Westmoreland County high school lookahead: Week of Jan. 8, 2018

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 8, 2018 | 4:15 PM

Highlights of the week ahead in Westmoreland County high school sports:

MONDAY

Girls basketball

There is a logjam atop WPIAL Section 3-4A with three teams tied at 4-0: Belle Vernon, No. 4 Keystone Oaks and Elizabeth Forward. Belle Vernon (7-3, 4-0) has a tough road test at Mt. Pleasant (3-6, 1-3), which is chasing its 11th consecutive WPIAL playoff trip.

Another notable game is Franklin Regional (6-5, 1-2) at Kiski Area (5-6, 1-3) in Section 4-5A.

In the District 6 Heritage Conference, Ligonier Valley (6-4, 2-3) hosts Homer-Center (4-0, 4-0).

Boys basketball

Class 5A No. 3 Franklin Regional (7-2, 1-0) returns after a 15-day layoff from section play to face Gateway (4-5, 1-0). The Section 3-5A game is a makeup from Friday's postponement.

Hockey

Franklin Regional (8-3) puts its five-game unbeaten streak on the line when it takes on Penn-Trafford (6-6) at 6:30 p.m. at Center Ice in Delmont.

Latrobe (8-4) hosts Baldwin (5-6) at 8:35 p.m. at Kirk Nevin Arena in Greensburg in another Class AA South/East matchup.

Hempfield (7-3) takes on Montour (2-10) at 7:15 at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center in a Class AA North/West game.

In Class A, Norwin (6-7) plays Wheeling Park (3-9) at Wesbanco Arena (W.Va.).

TUESDAY

Boys basketball

The Section 3-6A schedule rarely disappoints because no game seems meaningless. Four more strong matchups have Fox Chapel (8-3, 2-2) at Penn-Trafford (4-8, 1-3); Latrobe (8-3, 3-1) at Plum (5-6, 0-4); Norwin (6-5, 1-3) at No. 3 Woodland Hills (9-1, 4-0); and No. 2 Penn Hills (12-0, 4-0) at Hempfield (4-7, 1-3).

Other top games: Highlands (6-3, 0-1) at Greensburg Salem (8-3, 1-1); Derry (4-3, 2-0) at Valley (6-2, 3-1) in Section 1-4A; first-place Belle Vernon (7-3, 3-1) at McGuffey (9-2, 2-1) in Section 3-4A; No. 4 Serra Catholic at No. 3 Jeannette in Section 1-2A; and Ligonier Valley (5-3, 4-1) at Homer-Center (3-0, 3-0) in the District 6 Heritage Conference.

Girls basketball

In Section 2-6A, Hempfield (4-6, 1-1) will try to take down injury-depleted Penn Hills (6-4, 1-2), and Penn-Trafford (6-4, 2-1) hosts Fox Chapel (4-7, 0-3).

Good nonsection matchups have Greensburg Central Catholic (3-6) at Mt. Pleasant (3-6) and Norwin (4-6) at 4A No. 2 Blackhawk (8-0).

Hockey

Greensburg Central Catholic (1-10-1) hits the road to take on Fox Chapel (5-6-1) at 7 p.m. at Alpha Ice Complex in Harmar.

WEDNESDAY

Wrestling

There are plenty of strong matches to check out, including Latrobe visiting No. 8 Franklin Regional, Norwin at No. 9 Greensburg Salem and Penn-Trafford at No. 4 Hempfield, all in Section 1-3A. In Section 2-2A, No. 2 Derry hosts No. 10 Elizabeth Forward, and Mt. Pleasant travels to Southmoreland.

Boys basketball

Jeannette hosts defending Class A champion Monessen at 8 p.m. (the girls teams play at 6:30), and Ligonier Valley visits Mt. Pleasant in another nonsection game.

THURSDAY

Girls basketball

One of the better games in Section 4-5A has Mars at Franklin Regional, and Section 3-4A features heavy hitters Keystone Oaks vs. Belle Vernon and Southmoreland at South Park.

GCC travels to Beth-Center, and Jeannette hosts Carmichaels in Section 3-2A.

Hockey

Greensburg Salem (2-11) hosts Kiski Area (6-6) in a Class A game at Kirk Nevin Arena. Faceoff is 8:35 p.m.

FRIDAY

Boys basketball

Host Derry will try to continue another upswing season with a win against Freeport in Section 1-4A. Armstrong visits Franklin Regional, and Greensburg Salem goes to Gateway in 3-5A; Uniontown plays at Belle Vernon (3-4A); Hempfield visits Penn-Trafford, Norwin hosts Plum, and Latrobe goes to Fox Chapel in 3-6A; and Marion-Center travels to Ligonier Valley in the Heritage Conference.

Last year, Latrobe split with Fox Chapel by scores of 84-82 and 81-70.

Girls basketball

Hempfield at Penn-Trafford is a notable matchup in Section 2-6A. Latrobe at Fox Chapel is another.

SATURDAY

Boys basketball

Jeannette heads to Leechburg for a Section 1-2A makeup game at 2:30 p.m. The teams split their section series last season.

Girls basketball

Always seeking strong competition, Norwin makes the long trek east to take on Altoona.