What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Jan. 15, 2022: Girls basketball elites to square off

By: Don Rebel
Friday, January 14, 2022 | 7:34 PM

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If the weather forecasts are right, Saturday’s scholastic schedule will be the sweet calm before the storm.

Two of the top girls basketball teams in Class 6A will square off against a pair of elite teams in 5A in two nonsection games slated for Saturday afternoon.

Class 5A top-ranked Chartiers Valley (12-1), fresh off a big section victory over Moon, will visit Norwin (8-3). The Knights are ranked No. 4 in 6A.

Right ahead of them in the latest HSSN 6A rankings is Upper St. Clair (11-1) at No. 3. The Panthers will host 5A No. 2 Moon (11-1).

Both game tip at 1:30 p.m.

Old school rivals

There was no better rivalry in the old Catholic League than North Catholic against Central Catholic.

The two largest Catholic schools in the WPIAL are no longer bitter rivals, but it doesn’t mean it’s not big stuff when they do clash.

The Trojans visit the Vikings at Alumni Hall on Saturday afternoon.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for first-year North Catholic coach Jim Rocco, who has coached many games at Chuck Crummie court when he was head coach at Penn Hills and later, Penn-Trafford.

Both teams are ranked in the Top 5 in the latest Trib HSSN boys basketball rankings.

Central Catholic is No. 3 in 6A and North Catholic is No. 4 in 4A.

Tipoff is at 3:30 p.m.

County grappling

The last of the county scholastic wrestling tournaments is this weekend. Saturday is Day 2 of the annual Allegheny County Championships at Fox Chapel. Thirty-four schools sent wrestlers to the tournament.

Semifinals are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. with the finals set for 6 p.m.