Class 3A girls bracket begins after weeklong wait in 3 games to watch Wednesday

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 | 5:09 AM

After waiting for more than a week, the WPIAL Class 3A girls basketball teams start their postseason on Wednesday with four first-round matchups between seeds Nos. 8-9, 7-10, 6-11 and 5-12.

The top four seeds won't play until Saturday.

Class 3A: SOUTH SIDE BEAVER VS. LAUREL AT CARDINAL WUERL NORTH CATHOLIC, 6:30 P.M.

This could be a close matchup since neither team allows very many points.

Laurel (12-10) surrenders 38.5 points per game, fourth-best in WPIAL Class 3A. The Spartans held four opponents in the 20s this season and limited Union to only 12 points.

South Side (15-7) allows 38.9, which ties for fifth best. The fewest it allowed this season were 13 by South Allegheny.

CLASS 3A: RIVERSIDE VS. SETON LASALLE AT NORTH HILLS, 6:30 p.m.

Seton LaSalle dominated its WPIAL classification just a few years ago, winning titles in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, while finishing as runner-up in 2013.

But it starts this year as an underdog.

No. 10 seed Seton (9-13) was a fourth-place team in Section 3 and faces No. 7 Riverside (14-8), which features 17-point scorer Sydney Wolf. The Panthers finished third in Section 1.

CLASS 3A: CHARLEROI VS. APOLLO-RIDGE AT PETERS TOWNSHIP, 6:30 P.M.

When the regular-season ended, these were two teams headed in opposite directions. Charleroi (19-3) had won 10 of 11 while Apollo-Ridge (10-12) finished with a five-game losing streak.

Each had more than a week off, which could change momentum.

Kaitlyn Riley (16.3) and Maria Claybaugh (15.9) lead Charleroi, which finished second in Section 2. Megan Ost averages 16.5 points and 10.8 rebounds for Apollo-Ridge, while Maddy Moore averages 11.9 and set a single-season school record with 41 3-pointers.

The fourth Class 3A matchup Wednesday involves No. 5 Avonworth (15-7) and No. 12 South Allegheny at Fox Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.