Blackawk rolls along
Class 4A No.2 Cougars knock off Central Valley
Central Valley could have made things very interesting in Class 4A Section 2.
A win and the Warriors would have moved into a three-way tie for first place with Blackhawk and Beaver with one section game remaining.
It could have happened. But the Cougars made sure it didn’t.
Mady Aulbach scored a game-high 18 and Mackenzie Amalia added 13 to lead four Blackhawk players in double figures as the No. 2 Cougars (17-1, 10-1) clinched at least a share of the section championship with a 70-50 victory against No. 5 Central Valley (14-3, 8-3).
Kaelyn Underwood scored 13 and Allyson Kirby 11 for Central Valley.
Blackhawk, which suffered its only loss in its first meeting with Central Valley Jan. 11, can capture the outright title with a victory Thursday against No. 4 Beaver (15-5, 9-2). The Cougars defeated the Bobcats, 61-54, Jan. 15.
Other top games
Belle Vernon (16-5, 11-2) had an opportunity to claim a share of the Section 3 title, but No. 3 Keystone Oaks (17-3, 13-0), with Gillian Piccolino surpassing 1,000 points in her career with 17, led the Golden Eagles to a 72-49 romp to clinch the section title.
Laura Graytok scored 20 points for Class 6A No. 5 Latrobe, but fouled out with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and was not available in overtime when Claudia Guerrieri popped in six of her 19 to lead Fox Chapel (7-12, 2-8) its second consecutive Section 2 victory, 60-58. The Wildcats, have lost three consecutive section games and are a game behind No. 4 Norwin (10-8, 7-2).
Serra Catholic (13-6, 10-3) was in danger of falling out of a three-way tie with California (13-5, 10-3) and Greensburg Central Catholic (11-8, 10-3) in Class 2A Section 3, but the Eagles, behind 19 points from Gigi Mele-Madigan, came back from a six-point halftime deficit to beat host Frazier (12-8, 8-5), 61-48.
Milestones
WPIAL Class 1A No. 1 Winchester Thurston had a pair of benchmarks in its 58-16 victory against Imani Christian. On her first basket, senior Ayanna Townsend became the Bears all-time leading scorer and her 12 on the evening give her 1,300 in her career.
Bears senior Gia Thorpe also eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau with 34 and has 1,006 in her career, which includes points scored at Shaler before she transferred for the 2016-17 school year.
Stars of the night
Abby King hit two 3-pointers and scored 28 of her game-high 34 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as Greensburg Salem junior Megan Kallock finished with 32, including a 20 of 26 from the line, to lead the Golden Lions (7-13, 4-8) to a 61-50 win against Class 5A Section 3-rival Albert Gallatin (7-13, 2-9).