Bill Beckner stories, Page 27
Westmoreland high school notebook: Big 5/6 dotted with county players
The Big 5/6 Conference, which recognizes accomplishments of the two largest classifications in the WPIAL, announced its all-section basketball teams. The undefeated Penn-Trafford girls were rewarded with John Giannikas earning coach-of-the-year honors in Section 2-5A and junior Torrie DeStefano earning the section’s player of the year. DeStefano joined seniors Kamryn...
Bethel Park stuns Franklin Regional, which comes up short after furious rally
An enormous fourth-quarter comeback fizzled into a crushing defeat for the Franklin Regional girls basketball team as its first playoff appearance in six years ended with a near miss. A mid-game sigh turned into a ray of hope for the Panthers, but it ended in tears. The fifth-seeded Panthers, section...
Change to man-to-man defense allows Franklin Regional boys to run away with 1st round victory over Indiana
With Indiana up early and an uncomfortable few minutes starting to fester for Franklin Regional, coach Jesse Reed put his team on pause and made a switch. It was more like he flipped a switch. “We came out in a zone,” Reed said. “We went back to our man (-to-man),...
Colleen Rosensteel, Olympian from Greensburg Central Catholic, among newest inductees in Pa. sports hall of fame
Seven-time PIAA track and field gold medalist Colleen Rosensteel, who went on to compete in Olympic judo, is going into the Robert “Tick” Cloherty Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. The Greensburg Central Catholic and University of Florida alum is one of the most decorated athletes to...
Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: Norwin ready for rematch
Section rematches in the first round usually are taboo for the WPIAL basketball steering committee. But they bent the rules slightly this year when building the playoff brackets. There are only two eight-team sections in 6A, which limits what the committee can do with matchups. But the WPIAL said it...
Westmoreland County high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 14, 2025
Boys Class 4A First round 11-Derry (12-9) at 6-Central Valley (18-4) 7 p.m. Friday Winner plays: At No. 3 Beaver (18-4) (time TBD) on Wednesday in quarterfinals Players to watch: Stanley Rajkovich, Derry; Isaiah Jeter, Central Valley Layup lines: Derry finished third in Section 3 behind Belle Vernon and Elizabeth...
Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Yough seeks elusive playoff win
Yough’s motivation for the playoffs lies in its drive to improve, a long-standing goal on Cougar Mountain. The girls basketball team is back in the WPIAL postseason, but the question is: Do the Cougars have staying power? Yough has not won a playoff game since 2009. “The girls are very...
Westmoreland County high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 13, 2025
Boys Class 5A Preliminary round 17-Indiana (10-12) at 16-Franklin Regional (11-11) 7 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: At No. 1 Montour (21-1), 7 p.m. Tuesday in first round Players to watch: Aaron Webb, Indiana; Connor Crossey, Franklin Regional Layup lines: Indiana finished fourth in Section 2 behind Kiski Area, Penn Hills...
Greensburg CC, Jeannette boys could meet in Class 2A final as WPIAL releases brackets
Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette are on opposite sides of the bracket in boys Class 2A, leaving the door open for a third meeting between the county rivals, but it would have to happen in the WPIAL boys basketball finals. The Penn-Trafford girls, meanwhile, despite going undefeated in the regular...
Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL girls basketball playoff brackets
Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL girls basketball playoffs Class 6A Favorite: Norwin has won back-to-back WPIAL titles before (2015, ’16) and the Knights will take another shot as the top seed, the same position they were in a season ago. A late-season win over Upper St. Clair went a long...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill softball earns season-opening sweep
Yes, softball season is here again. Seton Hill wasted little time getting on the winning track, sweeping a doubleheader from the host team in Mount Olive, N.C. In a 6-5 win in eight innings, senior Brooklyn Fukushima went 3 for 4, homered and drove in three, including the go-ahead RBI...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Franklin Regional seniors bond together
Senior night was special for a group of girls who are having a special season. Few saw coming this year’s run to a section championship by the Franklin Regional girls basketball team — the program’s first section title since 1979 — except for maybe the five seniors on the team....
