A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules: Games for Feb. 28, 2023

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 27, 2023 | 3:37 PM

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WPIAL basketball playoffs

Girls

Class 4A

Semifinals

2-North Catholic (20-3) vs. 6-Highlands (16-7)

6 p.m. Tuesday at Gateway High School, Monroeville

Winner plays: Winner of 1-Blackhawk (20-3) vs. 4-Quaker Valley (16-7) in championship game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center

Players to watch: Kate Myers, Highlands; Dacia Lewandowski, North Catholic

Layup lines: Highlands and North Catholic are very familiar with each other as the Section 1 foes battled twice during the regular season. The Trojanettes rolled past the Golden Rams, 61-33, in the first meeting at North Catholic, but Highlands led in the third quarter of the rematch before North Catholic rallied for a 14-point victory. … Highlands held No. 3 Elizabeth Forward to 27 points in a 16-point quarterfinal victory over the Warriors on Friday at Gateway. EF came in averaging 60.5 points per game. Junior Jocelyn Bielak led all scorers with 15 points, while junior Kate Myers added 14. The Golden Rams hit eight total 3-pointers. Highlands is in the WPIAL semifinals for the first time. Friday’s win also clinched the program’s first trip to the state playoffs. … Lewandowski, Trib HSSN’s WPIAL Class 4A preseason player of the year, is an Akron commit. Junior point guard Alyana Rocco leads North Catholic in scoring at nearly 18 points a game. Rocco scored 26 in Friday’s 62-22 quarterfinal victory over Beaver Area. Lewandowski, a senior, added 19 points, and junior Ava Walker scored 13. The Trojanettes seek their WPIAL-record 22nd WPIAL title, second in a row and sixth in seven years. North Catholic won the Class 3A title last year. … The loser of Tuesday’s semifinal matchup will return to the court Thursday for the third-place consolation at a site and time to be determined.

Boys

Class 5A

Consolation round

Seventh-place game

McKeesport (11-12) at Fox Chapel (14-11)

8 p.m. Tuesday at Fox Chapel High School, Fox Chapel

Winner: Advances to PIAA playoffs as seventh seed in WPIAL

Players to watch: Travarese Rowe, McKeesport; Erik Wilson, Fox Chapel

Layup lines: McKeesport beat Moon in the first round before falling to Gateway in the quarterfinals and South Fayette in the consolation first round. Rowe had 13 points to lead the Tigers against South Fayette. Shayne McGraw, Caiden Holtzman and Lamont Perkins also were in double figures. … The defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Foxes beat Thomas Jefferson in the first before falling to North Hills in the quarterfinals and Mars in the consolation first round. Against Mars, Wilson and Jefferson Moorefield-Brown each had 18 points and Kameron Greil added 14. Fox Chapel is looking to return to the PIAA playoffs, where it reached the semifinals last season. The losing team will miss out on qualifying for the state tournament.

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, Highlands, McKeesport, North Catholic