WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball championship breakdown: Trinity vs. Chartiers Valley

By: Bill Hartlep
Sunday, March 14, 2021 | 2:59 PM

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WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball championship

No. 1 Trinity vs. No. 2 Chartiers Valley

8 p.m. Monday at Peters Township’s AHN Arena

On the air: 95.3 FM; TribHSSN.TribLive.com (video stream)

Winner plays: District 10 champion Warren (22-3) in PIAA quarterfinals, March 20

How they got here: Trinity defeated No. 16 Mars, 83-36, in the first round; No. 8 Fox Chapel, 59-27, in the quarterfinals; and No. 5 Woodland Hills, 74-53, in the semifinals. Chartiers Valley beat No. 15 Plum, by forfeit, in the first round; No. 7 McKeesport, 65-47, in the quarterfinals; and No. 6 Latrobe, 59-43, in the semifinals.

Starting lineups

Trinity (21-1)

Coach: Kathy McConnell-Miller

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

1, Emily Venick, G, 5-5, Sr.

2, Kaylin Venick, G, 5-7, Sr.

11, Ashley Durig, G, 5-7, Sr.

13, Courtney Dahlquist, F, 6-1, Sr.

24, Alyssa Clutter, G, 5-8, Jr.

Chartiers Valley (22-3)

Coach: Tim McConnell

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

2, Aislin Malcolm, G, 5-11, Jr.

4, Hallie Cowan, G, 5-9, Jr.

5, Helene Cowan, G, 5-9, Jr.

11, Perri Page, G, 6-0, Jr.

22, Abby Vaites, G, 5-9, Jr.

Title-game history: Chartiers Valley has won three titles, all in the past four seasons (2017, ‘19, ‘20). Trinity is searching for its first championship.

Notable: Chartiers Valley is the two-time defending WPIAL Class 5A champion and defeated Trinity in last year’s final, 58-40. These teams are quite familiar with one another. Trinity ended CV’s 64-game winning streak with a 49-42 win in a nonsection game Jan. 23. The teams also were in the same section the past two years before Trinity moved to Section 3 this year. And, the coaches also are siblings. … The Colts are led by a pair of Division I commits in junior guards Aislin Malcolm (Pitt) and Perri Page (Columbia). Malcolm had 20 points and Page 17 against Latrobe. Junior guard Hallie Cowan added 19. CV coach Tim McConnell has more than 600 victories coaching the boys and girls teams, including seven WPIAL titles. … Trinity is led by 6-foot-1 forward Courtney Dahlquist, a Division I Campbell recruit who was an all-section selection last year and averages 17 ppg. Senior twins Kaylin and Emily Venick also are a talented tandem as part of the four-guard attack with Ashley Durig and Alyssa Clutter. Trinity’s lone loss this season came Jan. 16 at Norwin. The Hillers have won 17 straight games and average a Class 5A-high 68.8 points, while allowing a classification-low 30.2 ppg.

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: Chartiers Valley, Trinity