Westmoreland County basketball notebook: GCC’s Erica Gribble proves to be comfortable on big stage

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 12:59 PM

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Greensburg Central Catholic junior point guard Erica Gribble has the uncanny ability to treat any place she plays basketball as “just another court.”

Just like she can make any date on the schedule “just another game.”

Whether it’s the compressed confines of her team’s home floor, an obscure road game at the gym of a new section opponent or Pitt’s Petersen Events Center, Gribble finds comfort inside the lines.

The Richmond commit has taken to The Pete, in particular.

Look at Thursday’s WPIAL Class 3A title game against Shady Side Academy. Gribble put up 31 points on 12-of-24 shooting (5 for 5 free throws) with five steals in a 56-51 victory that gave the Centurions a repeat.

They won the 2A title last year.

“I think it was just desire and the continued maturation of her as a player,” Greensburg Central Catholic coach Chris Skatell said. “She is getting more and more comfortable in the big games.”

In last year’s 62-41 win over Serra Catholic in the 2A final, Gribble fired in 9 of 18 shots for a game-high 28 points, including 5 of 7 3-pointers.

In back-to-back WPIAL finals, she has 59 points and has made 21 of 42 shots.

Chasing records

Gribble is gaining ground on a pair of career scoring records at GCC: the top girls mark and the all-time point total.

She has 1,674 points in two-plus seasons, with the rest of this season — the PIAA playoffs — and all of next season remaining.

The GCC girls scoring record of 1,725 points set by Ashley Henderson, who also won a pair of WPIAL titles in 2006 and ’07.

Franco Sebastiani is the school’s all-time leader with 1,751 points.

Gribble is 326 points shy of 2,000. Only six girls in Westmoreland County have scored more than 2,000, the last Ciara Gregory of Jeannette in 2010.

Long trek

It has been a long time since the Penn-Trafford and Latrobe boys won in the state playoffs.

But the teams have to be wondering what is longer: their time between wins or their first-round road trips Friday?

Latrobe (20-6) will play at Exeter Township (14-11), the second-place team in District 3, which houses schools in Reading, Lancaster, Annville and Pottstown.

Exeter Township is 220 miles from Latrobe, about a four-hour trip on a bus using the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Latrobe has not won a state playoff game since 1987.

Meanwhile, Penn-Trafford (14-12) will play at Hershey (21-3), the District 3 champion, at 6 p.m.

The Warriors’ trip is 195 miles across the turnpike to Chocolatetown.

Penn-Trafford’s last win in the PIAA postseason was in 1993.

New path for Salvino

Legendary boys coach Joe Salvino, set to retire after 41 years on the sidelines — 34 at Monessen and seven at Belle Vernon — is trying to double down and add his third PIAA title to his seven WPIAL championships.

Salvino won two state titles at Monessen (1998, ’99 in Class A).

On both occasions, Monessen did not win the WPIAL title. That means he will try to forge a new route to PIAA gold with Belle Vernon.

The Leopards are on a 15-game winning streak.

Take 5

One big difference with the PIAA tournaments compared to the WPIAL is that it takes one more game in the winners’ bracket to win a state title.

With the first round, second round, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, teams have to win five games to take a PIAA crown.

Streak ends

Belle Vernon star Zion Moore has been hampered in the playoffs by an ankle injury, but the senior still managed 12 points in a 54-49 win over North Catholic in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game.

Moore, though, saw a streak end. He went 0 for 5 from the 3-point arc to snap his streak of 25 straight games with at least one made 3 — tying a school record.

Moore has made a 3 in 63 of 66 games at Belle Vernon.

He kept another record alive: Moore has scored in double figures in every game he has played at Belle Vernon. He arrived as a sophomore after transferring from Ringgold.

Rematches

The PIAA playoffs are famous for reuniting WPIAL championship opponents.

The chance exists for several finals teams to play again in the state playoffs.

The Belle Vernon boys might see Avonworth and star scorer Rowan Carmichael in the state second round.

The Leopards, who just won their first WPIAL title since 1978, wouldn’t meet runner-up North Catholic again until the semifinals.

In girls 3A, WPIAL winner Greensburg Central Catholic could face Shady Side Academy again but it wouldn’t be until the semifinals.

GCC could see OLSH, the team it beat in the semifinals, in the state second round.

Other possible rematches:

• The state quarterfinals could be where WPIAL 2A boys champ Jeannette and rival Greensburg Central Catholic meet for a third time. Both played Union in the WPIAL tournament. If they are going to see the Scotties again, it will be in the PIAA semis.

• The Penn-Trafford girls could play Baldwin, the team they beat for fifth place in the WPIAL (70-69 in overtime) in the 5A second round.

• WPIAL quarterfinal opponents Penn-Trafford and Thomas Jefferson could meet again in the state quarters.

• WPIAL 6A girls finalists Norwin and Upper St. Clair girls also would have to wait until the 6A semifinals to play again.

• The Penn-Trafford boys could see section foe Uniontown in the 5A second round.

In the same bracket, Latrobe might play Moon, the team it beat in the WPIAL consolation first round, in the state second round.

Flenory award

The Pittsburgh Basketball Club recently announced the recipients of its Baron “BB” Flenory Award for WPIAL guard of the year.

The award is named after the Valley High School and Duquesne great from New Kensington.

In the large-class division (Class 4A-6A), the winner was Rowan Carmichael of Avonworth, who led the WPIAL in scoring this season.

The small-school (A-3A) winner was Courtney Wallace of Neighborhood Academy.

Both were honored at the PBC Hall of Fame brunch last weekend at Montour Heights Country Club.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Greensburg C.C., Jeannette, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford