Jan 4, 2024 4 min read

Fort Cherry’s Raney Staub scored a game-high 24 points, including her 1,000th career point, as the Rangers rolled to a 51-29 victory over visiting Brentwood in a Class 2A Section 2 girls basketball game Thursday night.

Staub entered the night needing seven points to reach 1,000. She hit the magic number in the second quarter and now has 1,017 career points.

Fort Cherry (2-0, 7-3) had a big first quarter, forging a 14-0 lead after eight minutes. The Rangers led 24-5 at halftime and cruised from that point.

Staub was the only FC player to score in double figures, though Brooke Cornali finished with nine.

Paige Bohiem had eight points for Brentwood (1-1, 4-6).

Monessen 59, Jefferson-Morgan 33

Monessen ran its winning streak to four games with a 59-33 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in a Class A Section 2 game played on the Greyhounds’ home court.

Madison Johnson led surging Monessen (2-0, 5-1) with 13 points and MyAsia Majors was close behind with 11.

Jefferson-Morgan’s Kayla Larkin shared game scoring honors with Johnson, tossing in 13 points. The Rockets slipped to 0-2 in section and 2-10 overall.

Yough 47, Charleroi 39

Charleroi played without high-scoring Bella Carroto, who was out of the lineup with an illness, and the Cougars could have used her as they lost 47-39 at Yough in a Class 3A Section 4 game.

Yough (1-0, 6-4) led 17-9 after one quarter and remained ahead at each of the quarter stops.

Autuman Matthews led Yough with 16 points while Hailey Bock had 12 and Brooke Wiland added 11.

Riley Jones and Ella Sypolt shared scoring honors for Charleroi with 15 points apiece. The loss dropped the Cougars to 0-2 in the section and 4-5 overall. Charleroi has lost four in a row.

Boys results

Avella 66, Western Beaver 65

Westley Burchianti had a double-double as Avella won its Class A Section 1 opener over Western Beaver, 66-62, on Wednesday.

Burchianti scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, helping Avella climb above the .500 mark at 6-5. It was the Eagles second win in as many tries over an opponent from Beaver County.

Avella led 31-29 at halftime and outscored Western Beaver 23-8 in the pivotal third quarter, opening up a 54-37 lead. Western Beaver (0-1, 2-10) battled back with a 25-12 scoring edge in the fourth.

Bryce Wright scored 12 points and Nate Colia had 10 for Avella.

Nathan Schwartz paced Western Beaver with 27 points, Jackson Liller had 16 and Jon Backur 10.

California 66, West Greene 63

Jahlem Derns’ field goal and clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch Wednesday night carried California to its first win of the season, 66-63, over visiting West Greene in Class A Section 2.

The Trojans (1-0, 1-9) trailed by 11 in the fourth quarter, but forged into the lead after Derns converted a steal into the go-ahead basket with less than 25 seconds left.

California made four free throws to clinch the win in the section opener.

Jacob Ziolecki paced the Trojans with a game-high 20 points, including five 3-point goals. Noah Neil had 18 points and Caden Monticelli 13. Vinny Manzella contributed 11 points, 10 assists and six steals.

Lane Allison led the Pioneers (0-1, 5-6) with 17 points. Matt Wassil and Parker Burns both scored 14 points. Pat Durbin added 13.

Moon 54, South Fayette 52

Moon outscored South Fayette 4-2 in the overtime period to edge the Lions 54-52 in the Class 5A Section 4 opener Wednesday night on the Tigers’ home court.

Moon (1-0, 8-2) led 33-25 at halftime before South Fayette used a 12-2 scoring edge in third to take a 37-35 advantage. The game went to overtime tied at 50-50.

Elijah Guillory scored 22 points to pace Moon and Aiden Ressemen helped with 15.

South Fayette (0-1, 4-5) received a game-high 26 points from Michael Plasko and 15 from Nico Lamonde.

In other games

The Mapletown girls improved to 2-0 in Class A Section 2 with a 49-21 victory over visiting Avella. Geibel Catholic pulled out a 37-35 win at West Greene in Class A Section 2. No game details were reported by press time.