Burrell girls defeat Hampton, earn shot at unbeaten, top-seeded Blackhawk

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 16, 2026 | 9:37 PM

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Burrell girls basketball coach Shaun Reddick said his team was well aware of what a win Monday in its WPIAL Class 4A first-round game at Hampton would mean.

But, he said, his players were laser focused on taking care of business against the No. 8 Talbots before any discussion of No. 1 Blackhawk could take place.

Burrell responded with a relentless defensive effort that forced 24 Hampton turnovers and limited the Talbots to 22 points.

At the other end, the No. 9 Bucs had two players finish in double figures and a third fall one point shy in a 40-22 victory.

“It was a great to see the girls play a very good game tonight,” Reddick said. “We didn’t have a great scrimmage the other night (against Class 2A power Winchester Thurston). We were trying some different things, and I feared that I did too much. So we simplified a few things after that. We had a few girls who hadn’t been feeling well throughout the week, and it was nice to see the team come together and rally around each other.

“As a coaching staff and also the players, we hadn’t looked at one minute of Blackhawk film. All season, we focused on the game right in front of us, and it has served us well. Now, I am going to go home and cue up some Blackhawk film. I know they are good. They are No. 1 and are undefeated (20-0). It is our job to go there and give them a game.”

Burrell improved to 16-7 overall and snapped a six-game playoff losing streak dating to the 2016 season.

Thursday’s game is at Blackhawk High School at a time to be determined.

The Bucs are guaranteed at least two more playoff games, but they hope it’s more than two.

“We’re excited to go up there and face Blackhawk,” said senior Casey Brancato, who led all scorers with 15 points and added seven rebounds. “Honestly, it’s no different than going up against Oakland (Catholic) or North (Catholic). We faced both of them twice this season (in section). Having those experiences, I know we will go in there with no pressure and the confidence that we can play well.”

Burrell junior McKenna Miller had 11 points by halftime and finished the game with 13.

Hampton, with only one senior in the rotation — guard Maria Nyilas — capped its season at 15-8.

Talbots coach Tony Howard said he reinforced after the game how proud his team should be with what it accomplished this year.

“Fifteen (wins) is a big number,” Howard said. “I don’t know if we would’ve predicted 15 wins at the beginning of the year, but, ultimately, the goal was to get a playoff win for this group and see what we could do from there.”

“We felt we got to the point where we had a fighter’s chance against a good Burrell team. We didn’t play our best tonight. I know the girls are disappointed right now, but as time goes on, they should feel good about what they were able to do.”

Nyilas drained a 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 46 seconds left in the first quarter to give Hampton its lone lead at 3-2. Nyilas finished with a team-best eight points.

Burrell led 9-5 at the end of the first quarter and opened a double-digit advantage with a 10-0 run to start the second.

Nyilas converted a layup with 1:20 to go until halftime to end the Talbots’ scoring drought, and junior Katie Christy followed with a jumper. But on a 3-point play from Brancato and a steal and layup from freshman Chase Coury, the Bucs went into halftime ahead 24-9.

Hampton turned the ball over 14 times in the first half.

“We did have opportunities,” Howard said. “We knew we had to get the ball inside and try to make our money there. But give Burrell credit. They hounded our guards and gave us all kinds of problems.”

But the Talbots had life in the third quarter, and three buckets from freshman Brynn Rodgers brought her team to within nine.

Burrell went cold for the first seven minutes of the frame until Brancato hit a layup to make it 26-15.

Coury then hit a 3-pointer and added a jumper in the closing seconds to push the Bucs’ lead to 16 heading into the fourth. Coury finished with nine points, and seven of the nine came in the second half.

“We figure that if the other team can’t score, it’s really hard for them to win the game,” Reddick said. “That was a message at halftime. We didn’t need to score again. We wanted to score, but we wanted to also continue to play good pressure defense and continue to turn them over and limit their good shots. We knew Hampton would change some things up at halftime and come out and try to make plays. They had somewhat of a 2-3 zone where they were singled up on Chase. We expected that, and for a little bit, it threw us. But we knew that if we kept doing what we were doing, it was going to break, and it did.”

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: Burrell, Hampton