Scholastic Notebook – 01/11/2013

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 11, 2013 | 2:30 PM

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If you took the top 10 leading scorers in WPIAL-Pittsburgh City League girls basketball this season and put them on a team, it would be a squad with a sophomoric attitude.

Youth is certainly being served in area girls basketball this year because five of the top 10 scorers are sophomores. It’s hard to believe there has ever been a WPIAL-City League leading scorers list with so many 10th graders near the top. The No. 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 scorers are all sophomores.

Leading the list of sensational sophomore scorers is McGuffey’s Sammie Weiss, who is averaging 30 points a game. She is the second-leading scorer in the WPIAL behind Jeannette senior Ciara Gregory, who is averaging 33.

Blackhawk sophomore Chassidy Omogrosso is the WPIAL’s fourth-leading scorer at 24.6 points a game. At No. 5 is Vincentian Academy sophomore Brenna Wise at 24.5 points.

At No. 9 in the area is sophomore Chardonnay Littlejohn of City League member Carrick. She is averaging 20.8 points. At No. 10 is Beaver sophomore Lexi Posset, who is averaging 20.6

Minnie Eligible

The Lincoln Park basketball team had a huge presence in the middle the past three seasons with 6-foot-11 Devontae Watson. He is now playing at Temple, but Lincoln Park got another big man Thursday night, thanks to a ruling by the PIAA.

The PIAA ruled Elijah Minnie eligible to play immediately, which is the final chapter in a long, controversial eligibility case. Minnie is a 6-foot-8 junior who will most certainly have an impact on an already-talented Lincoln Park team.

Minnie attended Monessen as a freshman, but was sent to Summit Academy as a sophomore. Summit Academy is a school for adjudicated youth. After he finished his time at Summit, Minnie transferred to Lincoln Park, a Beaver County charter school with a strong basketball program.

This fall, the WPIAL ruled Minnie ineligible, saying he transferred for athletic reasons, which is against WPIAL and PIAA rules. Minnie appealed his case to the PIAA, but the PIAA upheld the WPIAL’s ruling.

But then the PIAA told the WPIAL it had to rehear the case because Minnie and his lawyer, Craig Lee, claimed there was new evidence in the case. After another hearing, the WPIAL again unanimously ruled Minnie ineligible. He appealed again to the PIAA – and Thursday the PIAA overturned his ineligibility by a 3-2 vote.

Diop Ineligible

The PIAA upheld the WPIAL in one case Thursday. The PIAA ruled, by a 5-0 vote, that Yacine Diop is ineligible to play at Seton-LaSalle after transferring from Oak Hill Academy.

The WPIAL ruled Diop ineligible in the fall, but she appealed to the PIAA. Diop moved to Pittsburgh and enrolled at Seton-LaSalle for this school year. Her AAU coach, Ron Mumbray, became her legal guardian. Mumbray is a former Seton-LaSalle assistant coach.

Showdown of Undefeateds

One of the best games of the WPIAL boys basketball season will be Friday night when New Castle plays at North Allegheny on MSA Sports. Both teams are 11-0.

It should be a fun game to watch. New Castle is the No. 2 scoring team in the WPIAL, averaging 81.5 points a game. North Allegheny averages 74.9.

2,000 for Walker-Kimbrough

There are more than 2,000 reasons why Hopewell should like girls basketball player Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.

On Thursday night, Walker-Kimbrough became the 37th player in WPIAL-City League history to score 2,000 points. Se now has 2,013. Walker-Kimbrough, a senior who has signed with the University of Maryland, is the third-leading scorer in the WPIAL this season at 27 ppg.

With half the season still to play and then playoffs, it's highly likely Walker-Kimbrough will end up among the top 15 scorers of all time.

More Than a Football Coach

Earlier this week, Bob Jacoby retired as Bishop Canevin’s football coach after 40 seasons. He also was an assistant coach for five years.

Jacoby won one WPIAL championship and made it to the title game another time. What a lot of people don’t realize is that he also coached the school’s girls softball team for 30 years and was athletic director for 30 years. And he also was an American History teacher at the school.

Jacoby, who won more than 200 games in football, was a highly-successful softball coach. He won two WPIAL titles and one PIAA title.

“When I look back at it now, I think to myself, ‘How did I do all those things?,’” Jacoby said. “But really when I look back, I had a lot of help. I had great assistant coaches and I couldn’t have worked for a better administration that Bishop Canevin’s.”

Tags: Beaver, Bishop Canevin, Blackhawk, Carrick, Hopewell, Jeannette, Lincoln Park, Vincentian Academy