Feb 5, 2021 By The 10 min read

Nekea Lewis poured in a game-high 28 points and Uniontown took control in the second quarter in defeating visiting Ringgold, 59-46, in Section 3-AAAAA girls basketball action on Thursday night.

It was the Lady Raiders’ second win in a row after an 0-6 start.

“Our offense and defense finally came together,” Uniontown coach Penny Kezmarsky said. “We were able to play on both sides of the floor. Our shots were falling.”

The Lady Raiders (1-4, 2-6) were up 18-12 after the first quarter then out-scored the Lady Rams (1-4, 1-5) 25-10 in the second to take a commanding 43-22 halftime lead.

Uniontown has been looking for an offensive spark and Lewis has been able to provide it lately with a combined 42 points in her last two games.

“Nekea Lewis was able to hit from the outside as well as drive to the hole,” Kezmarsky said. “Nekea is really starting to become an offensive threat. Zairiah Wilson was unstoppable on the boards and and A’kira Dade played amazing defense.”

Ringgold kept battling and out-scored the Lady Raiders 24-16 in the second half but couldn’t make up the huge deficit.

Kirra Girard led the Lady Rams with 19 points and Angelina Massey had 16.

Southmoreland 66, Elizabeth Forward 51 — The Lady Scotties rode a big third quarter to a Section 3-AAAA victory over host Elizabeth Forward to remain in sole possession of first place.

Southmoreland led 16-10 after one period and 30-24 at halftime before using a 16-7 edge in the third to push the gap up to 46-31.

Gracie Spadaro and Delaynie Morvosh led the Lady Scotties (7-1, 8-2) with 21 and 19 points, respectively, and Olivia Cernuto added 12 points.

Anna Resnik and Joselyn Dawson each tallied 12 points for the Lady Warriors (2-3, 2-3).

Waynesburg Central 57, Washington 34 — Freshman Kaley Rohanna scored 22 points, including 14 from the free-throw line, as Waynesburg Central pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat visiting Washington in a foul-filled Section 2-AAA game.

The Lady Raiders (5-1, 7-2) have a key game Monday at McGuffey, which lost for the first time in section play Thursday night.

Waynesburg and the Lady Hillers (2-3, 3-6) were tied 26-26 late in the third quarter before the Raiders ended the period on a 9-3 spurt that included a half-court buzzer-beater by Clara Paige Miller, who finished with 18 points.

Miller’s basket and foul problems for Wash High sparked Waynesburg to a 22-5 scoring edge in the fourth quarter. Trinity lost one starter to injury and three others fouled out, which left the visitors with only three players on the court for the final 20 seconds.

Waynesburg made 21 of 34 free throws with Rohanna converting 14 of 16.

There were 45 fouls called in the game.

Kyla Woods led Washington in scoring with 15 points.

Josie Horne played a strong game on the boards for the Lady Raiders with 10 rebounds.

Thomas Jefferson 56, Laurel Highlands 20 — Graci Fairman scored 19 points as the Lady Jaguars beat the host Fillies in a Section 3-AAAAA game.

Thomas Jefferson (5-1, 7-5) led 22-6, 39-9 and 45-14 at the breaks.

Laekyn Flinn added 11 points for TJ.

Aareanna Griffith topped the Fillies (1-7, 2-11) in scoring with 11 points.

South Park 57, Brownsville 19 — South Park raced out to a 21-2 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in defeating visiting Brownsville in a Section 2-AAA game.

Nora Ozimek and Maddie Graham scored 17 points apiece for the first-place Lady Eagles (5-0, 7-1).

Emma Seto scored 10 points to lead the Lady Falcons (0-3, 0-4).

Serra Catholic 60, Frazier 25 — Frazier hung with undefeated Serra Catholic for a half but the Lady Eagles put the Section 2-AA away by out-scoring the Lady Commodores 17-0 in the third quarter.

Serra Catholic (4-0, 7-0) led 15-11 after one period and 31-20 at halftime.

Chloe Pordash scored 17 points for the Lady Eagles and Nicole Pawlowski had 12 points.

