High school roundup for Feb. 26, 2021: New Castle sharpens up for playoffs

By: Tribune-Review
Friday, February 26, 2021 | 10:40 PM

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Mike Wells and Isaiah Boice scored 22 points apiece and Class 5A No. 2 New Castle prepped for the WPIAL playoffs with an 83-60 victory over Class 6A Seneca Valley on Friday night.

Donny Cade added 13 and Sheldon Cox 12 for New Castle (17-2, 9-1). Cole Brooks led Seneca Valley (10-10, 6-5) with 24 points. Aiden Lyczek added 16.

Allderdice 57, Westinghouse 51 – Rayquon Young scored 20 points and Cam Butcher added 15 to lead Allderdice (7-4, 6-0) to a City League victory. Kiere Henning added 11. Day’Mear Moore led Westinghouse (3-5, 3-3) with 17 points. Amari Richardson added 12.

Apollo-Ridge 71, Steel Valley 58 – Klay Fitzroy scored 22 points and Jake Fello added 21 as Apollo-Ridge (9-5, 7-4) rolled to a Section 3-3A victory. Gage Johnson had 12 on four 3-pointers. Makhai Valentine led Steel Valley (0-5, 0-5) with 27 points. Jordan Fisher added 13.

Fox Chapel 79, Bishop Canevin 71 – Eli Yofan collected 24 points, including five 3-pointers, to go along with five assists, five rebounds and five steals as the No. 2 Foxes (18-2, 9-1) topped the Crusaders (13-5, 9-0) in a WPIAL playoff primer for both teams. The win was Fox Chapel’s 16th straight. Jake DeMotte added a career-high 19 points for the Foxes, while JP Dockey contributed 15 points. Dom Elliott led Bishop Canevin with 18 points. Jhamil Fife tallied 17, Kevaughn Price 12 and Kai Spears 10. The Crusaders made 12 3-pointers, while Fox Chapel was 21 of 24 from the foul line.

Jeannette 64, St. Joseph 33 – Toby Cline scored 15 points, Hunter Schmidt added 14, and Jeannette (13-4, 7-2) used a 25-4 run in the second quarter to take charge in a nonsection win. Anton Good added 11. Andrew Sullivan led St. Joseph (8-11, 5-5) with 15 points. Trevor Greenwald had 10.

Monessen 50, East Allegheny 49 – Chas Mrlak hit a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer to lift Monessen (10-7, 7-3) past East Allegheny (1-12, 1-9) in a nonsection playoff tune-up.

North Allegheny 85, Gateway 67 – Robby Jones scored 17 points and Khalil Dinkins added 14 points and 10 rebounds as North Allegheny (15-6, 8-4) defeated Gateway (8-7, 6-4) in a nonsection matchup. Greg Habib had 13 and Matt McDonough 10.

Pine-Richland 80, Mars 53 – Luke Shanahan scored 17 points, Joey Petcash added 14, and Class 6A No. 4 Pine-Richland used a 24-10 surge in the second quarter to pull away for a decisive nonsection win. Joey Dudkowski had 13 points and Dylan Serafini 11. Mihali Sfanos scored 16 for Class 5A No. 5 Mars (14-3, 9-2).

Shenango 57, Central Valley 45 – Dalton Peters scored 19 points and Ryan Lenhart added 17 for Shenango (15-7, 6-4) in a nonsection win. Brody McQuiston had 10. Brandon Graham led Central Valley (10-5, 8-4) with 14 points. Justin Thompson and Jayvin Thompson had 12 each.

Union 51, Mohawk 31 – Behind 19 points from Matt Stanley, 14 from Anthony Stanley and 11 from Mark Stanley, Union (8-4, 6-2) cruised to a nonsection win. Jackson Miller led Mohawk (3-19, 1-9) with 11 points.

Girls basketball

Apollo-Ridge 68, Steel Valley 49 – Morgan Gamble scored 26 points and Apollo-Ridge (8-4, 5-2) jumped out to a 20-point lead at halftime in a nonsection win. Brinley Toland added 13 and Sophia Yard had 12. Apollo-Ridge has won four games in a row and seven of its past eight. Abby Tester led Steel Valley (3-5, 3-4) with 17 points. Kelsey Salopek added 10.

Bethel Park 59, Fox Chapel 47 – In a rematch of a WPIAL Class 6A first-round playoff game from last year, the No. 4 Black Hawks (14-3, 4-2) got 29 points from Olivia Westphal in a nonsection victory. Westphal drained six 3-pointers as Bethel Park tallied 13 overall. Emma Dziezgowski and Mary Boff added 16 and 10 points, respectively. Ellie Schwartzman scored 17 points to lead Fox Chapel (10-8, 8-4), while Domenica Delaney added 10.

Clairton 37, St. Joseph 27 – The Bears (11-3, 8-2) rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to top the Spartans (6-13, 5-3) in Section 3-A. Taylor Jackson led Clairton with 19 points, while Julie Spinelli scored a team-best 11 points for St. Joseph, which played for the seventh time in nine days.

Mars 49, Deer Lakes 26 — The Lancers (6-6, 4-2) struggled offensively in the first half, and the Planets (9-9, 6-6) took advantage en route to a nonsection victory. Mars led 29-5 at halftime. Alex McDole scored 13 to lead the Planets, who also topped the Lancers in a game Jan. 9. Cameron Simurda led Deer Lakes with 10 points. The game again matched mother against son as Mars’ Dana Petruska faced off against Deer Lakes’ Dave Petruska.

McGuffey 45, Brownsville 33 – Keira Nicolella scored 12 points and Abby Donnelly added 11 to lead McGuffey (6-6, 6-5) to a Section 2-3A victory. Emma Seto had a game-high 25 for Brownsville (2-9, 2-8).

Mt. Lebanon 46, Penn Hills 32 – Ashleigh Connor finished with 24 points and Morgan Palmer contributed 14 to help Class 6A No. 3 Mt. Lebanon (15-3, 6-0) to a nonsection win. Hannah Pugliese led Penn Hills (9-7, 3-3) with eight points.

Nazareth Prep 57, Cornell 37 – LaRae Butler scored 18 points and Hannah Calderaro added 15 to lead Nazareth Prep past Cornell. Jai’Lynn Marsh added 10 points. Jaykira Robinson scored 13 and Leiana Rucker 10 for Cornell (3-15, 0-8).

North Allegheny 74, Peters Township 42 – Lizzy Groetsch scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures for No. 1 North Allegheny (20-1, 14-0) in a nonsection victory. Paige Morningstar and Jasmine Timmerson added 11 and Mia Tuman had 10. Journey Thompson led Peters Township (6-8, 2-3) with 16 points. Jordan Bisignani and Jillian Stopperich had 10 apiece.

South Park 45, Waynesburg 44 – Kendall Albert scored 16 points, Maddie Graham added 12, and South Park (10-2, 8-0) defeated Waynesburg (12-5, 9-2) to finish the regular season unbeaten in Section 2-3A. Clara Paige Miller scored 18 and Kaley Rohanna 16 for Waynesburg.

Washington 53, Bentworth 26 – Cass Lewis hit for 34 points and Kyla Woods added 13 as Washington (7-9, 5-6) won in Section 2-3A. Courtney Ambrose had nine for Bentworth (1-16, 0-10).

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