Mar 3, 2021 By The 6 min read

The Southmoreland girls held visiting Deer Lakes to just 13 points over the final three quarters Tuesday night and rolled to a 53-24 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs.

The Lady Scots improve to 15-4 and advance to play rival Mount Pleasant on Friday night. The Lady Vikings defeated Freeport in overtime, 38-31.

Southmoreland led 19-11 after the first quarter and 29-16 at halftime. The Lady Scots outscored the Lady Lancers (6-8) in the second half, 24-8.

Olivia Cernuto paced Southmoreland with a game-high 15 points. Maddie Moore finished with 13 points and Gracie Spadaro added 11.

Cameron Simurda and Reese Hasley both scored seven points for Deer Lakes.

Mount Pleasant 38, Freeport 31, OT — The Lady Vikings controlled the overtime, outscoring the Lady Yellowjackets in the extra period, 7-0, for the WPIAL Class AAAA first round playoff victory.

Mount Pleasant (11-7) forced overtime by outscoring the home team in the fourth quarter, 10-6.

The lead seesawed in the first half with Freeport (10-3) leading 10-4 after the first quarter and the Lady Vikings pulling into a 19-16 halftime lead.

Freeport held a 9-2 advantage in the third quarter.

Tiffany Zelmore poured in a game-high 23 points for Mount Pleasant.

Melaina DeZort paced the Yellowjackets with 12 points. Grace Soilis added 10.

Elizabeth Forward 47, Central Valley 40 — The visiting Lady Warriors rallied from a first-half deficit for a WPIAL Class AAAA first round victory over the Lady Bears.

Elizabeth Forward (8-5) trailed 22-14 at halftime, but drew to 34-31 after the third quarter. The Lady Warriors secured the come-from-behind victory by outscoring Central Valley in the final eight minutes, 16-6.

Elizabeth Forward’s Brooke Markland shared game-scoring honors with 15 points. Anna Resnick added 12 points.

Alyssa Gillin led Central Valley (8-12) with 15 points. Paige Elmer finished with 12.

Montour 53, Belle Vernon 52 — The Lady Leopards second-half rally fell one point short for a WPIAL Class AAAA first-round loss at Montour.

The Lady Spartans (13-9) led 33-21 at halftime, but Belle Vernon chipped away at the deficit and trailed 42-33 after the third quarter.

The Lady Leopards (9-8) outscored the home team in the fourth quarter, 19-11.

Grace Henderson and Viva Kreis both scored 11 points for Belle Vernon.

Montour’s Olivia Lyscik and Raegan Kadlecik shared game-scoring honors with 21 points apiece.

Boys basketball

Rochester 55, West Greene 32 — The visiting Pioneers trailed 42-8 at halftime in a WPIAL Class A first round playoff loss to the Rams.

Rochester (12-4) carried play in the third quarter, 13-5. West Greene outscored the Rams in the fourth quarter, 19-0.

Caleb Rice led the Pioneers (2-13) with 12 points. Chase Blake finished with 10 points.

Devon Hemer paced the Rams with a game-high 18 points. Parker Lyons finished with 16 points and J.D. Azulay added 14.

Hockey

Connellsville 6, Neshannock 4 — The Falcons upended the first-place Lancers behind Max Sokol’s hat trick.

Neshannock (12-3-0-2) remains atop the PIHL Class B North Division standings with 26 points.

Connellsville (8-4-0-3) solidified its hold on third place in the South Division with 19 points. The Falcons trail second-place Carrick by one point, but Carrick has three games in hand.

Sokol assisted on Tristin Lapinski’s goal at 4:06 in the first period, and Milan Deffibaugh doubled the lead just over a minute later with an unassisted goal.

Tommy Malvar’s power play goal at 2:32 drew the Lancers to 2-1, but Deffibaugh responded with another unassisted goal at 5:06.

Neshannock again cut the deficit to a single goal when Giovanni Valentine scored at 6:07, but Sokol answered just 23 seconds later to give Connellsville a 4-2 lead after two periods.

Malvar sliced into the Falcons’ lead with a goal 4:20 into the third period, only to have Sokol answer with an unassisted goal 42 seconds later.

Sokol then capped his hat trick with an unassisted goal at 10:35.

Neshannock’s Patrick Cionni quickly responded with a goal only 25 seconds later, but Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell didn’t allow another shot past him in the final six minutes to preserve the key victory.

Mitchell made 28 saves in the win. Neshannock’s Riley Mastowski turned aside 20 shots.

Women’s basketball

Bethany (W.Va.) 60, Waynesburg 51 — The Bison pulled away in the second quarter for a Presidents’ Athletic Conference home victory.

Bethany (3-4, 3-4) outscored Waynesburg in the second quarter, 22-15, for a 28-22 halftime lead. The home team extended its lead to 47-32 after three quarters.

Waynesburg (0-7, 0-7) carried play in the fourth quarter, 19-13.

The Yellow Jackets’ Andrea Orlosky had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Marley Wolf scored a team-high 14 points, and Avery Robinson added 10.

Waynesburg was 17-of-52 from the field and 4-of-16 from 3-point range.

Makenzee Mason paced the Bison with a game-high 16 points. Nikki Bradbury scored 14 points and Courtney Walker added 14.

Charleroi graduate Bella Skobel scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds for Bethany.

College volleyball

Waynesburg 3, Chatham 1; Chatham 3, Waynesburg 0 — The Yellow Jackets split a Presidents’ Athletic Conference doubleheader, rallying from a set down to take the opening match.

Waynesburg improves to 1-1 in the conference with the win in the opening match and slips to 1-3 overall with the loss in the second match. The first match counts against the PAC record and the nightcap goes to the overall record.

Chatham goes to 0-2 in the conference and 1-2 overall.

The Cougars won the opening set of the first match, 25-16, but Waynesburg recovered to win the next three, 25-17, 25-21, 25-20.

Hannah Colvin paced the Yellow Jackets in the first match with 13 kills. Alyson Johnson had a strong defensive effort with 30 digs. Alexis Phillips finished with 18 assists and 15 digs.

Chatham swept the second match by the scores 25-19, 25-23 and 25-22.

Colvin finished with a team-high 10 kills and Johnson recorded a match-high 23 digs. Trysten Smith finished with 11 assists and Phillips added 10.

Colvin again paced the Jackets in kills, recording 10 in match two while also leading in service aces (three). Stohon added another eight kills to finish her night with the second most kills on the team (15) while also assisting on four blocks in match two.