A-K Valley basketball playoff preview capsules: Games for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 17, 2025 | 4:59 PM

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WPIAL basketball playoffs

Tuesday’s local games

Boys

Class 5A

First round

9-Latobe (18-4) at 8-Kiski Area (15-6)

7 p.m. Tuesday

Winner plays: Winner of 16-Franklin Regional (11-11)/1-Montour (21-1) Friday (time, site TBD) in quarterfinals

Players to watch: Max Butler, Latrobe; Colin Keller, Kiski Area

Layup lines: Latrobe is back in the playoffs after three years away. The Wildcats are one of the highest-scoring teams in the tournament at 65.9 points per game. Butler is a 1,000-point scorer, the fourth Butler brother to reach the milestone. John Wetzel is the floor general, while Ian DeCerb and Kyle McNeil are finishers. The Wildcats dropped three of their last six games but scored an 86-78 win at Albert Gallatin last Friday. Two tight losses preceded the win: 54-52 against Penn-Trafford and 73-71 to Franklin Regional in overtime. Latrobe has not won a playoff game since 2017-18. … Kiski Area won its first section championship since 2013. The Cavaliers won at Penn Hills, 68-61, to clinch the title. Amaree Gonzalez and Keller scored 22 each, and Jake Musselman added 13. Kiski Area is riding a 12-game winning streak and has not lost in 2025.

Girls

Class 2A

First round

16-Apollo-Ridge (10-11) at 1-Neshannock(20-2)

7 p.m. Tuesday

Winner plays: Winner of 9-Beth-Center (13-8)/8-Laurel (9-13) Thursday in quarterfinals (site/time TBD)

Players to watch: Josalin McCauley, Apollo-Ridge; Payton Newman, Neshannock

Layup lines: Apollo-Ridge advanced to the first round with a dominating 70-46 home victory over Bentworth in a preliminary-round game last Thursday. Four Vikings, led by freshman guard Madison Hugley, scored in doubles figures. McCauley, a junior forward, added 15 points, and senior guard Kylar Toland and junior guard Lauren Gamble contributed 11 each. Apollo-Ridge led 42-31 at halftime. It was just the second home playoff game in the history of the Vikings girls basketball program and the first postseason win. Apollo-Ridge lost a Class 3A first-round home contest to Mohawk in 2023. The win snapped a mini two-game playoff losing streak after Apollo-Ridge won at Fort Cherry in the 2022 Class 2A first round. … Neshannock rolled to the No. 1 seed in Class 2A. The Lancers tied Aliquippa for first in Section 1, and they have won 11 straight games since an overtime loss to the Quips on Jan. 2. Neshannock’s only other loss came to Class 6A power Seneca Valley (15-6) in December. The Lancers have a potent offense that scores at 62.3 points a game. Neshannock seeks its fourth WPIAL championship. The other three came in 2019, 2021, and 2022. The Lancers, like Apollo-Ridge, returned to Class 2A this season. They fell to Avonworth in last year’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinals.

10-Rochester (9-12) vs. 7-Riverview (14-4)

6 p.m. Tuesday, Kiski Area High School, Allegheny Township

Winner plays: Winner of 2-Aliquippa (16-4)/15-Carmichaels (3-18) Friday in quarterfinals (site/time TBD)

Players to watch: Katerina Tsambis, Riverview; Tia Yellock, Rochester

Layup lines: Riverview will compete in its eighth consecutive WPIAL playoff tournament. It is tied for the longest such streak in Alle-Kiski Valley girls basketball. The Raiders finished as the Section 4 runner-up. They have lost just twice in 11 games in 2025. Both came against section champion Winchester Thurston. Riverview capped the regular season with a 55-48 victory over former section rival and Class A No. 6 seed St. Joseph on Feb. 10. Tsambis, a senior, is a top scorer in WPIAL Class 2A. She is averaging 18.3 points a game and scored 26 against St. Joseph. Teams can’t sleep on senior forward Lily Bauer, a potent scorer, rebounder and shot blocker; as well as junior guard Isabel Chaparro. Bauer (13) and Chaparro (10) reached double figures against St. Joseph … Rochester finished tied with No. 8 Laurel for third place in Section 1 behind No. 1 Neshannock and No. 2 Aliquippa. The Rams hope to snap a four-game losing streak. Yellock, a 5-foot-7 junior guard, leads Rochester in scoring at 16 points a game. Junior guard Kamryn Newman also is one to watch in the Rams’ offense. Rochester won three straight WPIAL Class A titles from 2019-21. They are the only three WPIAL championships in program history.

Southwest Christian Athletic Conference

Quarterfinals

Cheswick Christian Academy (8-10) vs. First Baptist Christian School (N/A)

7 p.m. Tuesday, Trinity Christian School, Forest Hills

Winner faces: Winner of Portersville Christian School (First, Tri-County Division)/Cornerstone Prep Christian Academy (Fourth, Greater Pittsburgh Division) in semifinals Thursday at 5 p.m. at Portersville Christian Academy

Players to watch: Grace Kostick and Abby Louis, Cheswick Christian Academy

Layup lines: Cheswick Christian finished 5-3 in the SWCAC’s Greater Pittsburgh Division, suffering two losses to division champion Pittsburgh Christian and once to Cornerstone Prep. The Chargers hope to make a run after reaching last year’s semifinal round before falling to Plants and Pillars. Cheswick Christian is fronted by the 1-2 scoring punch of senior Abby Louis and sophomore Grace Kostick. Both finished with big games in the stretch run of the regular season. Louis had 20 points in the Chargers’ win over Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf on Feb. 6, and Kostick tallied 25 in a 45-30 triumph over Harvest Baptist (third, Greater Pittsburgh Division) on Feb. 1. … First Baptist Christian finished third in the Tri-County Division behind defending SWCAC champion Portersville Christian and runner-up Plants and Pillars. This is the first meeting this season between Cheswick Christian and First Baptist. The SWCAC championship game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Beaver County Christian School.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Cheswick Christian, Kiski Area, Latrobe, Neshannock, Riverview, Rochester