Feb 24, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

West Greene’s girls basketball team has won at least one playoff game in nine of the last 10 years and reached the quarterfinals in all 10 of those seasons, and the 2025-26 squad kept that streak alive.

The Lady Pioneers could not advance further this season, though, following a first-round win over Clairton with a quarterfinal loss at Union and then a 57-32 WPIAL Class A first-round consolation defeat at Sewickley Academy on Monday.

The Lady Panthers held an 18-15 lead after the first quarter before extending the margin to 31-19 at halftime and 39-23 after three.

Nina Caputa led Sewickley (15-10) with 19 points and Mikaela Mbandi followed with 16.

Jillissa Yeater paced West Greene (17-8) with 11 points.

Senior Kendra Tharp contributed five points, nine rebounds and three steals in her final game with the Lady Pioneers. She ends her career with 1,128 points and 1,030 rebounds.

Brudnock discussed the program’s lengthy playoff run of success following the Lady Pioneers’ win over the Lady Bears.

“It’s way beyond me,” Brudnock said. “It’s way beyond this group of girls. This all started when they were in elementary school. When you operate as a successful program it’s more than just the varsity level. It’s people running your youth organizations, your volunteer coaches. I’m fortunate to have my two assistant coaches also coach our junior high girls, so there’s continuity there.

“We come into this gym everyday and we see the championship banners, the Class of 2019 that went to four straight WPIAL championship games, never lost a section game, never lost a home game. They set the bar high. We’re just trying to get back to that now.

“It’s more than just a single player. It’s more than just a single coach. It’s more than just one group of girls. I think over the last decade a lot of different people have worked their tails off to change the perception and put West Greene on the map as a consistent basketball winner. We’re still chasing that elusive championship.

“But there was a time when you’d think of West Greene and you’d be a homecoming opponent in football or an easy win in girls basketball. Now West Greene is a legitimate contender is just about every sport, and these girls continue to carry the torch.”

West Greene finished with a 10-4 record and in third place in Section 2-A behind WPIAL finalists Geibel Catholic and Serra Catholic who tied for first.

BOYS BASKETBALL

HOPEWELL 84, BELLE VERNON 79 — James Armstrong racked up 47 points as the host Vikings rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Leopards in a WPIAL Class 4A first-round consolation game, ending Belle Vernon’s season.

Hopewell advances to the fifth-place consolation game with a chance to earn a state berth.

Belle Vernon (14-11) led 20-18, 43-40 and 64-60 at the quarter breaks. The Vikings (16-9) out-scored the visitors 24-15 in the final frame to pull out the victory.

Brody Rock and Justin Shegog tallied 11 points apiece for Hopewell.

Cam Jenko and Elijah Majors each scored 16 points to lead the Leopards, who also got 12 points from Dane Daugherty, 10 from Luca Ghilani and nine from AJ Watson.

MOHAWK 59, SOUTHMORELAND 37 — The Warriors romped out to a 16-4 lead in the first quarter and pulled away from there to beat the visiting Scotties in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round consolation game and qualify for the PIAA tournament.

Southmoreland can still earn a spot in the state playoffs with a home win over Section 4-3A rival Ligonier Valley (13-12) on Friday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. The Scotties won both regular-season meeting with the Rams, 60-47 at home on Dec. 23 and 61-45 at Ligonier Valley on Feb. 4 on their way to claiming a second consecutive section title.

Joey Nail led top-seeded Mohawk, which was upset by South Allegheny in the quarterfinals, with 17 points and was followed by Bobby Fadden and Drew Wrona who each added 13.

Noah Felentzer topped Southmoreland in scoring with 10 points.