Through:
Monday, February 14, 2022 | 5:53 p.m.
Laurel Highlands or New Castle? Mount Lebanon or North Allegheny?
Most of the No. 1 seeds were easy picks, but the WPIAL basketball committee was split on a few others, said chairman Bill Cardone, whose committee met for nearly three hours on Monday. The No. 1 seeds in Class 5A boys and Class 6A girls required a vote, but there were other heated debates as well.
“It took a while,” said Cardone, a longtime committee member and Hampton athletic director. “I think this year we probably talked more than in the past. It’s not that we haven’t had a discussion in the past, but there has been a lot of discussion.
Laurel Highlands and Mt. Lebanon won the votes and received the No. 1 seeds on Monday night when the WPIAL revealed their tournament brackets on TribLive HSSN. Among the other seeds, Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur received a No. 1 seed in Class 2A for the boys and girls playoffs.
The other No. 1 seeds went to North Hills Boys in Class 6A, Chartiers Valley Girls in Class 5A, Quaker Valley Boys and Blackhawk Girls in 4A, Ellwood City Boys and Catholic Girls du Nord in 3A, and the Bishop Canevin boys and Rochester girls in A.
Many of them emerged as clear picks, Cardone said. But sorting out the middle seeds into a bracket of 14, 16 or 19 teams was the most time-consuming task.
“Ones and twos we usually got, and sometimes threes and fours,” Cardone said. “But, boy, when we got to five, six, seven and eight in some of these (supports), there are good teams there.”
The playoffs begin Friday with three playoff games. The first round matches will take place next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The WPIAL Finals will take place March 3-5 at the Petersen Events Center.
86 men’s teams and 80 women’s teams try to find their way to Pitt’s arena.
The top-ranked teams will host first-round and quarter-final matches, if their facilities meet WPIAL requirements. The semi-finals will be played at neutral venues.
“The good thing about our committee is that we have a lot of people who see a lot of games,” Cardone said. “We have people from the north, the south and all the way down. We take what they say very seriously.
Among other notable decisions:
• In Class 6A boys, Section 2 runners-up Central Catholic was ranked third, ahead of Section 3 co-champions Mt. Lebanon (fourth) and Upper St. Clair (fifth).
• In Girls 5A, the committee rewarded Section 1 with three of the top four seeds. Joining No. 1 Chartiers Valley were No. 2 South Fayette and No. 4 Moon. Section 3 champion Trinity was seeded third.
• The Montour Boys in Class 4A and the Aliquippa Boys in Class 3A were seeded No. 2 due to strong regular season results.
• In the 2A Boys, the committee ranked Section 2 co-champions Fort Cherry and Carlynton No. 2 and 3, ahead of Section 1 winner Greensburg Central Catholic and Section 3 winner Monessen.
All necessary discussions. As for the No. 1 seeds, Laurel Highlands’ undefeated record won the New Castle debate to a loss, but Cardone said the committee saw them as nearly interchangeable.
“You can switch New Castle to one and Laurel Highlands to two,” he said. “One of the things we considered with New Castle was that not only were they a good basketball team, but their schedule was very good.
“But we put Laurel Highlands ahead because they’ve been No. 1 all year. They won all their matches. They haven’t wavered.”
Playoff pairings
Boys
Class 6A
First round
February 22 schedule
North Hills (22-0) goodbye; Baldwin (12-10) at North Allegheny (14-8), 7 p.m.; Hempfield (7-14) at Mount Lebanon (14-8), 7 p.m.; Penn-Trafford (9-12) at Upper St. Clair (14-7), 7 p.m.; Fox Chapel (21-1) goodbye; Bethel Park (16-6) at Pine-Richland (10-11), 7 p.m.; Central Catholic (17-5) goodbye; Norwin (9-10) at Butler (12-9), 7 p.m.
Class 5A
First round
February 21 schedule
Woodland Hills (8-14) at Laurel Highlands (21-0), 7 p.m.; Kiski Area (15-7) at Hampton (12-10), 7 p.m.; Chartiers Valley (8-14) at Penn Hills (17-4), 7 p.m.; Albert Gallatin (10-11) at Highlands (16-6), 7 p.m.; West Mifflin (10-11) at New Castle (20-1), 7 p.m.; Shaler (12-9) at South Fayette (14-8), 7 p.m.; Thomas Jefferson (8-14) at March (20-2), 8 p.m.; West Allegheny (10-11) at Gateway (13-5), 8 p.m.
Class 4A
First round
Friday schedule
Quaker Valley (20-0) goodbye; Blackhawk (12-9) at Deer Lakes (15-5), 7 p.m.; Central Valley (9-8) at North Catholic (17-3), 7 p.m.; Young (13-9) at Lincoln Park (15-6), 7 p.m.; Montour (18-4) goodbye; Elizabeth Forward (14-8) at Burrell (13-8), 7 p.m.; Belle Vernon (18-3) goodbye; Freeport (12-9) at Uniontown (14-8), 7 p.m.
