Feb 9, 2016 7 min read

GREEN TREE – Winning a section title may get you a plaque and a round of applause at the WPIAL basketball pairings meeting, but it doesn’t always guarantee a top-four seed.

Finishing second won’t get you a plaque, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get recognized.

Trinity’s girls basketball team lost twice to South Fayette to miss out on the section title, but to everyone’s surprise at the Double Tree Hotel Tuesday night, the Hillers were treated like a section champ when the Class AAA playoff brackets were revealed.

Trinity (18-3), which finished second in Section 5-AAA, received the second seed and will play the winner of a preliminary game Belle Vernon and Central Valley next Wednesday at Canon-McMillan (6:30 p.m.).

“That’s the one thing about the pairings meeting: there’s always a surprise,” Trinity head coach Bob Miles said. “I like the side of the bracket we’re on and the way it kind of lays out. I’m somewhat surprised, but I think they gave us some respect.”

Top-seeded South Fayette, which reached the WPIAL title game last season, beat Trinity by a combined 11 points and the Hillers’ non-section loss was to Peters Township, which shared the Section 4-AAAA title. The Lions (18-3) will play either Laurel Highlands or Ringgold Wednesday at Peters Township (6:30 p.m.).

Few were as surprised about the WPIAL basketball steering committee’s decision as Ambridge head coach Nikki Santiago. The Bridgers (19-3) were chosen as the third seed after winning the Section 2-AAA title.

“It was unusual, but that’s the WPIAL,” Santiago said. “We just have to go with it. I thought we might be two. We’ll just take it one game at a time and we just hope to get through the first round. It doesn’t matter who we play.”

The committee debated the difficulty of Section 5-AAA, plus the quality of Trinity’s non-section wins and losses. That added up to the section earning the tournament’s two top seeds.

“It wasn’t an easy decision and there was lot of discussion about it, but the committee decided they were clearly the one and two seeds,” said former Trinity boys basketball coach Joe Dunn, a member of the basketball steering committee whose daughter is one of the Hillers’ star players.

The Hillers have won at least one playoff game the past two years and have been ranked in PennLive.com’s top 10 every week during the regular season. They allow just 37.3 points per game, with the highest-scoring offense in Class AAA (61.8 ppg).

They’ll await the winner of Belle Vernon (9-13), the fourth-place team from Section 4, and Central Valley (13-9), which play at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Ringgold (12-10) and Laurel Highlands (10-12) will play Saturday at Baldwin (1:30 p.m.).

Peters Township (18-4) received the fourth seed in Class AAAA and will play Hempfield (14-8), the second-place team from Section 1, Tuesday at Charleroi. Canon-McMIllan (14-7), which shared the section title with the Indians, will play Fox Chapel (13-8) Tuesday at Baldwin (6:30 p.m.).

If Chartiers-Houston (16-6) is going to make another run in Class AA, it will have to go through Washington (18-4), the Section 4-AA champions. The ninth-seeded Bucs get a rematch with the eighth-seeded Prexies, whom they lost to by 10 points last month, Tuesday at Peters Township (6:30 p.m.).

“We’re going to write a different story this year,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Laura Montecalvo, who guided the Bucs into the playioffs despite losing high-scoring sophomore forward Alexa Williamson midway through the season with a torn ACL.

“She’s still so much a part of it and I believe in the rest of my kids. I believe they’re going to go out and give 110 percent every night. I just hope we can surprise people like we did last year.”

Also in Class AA, Charleroi (15-7) will play Freedom (8-14) in a preliminary round game Friday at Peters Township (6:30), with the winner playing Neshannock, and Beth-Center (8-10) will play Shenango (13-9) for the chance to play No. 2 Burrell.

Despite a 20-1 record and a Section 3-A title, Jefferson-Morgan received the sixth seed in Class A and will play Winchester Thurston (11-10) Saturday at Trinity (noon).

California (14-7), the second-place team from Section 3-A, will face Riverview (13-8), which it lost to in the quarterfinals last season, next Wednesday at Gateway (6:30 p.m.). West Greene (16-6) received the 12th seed and will play Cornell Saturday at Keystone Oaks (1:30 p.m.), and No. 15 Fort Cherry (9-13) will play second-seeded Vincentian (17-4) next Wednesday at West Allegheny (6:30 p.m).

Peters Township’s return to the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs will start Saturday at Baldwin High School. The Indians (14-8) will play Central Catholic (14-7), which shared the Section 3-AAAA title with North Hills and Pine-Richland, at noon.

Trinity (12-8) will have a familiar first-round opponent in Class AAA. The Hillers, who finished third in Section 5-AAA, will face Mount Pleasant (7-15) Friday at Peters Township (8 p.m.) for the right to play No. 4 Highlands. Trinity defeated the Vikings, 47-36, last Saturday.

Also in Class AAA, South Fayette (12-9) will play sixth-seeded Steel Valley (15-5) Tuesday at Baldwin (8 p.m.).

Washington (16-6) also drew a team it defeated in the regular season. The Prexies, who finished second in Section 4-AA, will play Laurel (17-5) next Wednesday at West Allegheny. Tipoff is 8 p.m. The Prexies beat Laurel, 76-66, last month,

“There’s a mild attention paid to (previous opponents). Seeding occurs first and where they fall after that,” Dunn said. “That’s not nearly paid as much attention to as trying to keep the top seeds. Your goal as the committee is to get those four seeds in the final four. If you’ve done that, you’re successful.”

Also in Class AA, Waynesburg (11-8) will play a preliminary round game Saturday against Shady Side Academy (13-8) at Keystone Oaks at noon for the right to face No. 2 Lincoln Park. Beth-Center (8-9) has a preliminary round game against Wilkinsburg (15-7) Saturday at Keystone Oaks, and the winner will play No. 3 Quaker Valley.

Another surprise Tuesday night was Charleroi’s seeding. The Cougars (16-5) finished second in Section 4-AA, but will play a preliminary round game against Chartiers-Houston (16-6) Saturday at Trinity (1:30 p.m.) for the right to play No. 4 Greensburg Central Catholic.

“That kind of shocked me,” Charleroi head coach Bill Wiltz said. “We put 16 wins up. I thought we wouldn’t have to play in, but sometimes it’s better to play in, get your feet wet and get one under your belt. We’ll use it as motivation.”

Monessen (19-3) won’t need motivation. The defending WPIAL champion Greyhounds receive the top seed in Class A and will play Leechburg, which will compete in the postseason amid hazing allegations, Tuesday at Charleroi (8 p.m.)

The Greyhounds averaged more than 90 points per game during the regular season, despite facing lofty expectations.

“I’m anxious to get started. This year has been pretty crazy because of all the expectations with this team coming back and what was supposed to happen,” Monessen head coach Joe Salvino said. “It’s put a little more pressure on the kids just as much as me. We’ve been waiting for this time right here and now it’s here, so we have to see what we can do with it.”

Also in Class A, ninth-seeded California (14-7) will face Union Tuesday at West Allegheny, Avella (9-13) travels to Keystone Oaks Friday to play Clairton (15-3) and West Greene (12-8) will play Vincentian Academy (14-7) Tuesday at Canon-McMillan (8 p.m.).