Huston, Blackhawk hold strong to defeat Belle Vernon in PIAA playoffs

By: Adam Brewer
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 | 10:51 PM

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When the Belle Vernon girls basketball team squared off against Blackhawk in the PIAA playoffs Wednesday, most people most thought it was going to be the Battle of the Bigs.

Both teams have been powered by impact forwards who have dominated the paint recently.

But despite the firepower on the interior, it was the outside shooting of Blackhawk’s Grace Huston that fueled the state victory for the Cougars.

Huston scored all of her points from beyond the arc and finished with 21 points as Blackhawk controlled play in the middle quarters and defeated Belle Vernon, 55-41, in the PIAA Class 4A second round at North Allegheny High School.

“It was amazing,” Huston said. “I really can’t explain it. I was getting open looks, and the ball was going in for me. I haven’t had a big game since we played Avonworth a couple of weeks ago. I guess I was just due and my teammates did a good job of finding me looks.”

Even her coach/dad was surprised by the outside scoring barrage.

“Grace was on fire tonight,” Blackhawk coach Greg Huston said. “Everything she was shucking up at the hoop was going in. That was her best shooting night of her career, and what a time to do that in a big, state playoff game. As a coach and dad, it was just a proud moment.”

Coming into the game, Grace Huston only averaged 8.5 points.

The Cougars (24-1) nailed 10 3-pointers in the win and bounced back from a WPIAL championship loss to Oakland Catholic a couple of weeks ago.

Blackhawk improved to 16-4 all-time in the second round of the state playoffs and has won its last five games in the second round.

The Cougars will play North Catholic, a 63-51 winner over Harbor Creek, in the quarterfinals Saturday with a time and site TBD.

“It’s so special to make another run in the states,” Grace Huston said. “This is my fourth straight year of getting to the quarterfinals. It’s a crazy feeling, and it takes a lot of hard work to still be playing this far into the season. ”

Despite the state playoff setback, the young Leopards (23-5) will take a lot of positives out of the season.

BVA set a program record for wins in a season, went undefeated in its section and won its first PIAA game since 1998.

“This loss stings now, but you’ve got to look at the big picture,” BVA coach Cornelious Nesbit said. “I liked our defense tonight, and I thought we communicated well against their switches. We did not allow a lot of easy buckets. They earned everything on offense tonight.”

Lyla McConnell scored 10 of her team-high 18 points in the third quarter for the Leopards, and Aubrey Brown finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

“They were able to hit more shots and 3s against us tonight,” Nesbit said. “That was the difference-maker. Give them a lot of credit, their kids make those shots and that stretched out our defense.”

After BVA took its only lead of the game 4-3 with a deep jumper by Saylor Lee, Blackhawk responded with an 11-3 spree to end the opening quarter.

Aubree Hupp collected eight points in the first frame and finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars.

“Aubree effects the game in a lot of different ways,” Coach Huston said. “She has an impact on the game no matter what her stat line is. We matched their physicality on the defensive end, and I think our bigs had a little bit more experience than theirs. On defense, we wanted to eliminate the easy, inside pass and try to move their bigs off their spots. ”

Huston started the scoring in the second stanza with a 3, but the Leopards countered with five of the next seven points to trim the deficit to 19-12.

Blackhawk turned up the pressure in the remaining minutes of the second, as it ended the first half with a 13-4 run that was jump-started with an inside hoop by Hupp and capped by a pair of treys from Huston.

“Our bigs did a great job tonight of creating second-chance shots and keeping possessions alive,” Grace Huston said. “When they do that hard work on the inside, it opens up a lot for all the shooters on the outside. ”

Trailing 32-16 at halftime, BVA got its offense going in the third quarter, and McConnell was the catalyst with 10 of the Leopards’ 13 points in the quarter.

McConnell grabbed the first couple of buckets for the Leopards in the third, but once again the Cougars and Grace Huston found a spark from the outside.

Huston hit a pair of triples in the frame with her later outside shot extending the lead to 41-22.

BVA was able to close the gap to 46-29 at the end of three as Isis Alymyty recorded the final basket of the quarter.

“We challenged them at halftime, and the most important message to them was about competing on every play,” Nesbit said. “I thought we did that in the second half and played with a ton of energy. Lyla was able to make some tough shots and got us going.”

Both teams were held scoreless in the opening two minutes of the fourth before McConnell knocked a down a pair of free throws that made it 46-31 with 5 minutes, 49 seconds left.

Huston registered her final 3 of the night to widen the Cougars’ lead to 49-31, but the Leopards had a 7-2 rally that was kicked off by a straight-away 3 from Emerson LaCarte.

Hupp garnered the final impact play of the night as the Canisius recruit scored a three-point play that was the final push for Blackhawk.

BVA will only lose a pair of seniors from this season and will return a strong, young nucleus next winter.

“The expectations and the bar has definitely been raised here at Belle Vernon,” Nesbit said. “This was a great season by the girls, and all the credit goes to them. We will look at next season a little bit different now. The offseason will be key for us, and we have to continue to develop.”

Blackhawk holds a staggering 58-24 record all-time in the PIAA playoffs.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Blackhawk