Class 3A
First round
February 21 schedule
Summit Academy (7-8) at Ellwood City (20-2), 7 p.m.; Ligonier Valley (12-10) at Avonworth (15-6), 7:00 p.m.; Steel Valley (10-11) vs. Seton LaSalle (17-3) at Fox Chapel, 6 p.m.; Brentwood (15-7) at South Allegheny (15-6), 7 p.m.; Waynesburg (10-11) at Aliquippa (15-7), 7 p.m.; Brownsville (12-8) at Neshannock (17-4), 7 p.m.; Laurel (13-8) vs. Shady Side Academy (15-6) at Fox Chapel, 8 p.m.; Beaver Falls (10-10) at Washington (16-2), 7 p.m.
Class 2A
First round
February 22 schedule
Chartiers-Houston (9-13) at OLSH (19-0), 7 p.m.; Sto-Rox (11-7) at Springdale (11-11), 7 p.m.; South Side (8-14) at Greensburg Central Catholic (16-3), 7 p.m.; Jeannette (10-11) at Monessen (18-4), 7 p.m.; California (6-14) at Fort Cherry (20-2), 7 p.m.; Carmichaels (14-4) against Winchester Thurston (10-6) at South Fayette, 6 p.m.; Jefferson-Morgan (10-7) at Carlynton (18-2), 7 p.m.; Shenango (8-14) at Serra Catholic (10-10), 7 p.m.
Class A
First round
Friday schedule
Bishop Canevin (17-4) goodbye; Aquinas Academy (11-8) at Rochester (8-11), 7 p.m.; Geibel Catholic (17-5) goodbye; Mapletown (9-9) against Eden Christian (12-8) at Peters Township, 6 p.m.; Imani Christian (14-5) goodbye; Nazareth Prep (5-16) at Neighborhood Academy (11-7), 7 p.m.; Union (20-2) goodbye; West Greene (7-15) at Leechburg (17-3), 7 p.m.
Girls
Class 6A
First round
Friday schedule
Butler (13-9) at Peters Township (12-10), 8 p.m.
Quarter-finals
February 23 schedule
Winner Butler/Peters Township at Mt. Lebanon (20-1), 7 p.m.; Bethel Park (11-9) at Norwin (15-6), 7 p.m.; Seneca Valley (11-10) at North Allegheny (20-2), 8 p.m.; Penn-Trafford (12-9) at Upper St. Clair (18-4), 7 p.m.
Class 5A
First round
February 22 schedule
Connellsville (8-14) at Chartiers Valley (20-1), 7 p.m.; Oakland Catholic (13-9) at Hampton (18-4), 8 p.m.; Woodland Hills (10-9) at Moon (17-4), 7 p.m.; Thomas Jefferson (12-10) at Indiana (19-3) at Hampton, 6 p.m.; Greensburg Salem (15-7) at South Fayette (18-4), 8 p.m.; March (17-5) at Latrobe (17-3), 7 p.m.; Armstrong (13-9) at Trinity (17-5), 7 p.m.; Albert Gallatin (15-4) at McKeesport (18-4), 7 p.m.
Class 4A
First round
February 22 schedule
Blackhawk (21-0) goodbye; Belle Vernon (15-7) at Quaker Valley (11-10), 7 p.m.; Freeport (7-11) at Beaver (15-5), 7 p.m.; Central Valley (7-13) at Elizabeth Forward (17-4), 7 p.m.; Southmoreland (17-3) goodbye; West Mifflin (7-15) at Highlands (18-4), 7 p.m.; Knoch (19-2) goodbye; Deer Lakes (8-11) at Montour (15-6), 7 p.m.
Class 3A
First round
Friday schedule
Northern Catholic (16-5) goodbye; Charleroi (2-8) at Laurel (12-10), 7 p.m.; South Park (19-3) goodbye; Brentwood (9-11) at Waynesburg (15-4), 7 p.m.; Avonworth (18-2) goodbye; Shady Side Academy (9-11) at Mohawk (8-13), 7 p.m.; Liberty (16-4) goodbye; Brownsville (8-11) at Keystone Oaks (12-9), 7 p.m.
Class 2A
preliminary round
Friday schedule
Carmichaels (6-12) at Frazier (7-14), 7 p.m.; Ellis School (6-13) at Springdale (5-14), 7 p.m.; South side (13-9) at Aliquippa (7-13), 7 p.m.
First round
February 21 schedule
Winner Frazier/Carmichaels at OLSH (18-4), 7 p.m.; Apollo-Ridge (15-5) at Fort Cherry (15-6), 7 p.m.; Chartiers-Houston (11-10) at Greensburg Central Catholic (17-4), 7 p.m.; Sto-Rox (9-10) at Seton LaSalle (15-6), 7 p.m.; Winner Ellis/Springdale at Neshannock (20-2), 7 p.m.; Shenango (12-8) vs. Winchester Thurston (12-8) at March, 6 p.m. Aliquippa/South Side winner at Serra Catholic (18-1), 7 p.m.; California (13-9) at Burgettstown (17-3), 7 p.m.
Class A
First round
February 21 schedule
Rochester (16-4) goodbye; St. Joseph (8-13) against Mapletown (11-9) at Gateway, 6 p.m.; Academy of Aquinas (12-6) goodbye; Riverview (5-13) at Monessen (16-5), 7 p.m.; West Greene (18-3) goodbye; Avella (10-11) at Bishop Canevin (13-8), 7 p.m.; Union (19-1) goodbye; Eden Christian (9-10) at Clairton (15-3), 7 p.m.
Chris Harlan is an editor of the Tribune-Review. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .