Local roundup: Waynesburg rides balanced attack to win over Lady Falcons
Tess Pauley scored 17 points and was joined by three other Waynesburg Central players in double figures as the host Lady Raiders defeated Brownsville, 66-21, in a Section 3-3A game to move into second place.
Peyton Cowell tallied 15 points, Emma Blair added 14 and Addonae Johnson chipped in with 11 to join Pauley, who hit three 3-pointers, for Waynesburg.
The Lady Raiders (5-2, 12-2) raced out to a 24-0 lead in the opening quarter and never looked back.
Ciara Horabik topped the Lady Falcons (0-7, 4-11) with nine points.
Mapletown 50, Avella 38 — Emma Zalar scored 11 points and drew two charges as the Lady Maples knocked off the visiting Lady Eagles for their first Section 2-A win of the season.
Avella (1-7, 4-11) led 12-6 after the first quarter and 18-16 at halftime. Mapletown (1-7, 2-14) surged to a 36-31 advantage in the third quarter and out-scored the Lady Eagles 12-8 in the fourth.
Makenna Lotspeich rang up 10 points for the Lady Maples, who also got 10 rebounds from Sophia Jennings and eight rebounds from Chloe McClead.
Mount Pleasant 39, Yough 23 — Ryleigh Drzal scored 15 points in the Lady Vikings’ Section 3-4A victory at Yough.
The game was tied 9-9 after the first quarter but Mount Pleasant pulled away in the second to take a 21-13 halftime lead and was up 33-15 after three.
The Lady Vikings (4-4, 7-8), who moved into fourth place with the win, also got 12 points from Morgan Gesinski.
Mya Broadwater had seven points for the Lady Cougars (1-7, 6-9).
McGuffey 51, Carmichaels 29 — Lucy Weiss tossed in 13 points as the Lady Highlanders beat the host Lady Mikes in a non-section game.
McGuffey led 14-6, 29-14 and 43-23 at the quarter breaks. Eliana Janovich and Hailey Rogers both contributed 10 points for the Lady Highlanders (9-7).
Ke’Lani Chun topped Carmichaels (1-14) with seven points.
Elizabeth Forward 80, Southmoreland 24 — Kaelyn Settles scored 20 points and Mia Sostaric tallied 17 in the Lady Warriors Section 3-4A win over the visiting Lady Scotties.
Addison Wach and Mia Curing added 10 points apiece for EF (7-1, 11-4)
Ava Keefer dropped in eight points for Southmoreland (0-8, 1-15).
Belle Vernon 61, Ringgold 19 — Aubrey Brown totaled 13 points, nine rebounds and four steals and Saylor Lee had 13 points and five steals as the Lady Leopards defeated the visiting Lady Rams to remain in a first-place tie with Elizabeth Forward in Section 3-4A.
Belle Vernon held leads of 12-7 after one quarter, 33-9 at halftime and 48-17 after three.
Layla McConnell contributed five assists for the Lady Leopards (7-1, 12-3).
Addison Jenkins and Natalie Walsh both scored four points for Ringgold (3-5, 6-8).
South Park 46, Laurel Highlands 21 — Andrea Kuczma scored 11 points as the host Lady Eagles (7-1, 9-6) beat the Lady Mustangs in a Section 3-4A game.
South Park led 10-1 after the first quarter, 24-5 at halftime and 40-14 after three.
Taylor Schwertfeger paced LH (3-5, 5-10) with 10 points.
Burgettstown 50, California 29 — Paige Klodowski had 22 points as the Lady Blue Devils (12-4) defeated the visiting Lady Trojans in a non-section game.
Olivia Gibson racked up 16 points for California (7-8).
Boys basketball
Mount Pleasant 71, Apollo Ridge 70 — Cole Massari’s 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left in overtime lifted host Mount Pleasant to a dramatic non-section win over Apollo Ridge in a battle of Vikings.
Gage Malone led Mount Pleasant with 20 points and six 3-pointers, and Andrew Brodak followed with 17 points.
Mount Pleasant led 21-10 after the first quarter but Apollo Ridge whittled the gap to 29-23 at halftime and 44-42 after three before knotting the score at 59-59 and forcing OT with a 17-15 edge in the fourth.
Apollo Ridge took a 70-68 in the extra frame before Massari hit his clutch shot.
Apollo Ridge had a chance to tie the game and force a second overtime but missed a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left.
Zane Beatty scored 25 points to pace Apollo Ridge (8-7), which also got 12 points from Noah Stewart and 10 from Brayden Myers.
Monessen 60, Beth-Center 49 — Rodney Johnson scored 19 points in the visiting Greyhounds’ non-section win over the Bulldogs.
