WPIAL releases 2019-20 basketball playoff pairings

By: Bill Hartlep
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 | 7:34 PM

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The North Catholic girls basketball team has grown accustomed to hoisting the WPIAL championship trophy.

The Trojanettes have won the past three WPIAL Class 4A titles. They are favored to repeat.

The North Catholic girls were among five defending champions that were awarded a No. 1 seed Tuesday night when the WPIAL basketball committee released its district playoff pairings at the DoubleTree Hotel in Green Tree.

The Lincoln Park (Class 3A) and OLSH (2A) boys teams, as well as girls teams from Chartiers Valley (5A) and Rochester (A) also will try to defend their titles as top seeds.

The top four seeds in the boys tournament include:

Class 6A: Butler (17-4), Fox Chapel (21-1), Mt. Lebanon (16-6), Upper St. Clair (19-3)

Class 5A: Penn Hills (18-4), Chartiers Valley (18-4), Mars (17-5), Thomas Jefferson (15-7)

Class 4A: Highlands (19-3), Knoch (19-3), Quaker Valley (17-5), Uniontown (20-2)

Class 3A: Lincoln Park (18-4), North Catholic (20-2), South Allegheny (21-1), Seton LaSalle (15-6)

Class 2A: OLSH (21-1), Sto-Rox (16-6), Jeannette (15-7), Springdale (19-3)

Class A: Vincentian Academy (18-4), Bishop Canevin (17-5), Cornell (16-6), Greensburg C.C. (16-6)

The top four seeds in the girls tournament are:

Class 6A: Bethel Park (19-2), North Allegheny (19-3), Norwin (18-4), Mt. Lebanon (17-5)

Class 5A: Chartiers Valley (22-0), Woodland Hills (18-4), Trinity (17-4), Oakland Catholic (16-6)

Class 4A: North Catholic (21-1), Southmoreland (22-0), Central Valley (17-3), Blackhawk (19-3)

Class 3A: Beaver (19-3), Mohawk (19-3), Carlynton (14-8), South Park (14-8)

Class 2A: Serra Catholic (16-3), Bishop Canevin (16-6), OLSH (18-3), Laurel (15-7)

Class A: Rochester (21-1), West Greene (22-0), Vincentian Academy (17-5), Clairton (18-3)

Other defending champions on the boys side are Mt. Lebanon (Class 6A), Mars (5A), New Castle (4A) and Nazareth Prep (A).

Last year’s other girls basketball champions were Peters Township (6A), Neshannock (3A) and OLSH (2A).

The basketball playoffs will begin Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with first-round games.

The quarterfinals are set for Feb. 20-22, with the semifinals planned for Feb. 24-26.

The championship games will be Feb. 27-29 at Petersen Events Center.

For analysis of each classification, listen to the archived broadcast of the WPIAL Basketball Pairings Show on Trib HSSN.

Also, check out all 12 brackets here.

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, Lincoln Park, North Catholic, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Rochester