Recapping the 2025-26 WPIAL boys and girls basketball 1st round

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 | 2:31 PM

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It took five days, starting with six preliminary round games, but the first round of the 2026 WPIAL boys and girls basketball playoffs are in the books.

Some opening round eyebrow-raisers included victories by the Ringgold boys, Deer Lakes boys, Shady Side Academy boys, Ligonier Valley boys and Peters Township girls.

The quarterfinals are set for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, with the district semifinals on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

Before looking ahead to the Elite Eight, here are all of the results, along with leading scorers from the 2026 WPIAL basketball first round.

Boys

Class 6A

First round

Fox Chapel 52, Norwin 49 (FC: Joe McGivney – 20 points)

Mt. Lebanon 55, Pine-Richland 42 (ML: Liam Sheely – 29)

Imani Christian 83, North Hills 69 (IC: Nahjir Norris – 23)

Class 5A

First round

Chartiers Valley 61, Montour 48 (CV: Julius Best – 16 points)

Shaler 65, Franklin Regional 50 (Sha: Jordan Epps – 24)

Moon 45, Penn-Trafford 30 (Moon: Jackson Bauman – 20)

Gateway 56, Indiana 50 in overtime (Gate: Mykel Bruce-McCrommen – 23)

Ringgold 79, Lincoln Park 77 (Ring: Demetri Lowe – 26)

Hampton 50, Peters Township 45 (Hamp: Jonus Cupps – 11)

Thomas Jefferson 86, Latrobe 79 (TJ: Nick Trklja – 27)

Penn Hills 48, South Fayette 27 (PH: Calix Clark – 22)

Preliminary round

Montour 53, McKeesport 52 (Mont: Brandon Bennett – 19 points)

Ringgold 64, Laurel Highlands 39 (Ring: Dennis Hawkins and Takeo Tollver – 12)

Latrobe 57, Mars 46 (Lat: Ian DeCerb – 15)

Class 4A

First round

Belle Vernon 60, Burrell 45 (BVA: A.J. Wilson – 12 points)

Deer Lakes 57, Derry 46 (DL: Evan Moore – 22)

Hopewell 74, Greensburg Salem 47 (Hope: Brody Rock – 21)

Elizabeth Forward 83, Avonworth 60 (EF: Daniel Spence – 22)

Knoch 56, East Allegheny 21 (Kno: Vinnie DeFelice – 19)

Central Valley 50, Highlands 44 (CV: Angelo Conti and Ryan Conti – 13)

Class 3A

First round

Mohawk 74, Waynesburg Central 49 (Moh: Joey Nail – 25 points)

South Allegheny 52, Ellwood City 50 (SA: Drew Cook – 25)

Shady Side Academy 61, Bishop Canevin 48 (SSA: Kai Lamberson – 32)

Southmoreland 63, Washington 58 (Smore: Noah Felentzer – 27)

Aliquippa 68, Sto-Rox 48 (Aliq: Qa’lil Goode – 18)

Seton LaSalle 82, Charleroi 52 (SLS: Gabe Gizzi – 18)

South Park 58, Riverside 29 (SP: Cooper Hochendoner – 31)

Ligonier Valley 47, Keystone Oaks 44 (LV: Michael Wisniewski – 12)

Class 2A

First round

Jeannette 70, Brentwood 49 (Jean: Jayce Powell – 21 points)

Eden Christian Academy 68, Laurel 42 (ECA: Mason Dean – 22)

Neshannock 57, Fort Cherry 40 (Nesh: David Kwiat – 17)

Clairton 60, Springdale 27 (Cla: Brandon Murphy – 16)

Sewickley Academy 77, Greensburg Central Catholic 17 (Sew: Lucas Grimsley – 20)

Winchester Thurston 56, Chartiers-Houston 42 (WT: Mike Hammerling – 16)

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 54, Bentworth 40 (OLSH: Jake Johnson and Tiernan McCulough – 14)

Jefferson-Morgan 49, Springdale 35 (J-M: Jeremiah Robertson – 26)

Preliminary round

Brentwood 58, Beth-Center 41 (Brent: Deng Mu – 23 points)

Greensburg Central Catholic 43, Union 41 (GCC: Luke Smelka – 14)

Bentworth 61, West Greene 44 (Bent: Ben Hays – 31)

Girls

Class 6A

First round

Mt. Lebanon 44, North Hills 41 (ML: Elizabeth Twyman – 13 points)

Class 5A

First round

South Fayette 78, Kiski Area 19 (SF: Haylie Lamonde – 18 points)

Trinity 50, West Allegheny 48 (Trin: Sutton Williamson – 15)

Baldwin 52, Chartiers Valley 37 (Bald: Lynsey Bornatas – 16)

Peters Township 56, Plum 46 (PT: Taylor McCullough – 17)

Thomas Jefferson 65, Penn Hills 26 (TJ: Maggie Spell – 24)

Fox Chapel 60, Latrobe 58 (FC: Lyla Jablon – 24)

Indiana 63, Mars 36 (Ind: Julia Antonacci – 20)

Penn-Trafford 47, Franklin Regional 22 (P-T: Olivia Weishaar – 11)

Class 4A

First round

Burrell 40, Hampton 22 (Burr: Casey Brancato – 15 points)

Belle Vernon 85, Lincoln Park 62 (BVA: Aubrey Brown – 24)

Elizabeth Forward 58, Hopewell 37 (EF: Kailynn Settles – 18)

South Park 49, Freeport 18 (SP: Nika Contakos – 20)

North Catholic 67, Laurel Highlands 21 (NC: Brady Wehner – 20)

Beaver 62, Mt. Pleasant 35 (Bea: Annsley Baker – 29)

Class 3A

First round

Avonworth 42, Riverside 32 (Avon: Julia Nardozzi – 14 points)

Quaker Valley 50, Keystone Oaks 36 (QV: Mimi Thiero – 30)

Seton LaSalle 61, Sto-Rox 27 (SLS: Ava Maroney – 26)

Beaver Falls 73, South Allegheny 15 (BF: Dreavin Hawkins – 23)

Waynesburg Central 55, Deer Lakes 28 (Way: Tess Pauley – 23)

Greensburg Central Catholic 67, Mohawk 21 (GCC: Erica Gribble – 23)

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 54, McGuffey 20 (OLHS: Lola Garner – 19)

Class 2A

First round

Neshannock 76, Brentwood 16 (Nesh: Payton Newman – 22 points)

Laurel 41, California 21 (Lau: Jael Henderson – 14)

Fort Cherry 55, Riverview 24 (FC: Gianna Bianchini – 20)

Rochester 48, Apollo-Ridge 40 (Roch: Kamryn Newman – 16)

Winchester Thurston 67, Bentworth 13 (WT: DaShae Cochran – 30)

Burgettstown 39, Jeannette 35 (Burg: Paige Klodowski – 15)

Chartiers-Houston 70, South Side 16 (C-H: Ali Wingard – 14)

Aliquippa 43, Beth-Center 34 (Aliq: Denim Odom – 14)

Class A

First round

Eden Christian Academy 46, Bishop Canevin 38 (ECA: Annalese Haring – 20 points)

Sewickley Academy 64, Monessen 41 (Sew: Mikaela Mbandi – 16)

West Greene 50, Clairton 21 (WG: Madelyn Roberts – 19)