Herald roundup: Fox Chapel wrestling falls to Indiana

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 8, 2018 | 11:57 PM

The Fox Chapel wrestling team dropped to 1-3 in Class AAA, Section 3B last week after a 44-33 loss to Indiana.

Juan Morales (126 pounds), Avery Bursick (138), Alex Wecht (145) and Donovan Cutchember (220) had wins for the Foxes (5-4 overall).

Bursick, Wecht and Cutchember had pins. Jose Morales (113) and Maxiumus Lucco (106) won by forfeit.

Girls basketball

Fox Chapel's girls basketball team went up against Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in the opening round of the Shaler tournament Dec. 29 and suffered a 49-33 loss. They played Vincentian on Dec. 30 and fell 35-34. Megan Friday led the Foxes with 13 points and 14 rebounds in the Vincentian game.

“We got off to a strong start against North Catholic,” FC coach Jenn O'Shea said. “We went up 10-0, but then we couldn't score. I thought we did pretty well defensively. Against Vincentian, we were down 26-9 in the third quarter but came back to take a one-point lead, but we couldn't close it out. We've played a tough schedule, and we're getting better.”

The Foxes took a step in the right direction Jan. 2 with a 69-38 win at Plum The Foxes, who were led by 20 points from Sarah Sheerer, raced to a 40-18 halftime lead. Fox Chapel played at McKeesport on Jan. 3 and picked up another nonsection win, 58-41. Krystyna Burdelski led the way for the Foxes with 12 points.

The Foxes (4-7, 0-3) hosted Norwin in a Section 2-6A game Friday and were outscored 32-21 in the first half as the Knights registered a 57-45 win. Sheerer led FC with 11 points.

• The Shady Side Academy girls basketball team played in the West Shamokin tournament Dec. 28 and 29. In the opening round, the Indians lost to Armstrong 46-38. In the consolation game Dec. 29, they beat Highlands, 56-33, behind 20 points from Ariana Goitz and 11 from Catherine Jewart.

“The tournament was good for us,” SSA coach Amy Szlachetka said. “Armstrong is a much bigger school, and they threw some things at us we had not seen this season. Ariana had a nice game with 10 points and Catherine added nine. Ella Benec was strong on the boards with 11 rebounds.

“We are still improving, but our defense needs to get a lot better, especially our discipline on the boards. We'll be working on those issues.”

The Indians (7-3, 3-1 in Section 3-3A) traveled to Knoch on Jan. 2 and held on for a 49-43 nonsection win behind 22 points from Goitz.

Boys basketball

Fox Chapel boys basketball played McKeesport in a nonsection matchup Jan. 3 and posted a 66-53 win. The Foxes outscored the Tigers 23-10 in the second quarter to open up a double-digit lead. Ben Kelly and Dom McGriff each scored 18 points to pace the Foxes.

They returned home to host Norwin in a Section 3-6A game Friday. The Foxes used a 24-10 run in the second quarter to post a 54-38 win. Carson Cohen led all scorers with 19 points while Kelly scored 18.

“We played a very good first half and knocked down some big shots which kept us going,” FC coach Zach Skrinjar said. “Our defense also improved as the game went on, and when our shots weren't falling, we leaned on our defense to carry us. When you can hold a team under 40 points, that's usually a good indicator to playing good team defense, and we have been improving on defense in the last two weeks.”

The Foxes entered the week 8-3 overall and 2-2 in section play.

Swimming

Fox Chapel swimming swept McKeesport on Jan. 4, with the girls winning 75-45 and the boys recording a 75-42 victory.

Finishing first for the Foxes were the girls 200 medley relay of Molly Wiese, Morgann Green, Margaret Fox, Natalia Hainan; the boys 200 medley relay of Ben Siri, Jonathan Klamut, Tristan McClelland, Nathanial Haitema Serkov; Bryn Gerlach (200 free); Colin Hackwelder (200 free); Vivian Shao (200 IM, 100 free); Brandon Brewster (200 IM); Maria Luciana (50 free); Jaclyn Filo (100 fly); McClelland (100 fly); and Grace Gackenbach (500 free).

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Shady Side Academy