Bill Beckner stories, Page 84

Monessen was 2-4 and had just opened Section 2-A play with a loss at West Greene. But then, right as rain, the streak happened. The Greyhounds won 13 in a row, captured their first section title since 2012 and established themselves a contender in WPIAL Class A girls basketball. All...

WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class 3A Preliminary round 17-Beaver Falls (9-11) at 16-Yough (10-11) 7 p.m. Thursday at Yough High School, Herminie Winner plays: 1-Shady Side Academy (20-2), noon Saturday at Fox Chapel High School Players to watch: Avina Norman, Beaver Falls; Laney Gerdich, Yough Layup lines: Beaver Falls clinched...

Saint Vincent has a nationally ranked women’s bowling team. For the first time, the Bearcats are listed among the best teams in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Division II/III National Poll. SVC (31-2) checked in a No. 13 in the latest poll. The Bearcats’ .939 winning percentage is the top...

For most of December and even late into January, the Norwin girls looked like the favorite to win WPIAL Class 6A. The Lady Knights were ranked No. 1 for much of the basketball regular season, but a couple of losses to Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny put a dent...

One Division I football scholarship offer often leads to many more for rising prospects. That could be the case for Samir Crosby, a freshman at Greensburg Central Catholic, who already is on the radar following a promising debut season. Crosby picked up his first high-level scholarship offer Monday, from the...

A closer look at the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs, which begin with preliminary round games Thursday night: Class 6A Favorite: Upper St. Clair (19-2) has not lost in 2023 and takes a 13-game winning streak into the postseason. The Panthers reached the finals last year and lost to Mt. Lebanon...

Don’t plan on leaving Seton Hill women’s basketball games early. You might miss the best part. The Griffins have been taking games down to the wire lately: Four recent games were decided by a total of 10 points. They knocked off IUP, 65-60, at home during their 100th anniversary celebration,...

New Greensburg Salem football coach Ty George has filled out his staff of assistants for his debut season. George, a former Hempfield and Seton Hill standout, was an assistant under former Golden Lions coach Dave Keefer. He is retaining some of the former staff and bringing in some new faces....

Maddie Moore School: Southmoreland Sport: Basketball Class: Senior Claim to fame: Moore poured in a career-high 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Scotties to a 62-53 victory over Ringgold to snap a 19-game losing streak. She added 15 points in a 39-35 loss to Uniontown. “Maddie played...

Upper St. Clair played six games in January and senior forward Colin Ruffner scored in every one of them. His efforts earned him PIHL Class 3A Player of the Month honors for January. He joined Franklin Regional senior forward Matt Knizner (2A) and McDowell senior forward Braeden Martin (A) as...

Adam Bilinsky was hoping his 1,000th point would come on a dunk. So were his family, friends and fans. After all, clips of some of his high-rising jams have gone viral. The slams have become his calling card. But the senior from Norwin — they call him “Bomber” — settled...

Franklin Regional did not qualify for the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs, but you would have thought the team won a championship after the final buzzer sounded Thursday night. The players yelled, squirted water bottles and giggled as they left the court. Whether it’s a case of a team peaking too...

A number of Westmoreland County teams still had a shot at the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs in the final week of the regular season. Friday night’s action will fill out the full list of qualifiers. County teams that already have clinched are Norwin (12-8) in 6A, Kiski Area (11-10) in...

Franklin Regional has been banged up, thrown out of rhythm and backed into a corner. The Panthers are on an eight-game losing streak. Yet, despite all of that, they can still get into the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. “It’s hard to believe,” coach Jesse Reed said. “I have never been...

The WPIAL will announce playoff pairings beginning at 3 p.m. Monday via Trib HSSN, and postseason games could begin as early as next Thursday, according to the league calendar. Local teams that have clinched spots in the playoffs are: Norwin (18-3) in Class 6A, Penn-Trafford (13-5) and Latrobe (14-7) in...

Practice is over, and her teammates have gone home for the evening. But Tiffany Zelmore is still firing up shots, rebounding for herself in an echoing gym and making sure she doesn’t leave on a miss. “You good, Tiff?” Mt. Pleasant girls basketball coach Scott Giacobbi says as he waits...

From the bottom of the section to the WPIAL playoffs? Penn-Trafford just might pull it off. The Road Warriors did it again. Penn-Trafford, saving its best for last, won for the third time in four games to keep their flickering postseason hopes alive. The Warriors rallied from a slow start...

With a hop, a skip and a jump, Rayna Todero earned herself a championship. Todero, a sophomore at Robert Morris and a Franklin Regional graduate, won the triple jump at the Bob Shannon Invitational at Denison. Her winning distance was 11.15 meters. Todero also finished second in the long jump...

Greensburg Central Catholic rolled out a Spalding TF-1000 Legacy basketball for Monday night’s game against visiting Clairton. It is the ball the WPIAL requires teams to use in the playoffs. The Lady Centurions looked playoff ready but only partially because of the ball they were using. Third-ranked GCC was motivated,...

Sophomore Austen Swankler, a Norwin graduate, was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Forward of the Month for a second time this season. Swankler extended his NCAA-leading scoring streak to 18 games. During that run, the Bowling Green forward has 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points. He had...

Norwin’s Noah Vogel had his top schools all lined up and was about to make a decision on his football future when a new opportunity came in. An opportunity he could not refuse. IUP had been interested in Vogel since his junior year but increased its financial offer only a...

Norwin graduate Max McDowell will be with a new team this baseball season. The journeyman catcher, who will begin his eighth season in the minor leagues, will play for the Reading Fightin Phils, the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. After spending most of last season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRaiders,...

Lily King School: Mt. Pleasant Sport: Swimming Class: Sophomore Claim to fame: King was dominant for the second straight year at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships at Derry, winning the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races in record fashion. She set county records of 49.63 seconds in the 100 free...

A bout of adversity didn’t stop the Norwin hockey team from winning, and it didn’t stop an offensive player from suiting up and playing goaltender. Norwin had to face Freeport without junior goalkeeper Owen Burmeister, who suffered a concussion while playing for his youth team the previous weekend. Knights coach...

It was only last year when Michael Fleming was firing in 3-pointers for Norwin, and two years ago when Nick Fleming was contributing key points and rebounds for the Knights. Now, the brothers are calling fouls and wearing stripes. Like their father, who has officiated basketball, football and other sports...