Falcons advance 9 wrestlers to section tournament
Connellsville advanced nine wrestlers out of the Section 2-AAA (2A) subsection tournament hosted by Thomas Jefferson on Thursday night.
The Section 2-AAA championship is Saturday at Hempfield.
The Falcons’ Jake Layton (106), Chad Ozias (120), Mason Prinkey (126), Gabe Ruggieri (132), Zach Bigam (138), and Jared Keslar (152) all finished first in their weight classes for a berth into the section tournament.
Albert Gallatin’s Alex Simon (113) and Shawn Loring (285), Connellsville’s Hunter Claycomb (145), Ethan Ansell (160), and Dennis Nichelson (189), and Belle Vernon’s Luke Bryer (172), Logan Hoffman (189), and Chad Metikosh (285) placed second to advance to the sectional.
Girls basketball
Albert Gallatin 76, Ringgold 19 — Bryn Bezjak outscored the Lady Rams to lead the visiting Lady Colonials to a Section 3-AAAAA victory.
Bezjak scored a game-high 27 points for Albert Gallatin (7-4, 12-5). Liz Murtha added 14.
The Lady Colonials led 48-9 at halftime.
Ashlee Selembo and Kirra Gerard both scored four points for Ringgold (2-7, 2-9).
Southmoreland 43, Belle Vernon 39 — The Lady Leopards’ late rally fell a couple baskets short as the Lady Scots held on for the win to clinch their second consecutive Section 3-AAAA title.
Southmoreland improves to 10-1 in the section and 13-2 overall. Belle Vernon is now 4-3 in the section and 7-6 overall.
The Lady Scots led 15-11 after the first quarter and 27-16 at halftime. The Southmoreland lead remained at 11 points after the third quarter.
Belle Vernon held a 19-12 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Southmoreland’s Olivia Cernuto finished with a game-high 22 points. Delaynie Morvish finished with 14 points.
Viva Kreis paced Belle Vernon with 20 points. Grace Henderson scored seven points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.
West Mifflin 44, Yough 16 — The Lady Titans held the home team to single digits in each quarter for a Section 3-AAAA road victory.
Shelby Genes led West Mifflin (7-2, 7-3) with a game-high 19 points.
Laney Gerdich scored 13 points for the Lady Cougars (2-6, 4-10).
Seton-La Salle 49, Frazier 30 — The Lady Rebels led by 14 points at halftime and maintained the advantage over the final 16 minutes for a Section 2-AA home victory.
Kaelyn Shaporka finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for Frazier (0-6, 2-12). Teammate Delaney Warnick added 10 points and five rebounds.
Emma Walsh scored 16 points and Ava Dursi added 15 for Seton-La Salle.
Serra Catholic 52, California 39 — The Lady Eagles turned a one-point deficit in the first quarter into a 13-point halftime lead and a Section 2-AA home victory.
Serra Catholic (6-0, 10-0) scored 29 points in the second quarter and held the Lady Trojans to just five.
Jordyn Cruse led California (4-1, 6-3) with 14 points.
Nicole Pawlowski paced the Lady Eagles with a game-high 25 points. Chloe Pordash added 13.
Fort Cherry 59, Monessen 33 — The Lady Rangers recovered from a slow start to defeat visiting Monessen in a non-section game.
The Lady Greyhounds (8-7) found themselves ahead 6-3 after the first quarter but Fort Cherry (9-6) used a 15-6 advantage in the second quarter to take an 18-12 lead and pushed the gap up to 34-23 after three.
Ava Menzies led the Lady Rangers with 16 points and Annika Rinehart had 11.
Mercedes Majors paced Monessen with 13 points.