Delaney Warnick led Frazier (0-3, 2-7) with eight points and seven rebounds. Kendall Shaporka contributed seven points and six boards.

Charleroi 50, McGuffey 38 — Charleroi’s young team pulled off its biggest victory of the season, knocking off McGuffey in a Section 2-AAA game.

McGuffey entered the night tied with South Park for first place. The Lady Highlanders, however, never led at the end of any quarter against Charleroi (2-4, 4-6). The Lady Cougars were on top 9-8 after one quarter, 27-22 at halftime and 40-35 after three quarters.

Sophomore Leena Henderson led Charleroi with 15 points and freshman McKenna DeUnger had 11 points.

McGuffey’s Kiera Nicolella scored a game-high 17 points.

California 47, Beth-Center 34 — California juniors Kendelle Weston and McKenna Hewitt combined for 29 points as the Lady Trojans remained unbeaten in Section 2-AA by topping host Beth-Center.

California (2-0, 4-2) took charge in the first half, building a 27-13 halftime lead.

Weston scored a game-high 17 points and Hewitt checked in with 12 points.

Anna Sloan and Julia Ogrodowski each tallied 15 points for the Lady Bulldogs (0-5, 3-7).

Avella 51, Monessen 37 — Katie Dryer had another double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, helping Avella move into a tie for second place in Section 2-A as the Lady Eagles defeated visiting Monessen.

Avella (4-2, 6-4) has won four of its last five and is tied in the standings with Monessen (4-2, 5-4), which has lost three straight.

The Lady Eagles forged a 15-7 lead after one quarter and stretched it to 26-17 at halftime. The Lady Greyhounds’ hopes of a comeback ended in the third quarter when Avella held a 13-7 scoring edge to build a 39-24 lead.

Dryer entered the game averaging 18 points and 15 rebounds per contest.

Mercedes Majors was the only Monessen player in double figures with 14 points.

Belle Vernon 48, Seton LaSalle 38 — Taylor Rodriguez scored a career-high 14 points and Grace Henderson had a double-double to power Belle Vernon to past host Seton LaSalle in a non-section game.

Henderson matched Rodriguez with 14 points and also grabbed 14 rebounds for the Lady Leopards (6-4). Presleigh Colditz had 10 points.

Mackenzie Canavan’s 12 points on four 3-pointers was high for the Lady Rebels (2-2).

Jefferson-Morgan 60, Geibel Catholic 10 — Kayla Larkin scored a game-high 17 points as the Lady Rockets beat host Geibel Catholic in a Section 2-A game.

Jefferson-Morgan (2-6, 2-9) also got 16 points from Ali Ostrich and 10 from Catt Diamond.

Amanda Hoffer led the Lady Gators (0-5, 0-6) with three points.

Trinity 91, Connellsville 14 — The first-place Lady Hillers led 34-2 after the first quarter in cruising to a Section 2-AAAAA victory over visiting Connellsville.

Trinity (6-0, 10-1), the WPIAL’s top-ranked Class 5A team, put five players in double figures, led by Courtney Dahlquist’s 17 points. Abby Wayman and Kaylin Venick scored 15 apiece, Alyssa Clutter had 14 and Emily Venick chipped in with 11.

The fourth-place Lady Falcons (3-3, 3-4) were led by Madison Kinneer with five points.

Boys basketball

Jefferson-Morgan 82, Bentworth 40 — Tahjere Jacobs and Colt Fowler combined for 51 points and Jefferson-Morgan’s offense erupted for a 42-point victory over visiting Bentworth in a Section 4-AA .

The surging Rockets (3-4, 5-6) have won four of their last five.

J-M led by only 18-15 after one quarter but stretched the gap to 39-23 at halftime and then scored 43 second-half points.

Jacobs was the game’s leading scorer with 26 points and Fowler was close behind with 25.

Landon Urcho also had a big game for the Bearcats (0-4, 1-7) with 20 points.

Jeannette 32, Mount Pleasant 30 — Jeannette out-scored visiting Mount Pleasant 6-0 in the fourth quarter to pull out a non-section win.

The Vikings (3-7) led 9-4 after the first period, 20-16 at halftime and 30-26 after three frames before coming up empty in the final eight minutes.

