Serra Catholic, Winchester Thurston girls to face off in Thursday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 20, 2018 | 12:00 AM

Twenty years ago, Bill Cleary guided Serra Catholic to the school’s second girls basketball district title and first of three WPIAL Class A championships.

The past two years, Winchester Thurston has been the queen of the WPIAL Class A court, winning back-to-back district crowns.

Now the two decorated programs are Section 2-2A opponents and meet for the first time this season at Serra Catholic on Thursday.

Serra Catholic is No. 3 in the latest Trib HSSN Class 2A rankings. The Eagles are 3-1 overall after beating Brentwood Monday, 65-58, in their section opener.

Having moved up from Class A this season, Winchester Thurston is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in section play with a victory earlier this week over Jeannette, 64-45, after falling to Brentwood in the section opener last week.

Watch the game starting at 7:30 p.m. on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Pair of ranked head-to-head games

There are two head-to-head battles of ranked teams in WPIAL girls basketball on Thursday, one in the highest classification and one in the lowest.

In Section 1-6A, Seneca Valley visits Norwin.

The Raiders are No. 5 and 5-1 overall with their first loss of the season coming to top-ranked North Allegheny on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Knights are ranked No. 4 and remain undefeated with a 5-0 record.

The last meaningful game between these two teams was in the first round of the 2008 WPIAL AAAA playoffs when Norwin won 55-25.

In Class A, a battle between No. 2 Sewickley Academy and No. 5 Quigley Catholic is set in Baden.

The visiting Panthers are 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Section 1 with a win over Vincentian Academy followed by a loss to Rochester.

The Spartans are only 2-3 overall but 1-0 in the section after beating Cornell on Monday in their section lid lifter.

Destination Disney

Several district basketball teams are preparing to pack their bag and hit the road for holiday tournaments.

Four WPIAL boys basketball teams will begin play Thursday at the KSA Disney Classic in Orlando, Fla.

The opening day matchups are:

Canon-McMillan vs. Dunbar, Fla.

Peters Township vs. Gonzaga, Newfoundland

Montour vs. Jackson Christian, Tenn.

Lincoln Park vs. Mount Vernon, N.Y.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Lincoln Park, Montour, Norwin, Peters Township, Quigley Catholic, Seneca Valley, Sewickley Academy, Winchester Thurston