Penn-Trafford girls basketball team conjures memories of 1973
The Penn-Trafford girls basketball team made history Saturday. Sort of. With a thrilling 59-57 win over Upper St. Clair, the Lady Warriors capped a perfect 22-0 regular season, the No. 3-ranked team in WPIAL Class 5A going on the road to knock off the No. 2 team in 6A. The...
Westmoreland County teams well-positioned for high seeds in WPIAL boys, girls basketball playoffs
The WPIAL will unveil its boys and girls basketball playoff seedings and brackets Monday. Tournaments could begin as early as Thursday. The WPIAL finals are set for Feb. 27, 28 and March 1 at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. Westmoreland County’s representation will be strong on both sides, with a number...
Norwin notebook: Sophomore sets school record at WCCA swim meet
Norwin sophomore swimmer Amber Klingensmith came home from her first trip to the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships with more than a good story to tell. She found herself in her school’s record book. A first-year varsity swimmer, Klingensmith broke a long-standing program record in the 100-yard butterfly, taking second...
Hempfield boys earn satisfying victory over Norwin in regular-season finale
As Max Williams and his senior teammates left the floor with just over a minute to play Friday night, Hempfield interim boys basketball coach Mark Katarski told them to “take your time.” He wanted them to absorb the moment as they checked out of their final game as Spartans —...
Penn-Trafford girls leave no doubt in rout of Indiana
Senior forward Lauren Marton not only made the first 3-pointer for the undefeated Penn-Trafford girls basketball team in a ramped-up Section 2-5A girls basketball finale, but she also was the first to climb the ladder to cut off a piece of the net on a special Thursday night in Harrison...
Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: WPIAL playoff field nearly set
The local boys basketball playoff field is just about set. The WPIAL will meet Monday and announce playoff seedings and opening matchups. The tournaments could start as early as Feb. 13, the league said. Qualifiers from Westmoreland County are: Norwin (10-10, 6-7) in 6A; Latrobe (17-4, 9-4), Penn-Trafford (12-9, 7-6),...
Playoff-bound Norwin boys can talk the talk under first-year coach, alum Auld
At 26, Cam Auld is one of the WPIAL’s younger coaches, but he admits to having an old-school side. “I dabble in a bit of old and new,” he said. Norwin’s first-year boys basketball leader and Knights alum is all about his players talking and understanding rather than the alternative:...
Penn-Trafford girls still working to improve despite undefeated record
Penn-Trafford isn’t getting baited into undefeated talk. The Warriors girls basketball team has left a trail of blowouts on the way to a 20-0 record with two games left in the regular season. Penn-Trafford never has finished a regular season unbeaten but is just about at the threshold of perfection....
Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Norwin’s Kendall Berger hits 1,000 points
Senior Kendall Berger has a number of memories as a member of the Norwin girls basketball team. She has a WPIAL championship, PIAA playoff experience and a number of high-scoring performances. Now, she has a scoring milestone. Berger scored the 1,000th point of her career last weekend when Norwin lost...
Greensburg Central Catholic boys make it a regular-season sweep of Jeannette
Jeannette boys basketball coach Adrian Batts said his Jayhawks could play Greensburg Central Catholic 10 times, and each team would win five. It remains to be seen if the county rivals will play again in the postseason — the WPIAL draw and Class 2A bracket will determine that possibility —...
Unbeaten Shady Side Academy girls complete season sweep of Greensburg Central Catholic
Unlike the first Section 2-3A matchup, Shady Side Academy didn’t have such an easy time getting to the basket in its rematch with Greensburg Central Catholic. High-percentage shots were fewer and far between. Passes were harder to come by into the post, and the Bulldogs had to look for alternative...
Nos. 1-2, Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette, prepare for boys basketball rematch
The top two boys basketball teams in WPIAL Class 2A have circled back for a rematch. No. 2 Jeannette (17-1, 10-1) will visit No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (18-2, 12-0) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a matchup of Section 1-2A heavyweights, the latest chapter in one of Westmoreland County’s hottest...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Norwin grad Brianna Zajicek hits career-high in comeback win
A 15-point halftime deficit meant nothing to Brianna Zajicek. The Cedarville junior basketball player led a fervent comeback with a career day as the Yellow Jackets rallied past Findlay, 81-80, in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Zajicek, a Norwin alum, poured in a career-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting and...
