Michael Love stories, Page 97

It’s been nearly 50 years since a Knoch girls basketball team has won a section championship. This year’s group hopes to change that. So far, so good with a 3-0 start, both overall and in Section 1-4A play. But the Knights aren’t resting on their laurels. “We’re trying to get...

The Knoch girls basketball team scored the first eight points in Monday’s Section 1-4A contest with rival Freeport at Freeport Middle School. The Knights, No. 3 in the latest Triblive HSSN Class 4A rankings, quickly developed a double-digit advantage in the opening stanza and didn’t let up en route to...

The West Virginia men’s basketball team received some good news from the Big 12 Conference on Monday as a game postponed because of covid issues has been rescheduled. The Mountaineers’ matchup with Baylor, originally scheduled for Jan. 12, now will be at 5 p.m. Feb. 18, in Waco, Texas. The...

Being away from the basketball court for any length of time normally is a foreign concept for Alvis Rogers. The third-year Gateway boys head coach enjoys keeping his mind and body sharp in the game he loves. But a medical issue and subsequent surgery late last month now has the...

Gateway wrestlers and their coaches were looking forward to the start of official practices Nov. 20 when the school district closed its buildings and moved to online learning for a couple of weeks to handle covid concerns and issues. As a result, all athletic activities were shut down. The team...

Experience is the calling card for the Gateway boys bowling team. A group of five seniors — Mason Servello, Cody Beckwith, Nathan Clark, Anthony Zappa and Liam Brown — front the Gators in matches as they hope for big things in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League and beyond. So...

Sam Wygonik hoped for the best when he stepped up to the block for the boys 200-yard freestyle Thursday during a dual meet between Fox Chapel and Woodland Hills at Fox Chapel High School. The St. Joseph junior, swimming in a high school meet for the first time since the...

Riverview has fewer wrestlers on its roster than normal, but coach Joe Murphy said excitement is high for those ready to test their mettle on the mat. The Raiders started their practices on time (Nov. 20) and maintained their schedule through Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown orders that took effect Dec....

Sarah Kvortek made her WPIAL gymnastics championship debut as a freshman last year, and the Plum athlete showed she had arrived with a fifth-place finish on bars in the Gold Intermediate I Division. “That was such a great experience,” said Kvortek, who qualified for WPIALs in all four disciplines, including...

It wasn’t the cleanest of games in the eyes of Freeport girls basketball coach Fred Soilis, but his team did what it needed to do Thursday evening to claim victory in its season opener. Sophomore Ava Soilis led all scorers with a career-high 20 points, and sophomore Melaina DeZort added...

A mix of experience and youthful talent has the Plum girls basketball team hoping to finish at the top of Section 2-5A and break a long playoff win drought. The Mustangs got off to a strong start Tuesday as they dispatched perennial Class 5A playoff qualifier Mars, 59-48. Down by...

The Penn State men’s basketball team currently is scheduled to visit Purdue in Big Ten Conference play Sunday afternoon. Now, the Nittany Lions know when they will play previously postponed conference home games against Rutgers and Wisconsin. The conference Wednesday announced an updated January schedule for Penn State, which also...

In a high school basketball season like no other, leaders are needed to help guide teams through the uncertainties that remain as schedules continue to evolve. Junior point guard Reese Hasley, a third-year starter and all-star performer, strives to be that leader for her Deer Lakes teammates. “Her freshman year,...

The Big 12 Conference on Tuesday announced the West Virginia men’s basketball team will not play home games with TCU (Saturday) and Oklahoma State (Jan. 19) because the Mountaineers were not able to meet necessary covid-19 requirements set forth by the conference. The same issue had already postponed Tuesday’s matchup...

Knoch sophomore Hattie McGraw sank her team’s first points of the season Monday with a 3-pointer just 22 seconds into a Section 1-4A home matchup against Highlands. The Knights, who played for the first time this season after games Friday and Saturday were lost to postponement, kept pouring in the...

The West Virginia men’s basketball team will not play its scheduled game at No. 2 Baylor on Tuesday. The Big 12 Conference on Monday announced the Mountaineers were not able to meet necessary covid-19 requirements set forth by the conference. No. 13-ranked WVU and Baylor are working with the conference...

Alexis Schrecongost was grateful to dive into the pool and compete Friday as she and her Freeport teammates kicked off their season at Kiski Area. The junior, a multitime WPIAL medalist in the 100-yard breaststroke who also has claimed medals in the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley, said she...

After more starts and stops to the season than he cares to remember, Plum wrestling coach Mike Supak said he’s anxious to see his team begin competition this week. The Mustangs, who had conducted only a couple of practices before Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown orders Dec. 10 as part of...

The Plum varsity bowling teams didn’t have a lot of time between the return to practice Jan. 4 from the three-week state-government imposed shutdown of high school activities and Monday’s scheduled start of the season. But coach Darryl Pilyih said the dozen combined bowlers on the boys and girls rosters...

A 12-point third-quarter advantage helped the Kiski Area girls basketball team turn a slim halftime deficit into a season-opening 39-26 victory Friday at Burrell. The Cavaliers trailed by one at the break, but they used defensive pressure, coupled with offensive struggles by the Bucs, to lead by 11 at the...

Mother and son are set to go head-to-head again. Mars, coached by Dana Petruska, will visit Deer Lakes, coached by her son Dave, on Saturday afternoon in a nonsection contest as the 2020-21 season ramps up after a shutdown ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf as part of overall efforts to...

For Vinny Citrano, the return to the Plum wrestling room this week was a welcome change. The Plum junior is using his work on the mat to move past any frustrations born of the recent shutdown of high school athletic activities ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf. “It was tough because...

Ellie Schwartzman is proficient at playing the piano, having studied and practiced the craft for more than a decade. She takes lessons every week to keep her skills sharp. “My whole family is very musically inclined,” said Schwartzman, a senior at Fox Chapel. “Music was a nice thing to have...

The WPIAL swimming committee met Tuesday afternoon, and the group agreed to establish faster automatic qualifying standards for the WPIAL championship meets. The championships tentatively are set for the week of March 1, but it remains uncertain if the event will be held at Pitt’s Trees Pool or moved to...

Pitt and the ACC announced Tuesday that the Panthers’ women’s basketball game against Notre Dame scheduled for Jan. 14 in South Bend has been postponed. The change was necessitated by the Pitt program remaining in covid protocol. A statement released concerning the postponement said the Panthers continue to adhere to...