Westmoreland high school notebook: PIAA basketball playoff pairings, schedule set

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, March 3, 2024 | 6:24 PM

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The PIAA basketball playoffs will begin this weekend.

Times were announced Sunday for first-round games, with higher seeds earning home games.

Boys state playoff teams from Westmoreland County are: Franklin Regional in 5A, Burrell and Derry in 3A, Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette in 2A and Monessen in A.

Franklin Regional, Burrell and GCC will play at home.

Franklin Regional, Burrell and GCC are WPIAL runners-up.

On Friday, Franklin Regional (23-3) will host Warwick (17-8) at 5 p.m., and Monessen (20-5) will travel to Elk County Catholic (24-2) in St. Marys at 7.

On Saturday, Bishop Guilfoyle (23-4) plays at Burrell (16-9) at 1 p.m., and Derry (15-8) travels to Girard (23-2) fror a 7:30 tip at Hagerty Events Center.

Jeannette (17-9) plays at Iroquois (14-11) in Erie at 1 p.m., and Windber (15-9) visits Greensburg Central Catholic (23-3) at 2.

Local girls qualifiers are WPIAL champions Norwin (6A) and Greensburg Central Catholic (2A) and Monessen (A).

On Friday, William Penn (16-10) plays at Norwin (21-3) at 6 p.m., and Bellwood-Antis (15-10) travels to Greensburg Central Catholic (20-6) at 7.

Monessen (20-6) also plays at Elk County Catholic (17-2) and will play at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Athletic director Gina Naccarato asked the PIAA to schedule a girls-boys doubleheader so Monessen didn’t have to make two bus trips to Elk County, and the association obliged.

The state tournaments culminate with the finals March 21, 22 and 23 at Giant Center in Hershey.

Tough loss

The GCC boys’ 69-32 loss to Aliquippa in the WPIAL Class 2A championship Saturday was the second-most lopsided game in finals history.

The 37-point difference ranks just behind Lincoln Park’s 44-point romp over Monessen in 2017.

Thousand island

Quietly, Franklin Regional senior guard Cam Rowell reached a career milestone Friday night in a 53-48 loss to Moon in the WPIAL Class 5A championship.

He needed 14 points to reach 1,000, and Rowell finished with 15, giving him 1,001 going into the PIAA playoffs.

Now there will be six 1,000-point scorers in the state playoffs from Westmoreland County. They are Rowell, Lorenzo Gardner of Monessen, Nate Papuga of Derry, Tyree Turner and Franco Alvarez of Greensburg Central Catholic and Macky Bennis of Burrell.

Local ties

Three girls with local ties won a WPIAL title with North Catholic.

Alayna Rocco (Trafford), Brady Wehner (formerly of North Huntingdon) and Lauren Reitz (Murrysville) helped the Trojanettes to a 40-37 win in overtime in a title rematch with Blackhawk in Saturday’s Class 4A final at Petersen Events Center.

Rocco, a Harvard commit, scored a game-high 26 points in the victory.

Berger offered

Norwin junior guard Kendall Berger, who helped lead the Lady Knights to their third WPIAL title Friday, has her second offer to play Division II college basketball.

Seton Hill extended an opportunity for Berger, who had 10 points in a 56-41 win over North Allegheny at Petersen Events Center.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, North Catholic, Norwin