Monessen led 26-25 at halftime then took control with an 18-7 advantage in the third in going up 44-32.
Torrence Taylor added 17 points for the Greyhounds (7-5) which has won five in row after starting the season 2-5.
Brayden Hull tossed in 14 points for Beth-Center (8-6).
Belle Vernon 68, West Mifflin 46 — Luca Ghilani hit three 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 24 points in the Leopards’ Section 3-4A win at West Mifflin.
Belle Vernon (6-1, 10-7) also got 13 points from Elijah Majors and 12 from Vincenzo Francia.
The Leopards led 13-7, 33-18 and 50-36 at the quarter breaks.
Julian Newberry had 14 points for the Titans (1-6, 1-16), who also got 11 points from Noah Williams and 10 from King Terrell.
Swimming
BOYS: Uniontown 86, Belle Vernon 45; GIRLS: Uniontown 70, Belle Vernon 49 — Chase King won two events in WPIAL Class 2A qualifying time to lead the Red Raiders to a Section 5-2A victory at Belle Vernon Area High School.
King, a junior, won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.56, which bested the WPIAL qualifying mark for Class 2A boys of 1:59.90. He dominated the field in touching the deck with a time of 5:23.86. The WPIAL cut for the 500 is 5:29.
The Uniontown quartet of Logan Davis, Patrick Foster, Ivan Rutter and Donte Rugola swam the 200 IM (individual medley) relay in 1:52.15 to assure a trip to the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool on Feb. 26 and 27 for the WPIAL championship meet.
The Red Raiders’ Cameron Soltis topped the field in the 100 butterfly in 1:03.42. Soltis was joined by Zachary Fisher, Kavon Novak and Carson Soltis in winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.83.
The Leopards’ Brady Malekovich won the 50 and 100 freestyle in times of 22.18 and 50.83. Both times were WPIAL cuts. Teammate Derek Milkovich swam 1:09.49 to not only win the race, but beat the WPIAL qualifying standard in the 100 breaststroke.
Belle Vernon’s Gaige Watson earned a victory in the 200 IM with a time of 2:17.20.
Malekovich, Milkovich and Watson were joined by Leo Soto to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:57.80.
Uniontown improved to 1-0 the section, while the Leopards fell to 0-1.
The Lady Red Raiders’ Addison Caruso topped the field in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.68, which was a WPIAL cut. Teammate Joss Rutter won the 100 backstroke (1:07.88) and 200 IM (2:31.45).
Uniontown’s Hannah Foster earned a victory in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.48. Eleanor Carei, who is also a diver for the Lady Raiders, won the 100 freestyle in 1:08.46.
Caruso, Carei, Foster and Rutter teamed up to win the 200 medley relay in 2:05.81. Shelbie Covert joined Caruso, Carei and Foster in winning the 200 freestyle relay (1:57.51).
Megan Shusteric won two individual races and was part of the winning 400 freestyle relay for the Lady Leopards.
Shusteric won the 200 freestyle in a WPIAL-cut time of 2:02.46. She topped the field in the 500 freestyle in 5:32.59, which bested the WPIAL Class 2A qualifying time of 5:48.
Belle Vernon’s Isabella O’Wade topped the field in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:33.13.
Shusteric and O’Wade teamed with Ali Watson and Audrey Selva to win the 400 freestyle relay in 4:54.04.
The meet was the section opener for both teams.
BOYS: Laurel Highlands 83, Ringgold 81; GIRLS: Ringgold 89, Laurel Highlands 79 — Kasey Mahoney and Lincoln Metheny swam WPIAL Class 2A qualifying times in helping the Mustangs to edge the Rams in the Section 5-2A opener for both teams.
The Lady Mustangs fell short, but had several individual winners and were victorious in two-out-of-three relay races.
Mahoney won the 200 IM in 2:04.41 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.87. The senior and PennWest Clarion commit had previously swam WPIAL cuts this season.
Metheny, a sophomore, won the 500 freestyle in 5:19.78. He had also finished with a WPIAL cut in the event earlier this season.
Mahoney and Metheny were joined by Drew Tupta and Aidan Swaney in winning the 400 freestyle relay in 3:45.03. Laurel Highlands has qualified for the WPIAL Class 2A championship meet in all three relays. The quartet finished second to the Rams’ Ethan Rahr, Randolph Noll, Korben Andrews and Maxwell Wukovich in the 200 medley relay, but both squads bested the WPIAL qualifying times with Ringgold’s winning time of 1:47.51 and the Mustangs clocked in at 1:48.96.
Noll edged Metheny in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:57.30 to 1:58.36, but both swam district qualifying times. Andrews hit the WPIAL mark in winning the 100 butterfly in 59.90.
