Alle-Kiski Valley high school lookahead for Dec. 11-16

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, December 10, 2017 | 10:39 PM

Monday

• Coming off a championship at the Springdale tournament, Apollo-Ridge girls basketball travels to face Freeport in a nonsection contest. Freeport, a state playoff qualifier last season, dropped its opening two games at the South Fayette tournament. A pair of strong post players will match up in Apollo-Ridge's Megan Ost and Freeport's Jenna Manke.

• The Valley boys basketball team tips off its season by hosting Armstrong in a nonsection game. The Vikings are coming off a WPIAL playoff appearance, and their fast-pased style will find a difficult test against Armstrong's rugged defense.

• Coming off a comeback victory over Chartiers Valley, Deer Lakes hockey hosts unbeaten Bishop McCort (9-0) in a PIHL Class A contest. The Crushers have been doing just that to opponents, outscoring them 60-15 on the season. Ryan Murdock (13 goals) leads the Lancers (5-3).

Tuesday

• Former section rivals Leechburg and St. Joseph meet in a nonsection contest. Both are coming off championships in their own tip-off tournaments, and both had role players make a strong impact early to supplement their top scorers.

• It's a rematch of the 2016 WPIAL championship game as Highlands boys basketball hosts Beaver Falls (0-2). Highlands (0-2) met the top two ranked teams in Class 6A at the Pine-Richland tournament, falling to No. 2 Butler and No. 1 Pine-Richland.

Wednesday

• It's the first night of section wrestling: Burrell hosts Riverview, Fox Chapel hosts North Hills, Highlands hosts Seneca Valley and Plum hosts Penn Hills, while Kiski Area visits Gateway and Valley travels to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

• A pair of boys basketball teams in transition meet in nonsection play as Apollo-Ridge visits Deer Lakes. The Vikings (1-1) start three freshmen, and the Lancers (0-2) had to replace eight seniors from a playoff team.

Thursday

• In a bit of a scheduling quirk, Burrell and Highlands meet for the second time in less than a week as section play begins in girls basketball. The Bucs (1-1) beat the Golden Rams in the consolation of the St. Joseph tournament Saturday behind 20-point performances from Brittany Dunn and Kaylen Sharrow. Host Highlands (0-2) will try to get the one that counts in the standings by leaning on point guard Renee Cebula, who scored 23 points in the loss to Burrell.

• Deer Lakes girls basketball faces a major test in its 1-4A opener: defending section and WPIAL champion Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic. The Lancers (0-2), who dropped a pair of games at the Armstrong tournament, will try to crack CWNC's stingy defense. The Trojans (2-0) are allowing 30.5 points per game.

Friday

• Freeport visits Valley in what should be an entertaining Section 1-4A opener. The Yellowjackets swept the Vikings last season, when both teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs. Both return strong backcourts from those teams — Ben Beale, Jalen Brown and Gavin Skradski for Freeport, and Nyjewel Carter, Deonte Ross, Dru Stokes and Alex Ward for Valley.

• After splitting its games at the Leechburg tournament, Kiski Area girls basketball begins Section 4-5A action with a bang against No. 2 Mars. Sophomores Harley Holloway and Hannah Potter will lead the way for the Cavaliers (1-1).

Saturday

• Burrell wrestling makes its annual pilgrimage to the King of the Mountain Tournament, where the Bucs will face some of the strongest competitors from around the state.

Week in review

• Starting strong: A handful of A-K Valley basketball teams won tip-off tournaments over the weekend: the Apollo-Ridge and Leechburg girls, and the Leechburg, Springdale and St. Joseph boys.

• Taking teams to the mat: Kiski Area wrestling had a dominant performance in defending its Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament title, with Darren Miller, Noah Levett, Cam Connor and Logan Pollick winning individual championships and another six competitors placing in the top six of their weight class.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Freeport, Valley