Known and unknown await teams in PIAA playoffs
Road trips and playing teams you’ve never seen before are all part of the process when you get into PIAA playoff action.
The area’s six boys and girls basketball teams still alive for the second round of the PIAA playoffs will experience some of that when the next round of games begin Tuesday.
For the Chartiers-Houston girls basketball team, the road trip isn’t as long as it could have been. The WPIAL-champion Bucs (24-2) will play District 6 runner-up Bellwood-Antis (23-4) at Hempfield High School Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In other games Tuesday, the WPIAL Class A-champion Monessen boys team will play District 5 champion Shanksville (25-1) at Norwin (7:30 p.m.), while Washington will face Erie First Christian at Slippery Rock at 6 p.m.
While those games all feature new matchups, two of the three games featuring local teams Wednesday will be rematches.
McGuffey’s boys basketball team will face WPIAL Class AAAA champion New Castle for the second time in this postseason, while Trinity’s girls basketball team will get a chance to avenge their WPIAL semifinal loss from two weeks ago to Chartiers Valley at 7:30 p.m. at Peters Township.
South Fayette’s girls, meanwhile, also will get a WPIAL opponent in Hampton at 7:30 p.m. at North Catholic. Those two teams did not play this season.
The site might not be a bad one for Chartiers-Houston considering Bellwood-Antis is located between Altoona and State College.
The opponent? That might be a different question.
“They’re comparable to Beaver,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Laura Montecalvo of Bellwood-Antis, “only better. They’re fantastic.”
Montecalvo, whose team is on an 18-game winning streak, hopes her team fares better against the Blue Devils than they did earlier this year against the Bobcats, a Class 4-AAAA power. The Bucs’ last loss this season was to Beaver Dec. 29, 67-42.
Bellwood-Antis features St. Francis (Pa.) recruit Karson Swogger, a 5-8 senior who averages 26.7 points per game. The Blue Devils also have a talented freshman in 5-10 Alli Campbell, who averages 17.2 points per game and already has garnered some Division I interest.
“They’re both very good and they love to play in transition,” said Montecalvo. “As a team, they’ve made 221 three-pointers this season.”
The Bucs will try to slow the pace of the game a little and use their size, which includes 6-1 junior Alexa Williamson, 5-10 guards Jala Walker and Jules Vulcano and 5-9 forwards Jalin Walker and Maddie Simpson to keep the Blue Devils from getting many chances to get a rebound and get into their transition game.
“That’s where we have an opportunity to be very good,” said Montecalvo. “We’re generally a very good rebounding team. But I told the girls, when we don’t get the rebound, we’ve got to turn and sprint back, because they’re going to run.”
While the Bucs’ opponent will be looking to get out in transition, Washington’s might be a little more content to play a half-court style.
Erie First Christian, which is a boarding school in Erie, features 6-7 center Sam Lowell, who averages 11.5 points per game, and Penn State football recruit Jesse Luketa, a 6-3, 220-pound forward. They compliment leading scorer Hunter Kalley, a 6-1 sharp-shooter who has made 47 three-pointers and is 92 of 109 from the free throw line (85 percent).
The third-place team in District 10, Erie First Christian (17-9) beat Karns City, 57-48, in the opening round, while Washington edged Richland, 52-45.
Monessen will face the task of beating a team in Shanksville that has not lost since dropping a 49-45 decision at Bethel Park in the opening week of the season. Shanksville, which does not have a player taller than 6-2, has won 24 consecutive games since, including defeating Union, 58-54, in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs last week.
Monessen (19-7) defeated Union, 88-64, in the WPIAL semifinals two weeks ago.