A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 24, 2026

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 23, 2026 | 6:26 PM

WPIAL basketball playoffs

Girls

Class 5A

Seventh-Place Consolation

9-Trinity (17-8) at 7-Fox Chapel (15-10)

7 p.m. Tuesday

Winner plays: District 4/District 6 champion March 7 in PIAA first round

Loser plays: District 3 champion March 7 in PIAA first round

Players to watch: Lyla Jablon, Fox Chapel; Sutton Williamson, Trinity

Layup lines: Fox Chapel will seek to halt a two-game losing streak in the WPIAL playoffs and gain some momentum heading into the state tournament. The Foxes bowed out of the championship bracket with a quarterfinal loss to No. 2 Thomas Jefferson. They did clinch a spot in the PIAA playoffs with a down-to-the-wire 60-58 win over Greater Latrobe in the first round. Indiana, the No. 3 seed, got the better of the Foxes, 49-28, in the consolation semifinals Friday. Sophomore guard Nina Kulikowski led the Foxes with nine points, while sophomore forward Abby Goodman added eight. Fox Chapel will play in the PIAA tournament for the first time since 2019, when they qualified as the No. 5 team from the WPIAL in the Class 6A bracket. … Trinity also hopes to build momentum toward the state playoffs. Like Fox Chapel, Trinity won a close WPIAL first-round contest, 50-48, at West Allegheny to clinch a berth in the PIAA tournament. The Hillers fell to No. 1 South Fayette in the championship quarterfinals and No. 4 Baldwin in the consolation semifinals to send them to the seventh-place game. Williamson, a junior guard, is a top scorer for Trinty. She averaged 16 points in the regular season. She and sophomore forward Gabby Humphreys each scored seven points in Friday’s 49-38 loss to the Highlanders. Trinity is back in the PIAA playoffs after a one-year hiatus. The Hiller made the state tournament every year, except for the 2021 covid-affected season, from 2016 to 2024.

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: Fox Chapel, Trinity