WPIAL Class 4A girls basketball championship breakdown: Beaver vs. Quaker Valley

By: Bill Hartlep
Thursday, March 11, 2021 | 5:28 PM

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WPIAL Class 4A girls basketball championship

No. 1 Beaver vs. No. 2 Quaker Valley

5 p.m. Friday at Peters Township’s AHN Arena

On the air: 1230 AM, 99.3 FM, 1460 AM; TribHSSN.TribLive.com (video stream)

Winner plays: District 8, 9 or 10 champion in PIAA quarterfinals, March 20

How they got here: Beaver defeated No. 16 Burrell, 59-20, in the first round; No. 8 Elizabeth Forward, 47-40, in the quarterfinals; and No. 4 Knoch, 40-22, in the semifinals. Quaker Valley beat No. 15 New Castle by forfeit in the first round; No. 7 Montour, 68-39, in the quarterfinals; and No. 3 Southmoreland, 60-50, in the semifinals.

Starting lineups

Beaver (19-0)

Coach: Greg Huston

No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.

1, Emma Pavelek, G, 5-8, Sr.

2, Anna Blum, G, 5-7, Sr.

11, Kenzie Weiland, F, 6-0, Sr.

13, Maddi Weiland, G, 6-0, Sr.

32, Payton List, G/F, 5-11, Jr.

Quaker Valley (15-4)

Coach: Tom Demko

No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.

0, Corinne Washington, G/F, 5-11, Sr.

3, Bailey Garbee, G, 5-11, Sr.

10, Nora Johns, PG, 5-7, So.

13, Lily Johns, G 5-6, Sr.

34, Claire Kuzma, F, 5-11, Sr.

Title-game history: Beaver and Quaker Valley each are searching for their first WPIAL title.

Notable: Unbeaten Beaver is making its second straight trip to the WPIAL championship game after falling to Mohawk, 44-26, last season in the Class 3A final. The Bobcats moved up to Class 4A this season via PIAA realignment. The bump in classification hasn’t slowed the Bobcats, who average 53.1 points per game. Beaver defeated Section 2 rival Quaker Valley twice during the regular season, 40-37 and 48-42. Beaver is led by the scoring tandem of Payton List (15.6 ppg) and Emma Pavelek (15.4 ppg). List had 24 points against Burrell in the first round, while Pavelek scored 17 in the first round, 23 in the quarterfinals and 22 in the semifinal win over Knoch. Beaver coach Greg Huston has a record of 203-82 over 12 seasons. … Quaker Valley dropped just two games outside of the losses to Beaver, falling to Class 5A Penn Hills and Class 6A Mt. Lebanon. The Quakers average 51.7 points behind the talented senior Division I-bound tandem of Bailey Garbee (American) and Corrine Washington (Boston). Garbee averages 18 points and Washington 15.5. Garbee scored 23 and Washington had 22 in the semifinal win over Southmoreland, which was a finalist last year. Quaker Valley has won six straight games and 11 of 12.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Beaver, Quaker Valley