley qualified out of the rough and tumble Section 2-AAA, which produced top-seeded Hopewell, third-seeded Blackhawk, 11th-seeded New Castle and Beaver, which won a play-in game.
“They tied for fourth in that section, but they were in every game they played,” Winfrey said of a Lady Warriors team that didn’t lose a game all season by more than nine points.
In other first round action tonight, Belle Vernon (12-11) takes on Hopewell (20-2) at 6:30 p.m. at Chartiers Valley in another Class AAA game.
Frazier (15-7) plays Shady Side Academy (17-5) at 8 p.m. at Yough High School in a boys Class AA first-round game.
There are two girls Class A first-round games involving Greene County teams, as Carmichaels (17-5) takes on St. Joseph (13-8) at 6:30 p.m. at Norwin and West Greene (12-11) battles top-seeded North Catholic (17-4) at 6:30 p.m. at Moon.