Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Schedule doesn’t let up for Greensburg Central Catholic

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, December 27, 2023 | 11:11 AM

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Before the season began, Greensburg Central Catholic girls basketball coach Chris Skatell talked almost proudly about his team’s schedule, confident that the Centurions had the talent to handle it.

“We want to see what their will to compete looks like,” Skatell said as he went down the list of opponents. “We wanted to keep them in a heated environment.”

The heat is on. The Class 2A No. 1-ranked Centurions (4-2) have a meat grinder.

It included games against Class A No. 1 Union, 6A perennial playoff team Altoona, Maryland 3A state champion Baltimore Polytechnic, District 6 contender Berlin Brothersvalley, another good WPIAL 6A team in Canon-McMillan and 6A No. 5 Upper St. Clair.

GCC lost to Baltimore and Berlin, the former at the She Got Game Classic in Washington, D.C.

It was set to play Canon-McMillan and Upper St. Clair at the Cal (Pa.) Hoopfest this week.

And the Centurions have upcoming matchups against a pair of No. 1s — Oakland Catholic (5A) and North Catholic (4A) — and 5A No. 2 McKeesport.

Section starters

A number of county teams have yet to open section play, but that will change with the turn of the calendar.

Norwin has a dandy to open the Section 1-6A schedule. The No. 2 Lady Knights visit No. 1 North Allegheny on Tuesday night, and Hempfield hosts Pine-Richland on Wednesday night.

Also Tuesday, Ligonier Valley visits Deer Lakes (Section 3-3A), Yough travels to Brownsville (4-3A) and Monessen goes to Geibel (2-A).

Christmas Blessing

The Pittsburgh Steelers had their “Christmas miracle” with a head-turning win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 23, led by quarterback Mason Rudolph.

Greensburg Salem’s girls got a Christmas Blessing. Junior 6-foot center Blessing Gantt made a buzzer-beating layup to lift the Golden Lions past Buckeye Valley (Ohio), 33-31, on Dec. 22 in the KSA Tournament pink division championship in Orlando, Fla.

Greensburg Salem finished 3-0 at the tournament.

Count your blessings this Christmas season.

Here's Greensburg Salem's Blessing Gantt beating the buzzer to lift the Golden Lions to a tournament championship in Orlando.

(via BallerTV)@GS_SportsUpdate@TribLiveHSSN

https://t.co/QYx5pceWtU

— Bill Beckner (@BillBeckner) December 22, 2023

Rank and file

Four Westmoreland teams made this week’s TribLive HSSN top five rankings in their classifications.

GCC remained No. 1 in Class 2A, Norwin stayed at No. 2 in 6A, Greensburg Salem held strong at No. 4 in 4A, and Monessen didn’t move from the No. 4 spot in Class A.

Tourney time

Some holiday tournament games to watch this week include GCC vs. Upper St. Clair (5:30 p.m. Thursday at Cal (Pa.)), Plum vs. Latrobe (8 p.m. Thursday at Latrobe), Greensburg Salem at Mt. Pleasant (7 p.m. Thursday), Hempfield vs. Plum (6:30 p.m. Friday at Latrobe), Indiana at Latrobe (8 p.m. Friday) and Kiski Area vs. Fox Chapel (10:15 a.m. Friday at Shady Side Academy).

Layups

Norwin’s 34.1-point defensive average is the best in Class 6A. … Hempfield will play Indiana twice in nine days. The teams met in nonsection play last week and will play on the second day of the Latrobe holiday tournament. Indiana won the first game 49-38. … Burrell is allowing just 21.6 points per game, the lowest average in the WPIAL. The Bucs beat Valley, 66-4. … Jeannette added another player, giving the team as many girls as it has games played: six.

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

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Monessen, Norwin