High school basketball roundup: Trinity tunes for playoffs by beating USC
Trinity prepared for the upcoming Class 5A girls basketball playoffs by defeating Upper St. Clair 56-50 Saturday afternoon at Hiller Hall.
USC (13-7) has qualified for the Class 6A playoffs and led 32-29 at halftime. Trinity, however, outscored USC 14-8 in the pivotal third quarter to take the lead and protected it late in the game to improve its record to 16-4.
“They changed their defenses up on us but we handled their pressure,” Trinity coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. “The keys for us were transition defense, turning them over with full-court pressure that created more scoring opportunities for us. Those were things that we targeted and were able to accomplish. We also made some key free throws down the stretch.”
Riley DeRubbo led three Trinity players in double figures with 16 points. Courtney Dahlquist followed with 12 points and Ashley Durig tossed in 11.
Ava Keating led USC with 13 points.
Monessen 65, Jefferson-Morgan 18: Qitarah Hardison scored 20 points and added 11 rebounds in Monessen’s 65-18 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in Section 2-A.
The playoff-bound Greyhounds (8-4, 14-7) had a 17-9 lead after the first quarter, and increased their advantage at halftime to 34-14. Monessen extended its lead to 51-17 after third, and outscored the Rockets, 14-1, in the fourth period.
Hardison is 10 rebounds away from 1,000 for her career. The Greyhounds host Greensburg Central Catholic (14-6) Monday in non-section play.
Abby Ankrom scored eight points for Jefferson-Morgan (3-9, 3-16).
Boys results
Peters Township 64, Connellsville 59, OT: Conor Duane scored eight of his 11 points in overtime, sparking Peters Township to a 64-59 victory over host Connellsville in a non-section game matching playoff-bound teams in Class 6A.
Connellsville (7-14) trailed 29-24 at halftime but battled back behind Kade Musgrove’s game-high 32 points to force overtime. Once in OT, PT (12-9) outscored the Falcons 11-6. Duane got the Indians going with a clutch three-point basket.
Colin Cote scored a team-high 22 points for the Indians. Sam Petrarca followed with 20 points and Luke Fontaine had 11. The Indians had only four players score.
West Greene 34, Jefferson-Morgan 31: Caleb Rice scored all of West Greene’s points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead three-pointer and two key free throws in the closing seconds as West Greene defeated host Jefferson-Morgan 34-31 in Section 2-A.
West Greene led 18-17 at halftime and 27-22 after three quarters before J-M (3-9, 5-17) rallied and took the lead in the fourth quarter.
That’s when Rice, who finished with nine points, made his clutch three-pointer to put playoff-bound West Greene (7-5, 8-12) back in front to stay.
Rice and Ben Jackson each scored nine points for the Pioneers.
Tyler Kniha had a game-high 10 points for J-M.
Monessen 77, Mapletown 56: Marquell Smith scored 21 points and Monessen ended Section 2-A play with a 77-56 victory over visiting Mapletown.
Monessen (9-3, 10-12) led 18-10 after one quarter and 42-22 at halftime.
DaWayne Howell scored 17 points for the Greyhounds and Taylon Lowe added 10.
Mapletown’s Landan Stevenson scored a game-high 23 points and Matt Atwood had 12.
California 72, Bentworth 44: Maliek Ramsey poured in a game-high 32 points and California completed Class 2A Section 2 play with a 72-44 win over Bentworth.
California improved to 6-6 in section and 11-9 overall heading into the postseason.
Jerzy Timlin had 14 points and Shawn Dziak 12 for Bentworth.
Chartiers-Houston 78, Carmichaels 61: Seth Dunn led four Chartiers-Houston players in double figures with 20 points and the Bucs finished Class 2A Section 2 play with a 78-61 home-court win over Carmichaels.
C-H (5-7, 11-10) won the game by building a 33-22 halftime lead. The Bucs’ Austin Arnold had 19 points, Evan Simpson scored 18 and Ahlijah Vaden had 15.
Carmichaels (2-10, 9-13) had three players in double figures, led by Al Cree’s 21 points. Chris Barrish tossed in 18 points and Darke Long had 15.
Beth-Center 56, Brownsville 52: Andrew Bower scored 18 points and Nick Martin made two crucial free throws with nine seconds remaining as Beth-Center held off Brownsville 56-52 in Class 3A Section 4.
Beth-Center (2-10, 9-13) led 27-24 at halftime and 45-37 after three quarters. The Bulldogs then struggled at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, making only six of 17 attempts, which allowed Brownsville (2-10, 7-13) to make a late charge.
Martin’s free throws, however, made it a four-point game and left Brownsville too little time to overcome a two-possession deficit.
The Falcons’ Ayden Teeter scored a game-high 21 points. Kam Studnicki tossed in 11 for Beth-Center.