Rahr won the 100 backstroke in a WPIAL-qualifying time of 1:00.96.
Laurel Highlands’ Addie Ciez won the 200 IM in a WPIAL cut time of 2:23.20. She also won the 100 butterfly in 1:09.15.
The senior and Frostburg State commit teamed with Maddy Moore, Mia Fabery and Amelia Opar in winning the 200 medley relay in 2:13.
Moore won the 50 freestyle in 29.23 and Fabery topped the field in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:31.12.
Fabery swam the anchor leg of the victorious 400 freestyle relay that won in 5:07.09. She was joined by Hannah Hertlein, Jillian Firestone and Olivia Buckingham.
The Lady Rams’ Emily Carpeal won the 500 freestyle in a WPIAL qualifying time of 5:43.33. She also won the 200 freestyle in 2:11.30.
Boys wrestling
Connellsville 47, Kiski Area 22 — The Falcons handed the Cavaliers their first loss among WPIAL schools in a non-section dual meet at Connellsville Area High School.
Connellsville improved to 11-2 this season, while Kiski Area dropped to 14-2. The Cavaliers’ other setback came at the hands of Altoona, 33-29, on Jan. 6.
The Falcons welcomed back Jeremy Gray in the 107-pound weight class after being out of the lineup with an injury since the team’s first competition on Dec. 4 The freshman won his bout by fall in 4:52.
Connellsville built up a 41-0 lead, as it started off strong with pins in its first three bouts. Zachary Franks won in 5:02 at 114, followed by Tommy Gretz’s fall in 1:01 at 121, and Nolan Rice wrapped up the string of planks in shouldering his opponent in 1:29 at 127.
Landon Lynn earned a 4-2 decision over Gavin Murphy at 133 before Daniel Smith topped Jackson Pollick, 5-2, at 139 for a 24-0 team advantage.
Kai Vielma provided six points for the Falcons with a fall in 13 seconds at 145. Luke Lilley followed (152) with a 21-6 technical fall in 1:37 before Jake Lilley (160) recorded a fall in 1:06.
Kiski’s Travis Shearer stopped the bleeding for his team with an 8-0 major decision at 172. Teammates Mario Hutcherson (189), Cooper Roscosky (215) and Alex Akerley (285) won by fall.
Connellsville will enjoy a day’s rest before tacking on some of the best wrestlers in not only the state, but the country, in the Escape the Rock Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Council Rock South High School in Holland.
Girls wrestling
Connellsville 39, Kiski Area 36 — The Lady Falcons opined with three straight falls and Jayden Wiltrout earned a decision to help Connellsville rally past the Lady Cavaliers.
The Lady Falcons’ Julieth Flores started the dual meet off on the right foot for the home team with a victory in 1:06 at 100 pounds. Alison Leon followed at 106 with a plank in 4:29 before Trinity Moore took care of business in 22 seconds at 112 for an 18-0 lead.
Kiski (4-1) went on a run of six-point results in the next five bouts, as Daisy Joseph (118), Marissa Prignon (130) and Ava Golding (142) won by fall, and Kallee Pahlman (124) and Kara Dilts (136) received forfeits to take a 30-18 advantage.
Wiltrout earned an 8-3 decision over Lillie Moorhead at 148 to cut the deficit to 30-21 and Olivia Shultz’s win via injury default at 155 pulled the home team within three.
Kiski took a 36-27 lead when Alyssa Tresco won by forfeit at 170, but Jordyn Grimm (190) and Ravyn Cameron-Botti (235) received back-to-back forfeits for the non-section triumph.
Connellsville improved to 5-3 this year.
Hockey
Connellsville 5, Elizabeth Forward 0 — Sam Denny and Will Whittaker scored two goals apiece and Nick Daniels-Nimick earned his third shutout of the season in a PIHL Division 2 Gold victory at CFS Bank Arena in Rostraver Township.
The Falcons improved to 11-4-0-0 this season and sit atop the division standings with 33 points. Knoch is second with 29 points and Morgantown third with 27. The Knights and the Mohigans have two games in hand.
Denny opened the scoring with 4:39 remaining in the first period. Logan Jenkins and Nico Pisula had the assists.
Denny added his second tally with 16:13 left in the second period. Logan Hause and Matty Smith added the assists.
Whittaker’s first came while Connellsville was down a man at 14:32 of the middle period. Liam King provided the first of two assists.
Whittaker’s second came with the man advantage. King and Smith had the assists at 11:33 of the third.
Santo Crucio closed the scoring at 8:19 of the third on the power play. Whittaker and Larry Barrofio had the helpers.
The Falcons outshot the Warriors, 54-19. Daniels-Nimick made 19 saves.