Back for seconds Defending champions preseason favorites

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With one senior in its starting lineup last year, ChartiersHouston’s girls basketball team did something it had never done before.

The Buccaneers went 24-3 and won their first WPIAL championship, a 47-35 takedown of Vincentian. While Chartiers-Houston lost in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs, it is one of the six WPIAL champions favored to defend those crowns, joining North Allegheny in 6A, Chartiers Valley in 5A, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in 4A, Bishop Canevin in 3A and Winchester Thurston in 1A.

Why are they all favored again? It has a little something to do with a combined 20 returning starters, with four of those hailing from Chartiers-Houston in seniors Alexa Williamson, Jules Vulcano, Keaira Walker and Madison Simpson.

But don’t look for any of those teams, including the Buccaneers, to rest easy.

“I think sometimes with success can come complacency and you can kind of be lulled into believing that you’re better than you are,” said Chartiers-Houston coach Laura Montecalvo, who is entering her fourth year. “So we’ve basically just had to keep them motivated and try to get better every day.”

There’s no telling if any of the six teams will be able to successfully defend their titles, but for four of those six teams — North Allegheny, Chartiers Valley, Chartiers-Houston and Winchester Thurston — that would mean the schools’ second WPIAL girls basketball championship ever.

“It was exciting for the whole school,” Winchester Thurston coach Monica Williams said of her team’s 1A championship win last year. “Our headmaster was unbelievably excited