Winter sports season is underway
Winter sports are well underway, and several teams have a local flavor.
W&J leads local winter sports connections
The Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball team has two local players and a local coach as well.
Senior Mia Woytovich (Charleroi) and Alie Seto (Brownsville) will look to make a difference for the team when it debuts Friday night at home against Hiram.
A year ago, Woytovich started 15 games and averaged 4.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Another local connection with the team is volunteer assistant coach Lisa Fairman, who is also in her seventh year as the head coach of the Belle Vernon girls team.
Hunter Neely (Bentworth) is a sophomore on the W&J wrestling team while junior Theo Skoric (Laurel Highlands) is on the men’s swimming and diving team.
Justice Rice (Monessen) is a freshman at Grove City and will make his debut tonight when the Wolverines host Penn State Beaver.
Jason Capco (Belle Vernon) is a senior at Saint Vincent.
After playing two years at Cal U, Capco transferred to Saint Vincent and started all 28 games a year ago when he averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest while recording 75 steals.
The Bearcats open their season Saturday when they welcome Hiram.
Sarah Fiano (Connellsville) is a senior on the Saint Vincent women’s team, which opens its season tonight at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
Slagus looking to build off her solid season last year
A year ago, Kaitlyn Slagus (Belle Vernon) was a second-team All-Patriot League player and was a three-time conference player of the week while playing at Bucknell.
She averaged 12.2 points per game (12th in the conference), 8.8 rebounds (second), and 1.5 blocks (fourth) in helping the Bison reach the NCAA tournament.
How will she top her 2016-17 season?
If the 6-foot-2 junior meets preseason league predictions, she will make the All-Patriot League first team.
Penn State gets back in winning column
Penn State bounced back from a two-game losing streak, by a combined four points, with a 35-6 win over Rutgers.
With wins Saturday against Nebraska and next week at Maryland, Penn State will finish the season with double figure wins for the first time since 2008 and 2009 when the team went 11-2 each year, including bowl games.
In 2008, Penn State lost the Rose Bowl to USC, just like it did a year ago.
The following year, Penn State defeated LSU in the Capital One Bowl, now known as the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
Ironically, that is one of the projected bowls for the Nittany Lions who will have to see how the Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff pairings turn out to see when they go.
Jerry Palm of www.cbssports.com has Penn State penciled in against Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.
WVU keeps its conference title game hopes alive
Thanks to its 28-23 win at Kansas State, Saturday, West Virginia is tied for second place in the Big 12 with TCU and Oklahoma State.
Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they will need some help as they lost to both OSU and TCU, but with a win at home against Texas Saturday and an upset win at Oklahoma next week, the Mountaineers could earn a trip to Dallas for the conference title game.
Pitt’s low point
Having talked to a few friends who are Pitt fans, the season cannot end quick enough for the program.
Considering the team is not recruiting well, its two hated rivals are having solid seasons, and the Panthers cannot draw fans to games, one has to wonder what the program has to do to get things going in the right direction.
The Panthers sit at 4-6 with a road game at Virginia Tech, Saturday, and a home game against undefeated Miami the day after Thanksgiving.
Cal U advances to NCAA playoffs
The Cal U football team is at Assumption, Saturday, to kick off its postseason.
As the sixth seed in Super Region One, it marks the seventh postseason appearance since 2007.
The game kicks off at 1 p.m.
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