Hunter Schmidt led the Jayhawks (7-2) with 12 points.

Nathan Kubasky paced Mount Pleasant with 11 points.

Rifle

McGuffey 798-55x, Waynesburg Central 797-55x; McGuffey 796-66x, Waynesburg Central 54x — The Highlanders won a pair of Section 1 virtual matches over the Raiders by the slimmest of margins.

McGuffey posted six 100 scores in Thursday’s match, to Waynesburg’s five for the final difference.

Hannah Heldreth and Grace Kalsey shared team scoring honors for the Raiders with 100-9x. Bryce Bedilion and Savannah Cumberledge both shot 100-7x, and Talia Tuttle finished with 100-6x. Zach Wilson finished with 99-7x. Riley Reese, Taylor Burnfield, Maddie Simpson and Taylor Wasson all shot 99-5x.

McGuffey’s Gracie Stagon was medalist with 100-9x. Dwight Logsdon (100-7x), Damien Dague (100-5x), Garrett Closser (100-7x), Rlley Dunn (100-8x), and Aidan Tau (100-6x) all finished with a 100 score.

The match Wednesday came down to the tiebreaker, with the Highlanders posting “66x” scores to the Raiders’ 54.

Burnfield and Stagon shared medalist honors with perfect scores of 100-10x.

Wasson (100-7x), Tuttle (100-6x), and Simpson (100-5x) all posted 100 scores. Wilson (97-7x), Bedilion (99-7x), Kalsey (99-6x), and Cumberledge (99-6x) also counted in the final score. Heldreth’s 97-6x and Reese’s 96-6x were not counted.

Logsdon, Tau and Dague all shot 100-9x for McGuffey, and Closser and Julia Stasko both posted 100-8x.

Wrestling

Ringgold 51, Albert Gallatin 24 — The Rams returned home from Albert Gallatin with a non-section win.

Ringgold’s Dante Compagni (285) and Frank Grelo (160) won by fall. Teammate Chance Capitto (172) won by decision.

The Rams’ Joseph Versharen (189), Brayden Wilcher (215), Logan Trilli (106), Jack Duncan (120), Noah Mimidis (126), and Tre Bundy (132) won by forfeit.

The Colonials’ Alexander Simon (113), Philip Dennis (138), Landon Conroy (145), and Tyler Frezzell (152) all won by fall.

Hockey

Avonworth 6, Connellsville 5, SO — The Falcons lost in a shootout for the second game in a row, this time to the Antelopes at The Ice Mine.

Connellsville improves to 5-3-0-2 and remains in third place in the Class B Division standings with a two-point lead on Elizabeth Forward and a game in hand.

Avonworth improves to 2-5-0-1.

The Antelopes led 3-1 after the first period on a natural hat trick by Ben Wyar, one of the goals coming when Avonworth was short-handed.

Jesse Hodge scored with just six seconds left in the opening period.

Connellsville rallied to tie the game in the second period. Both teams scored a goal in the third period.

After a scoreless overtime period, Avonworth scored the only goal in the shootout.

Tristan Lapinski, Max Sokol and Clay Sipple scored in the second period, Milan Deffibaugh tied the game early in the third period for Connellsville.

Deffibaugh had a three-point night with two assists.

Seth Hunker, Lapinski, Dylan Brooks and Sipple also had an assist.

Josh Perry scored a power play in the second period and Luke Zukowski netted a power play goal in the third period.

Connellsville pelted 45 shots on Avonworth’s Ben Karol, who made 40 saves. The Falcons’ Alex Mitchell turned aside 16 shots.

Ringgold 11, Central Valley 0 — The Rams cruised to a PIHL Class B Division road victory over the Warriors.

Nicholas Nagy led Ringgold (12-0-0-1) with four goals and an assist. He scored two in the first period and one in apiece in the second and third periods.

Ethan Saylor, Kenneth Cadwallader and Nathan Boulanger all scored twice and added an assist. Evin Fries also scored for the Rams.

Ringgold goalie Jerry Mease faced only four shots, all in the second period.

Nick Lyon made 29 saves for Central Valley (0-10-0-0).