Riverview’s Francesca Lio
drives to the basket against South Side Beaver’s Carissa McNary in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs Friday at Hampton High School.
Union’s playoff run last season stretched all the way to the championship game at Petersen Events Center.
This season’s journey nearly ended Friday at Hampton, but the Scotties rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Clairton, 76-69, in a WPIAL Class 1A first-round game.
Union (17-6), the runner-up last season, fell behind Clairton (9-11), 32-29, at the half. Dom Solomon scored 17 of Clairton’s points in the first half, so Union coach Mark Stanley knew his team would have to make some second-half adjustments.
“We came out and adjusted our defense on Solomon. He was hurting us,” Stanley said. “We started running a guy at him and made him give up the ball. I think that defense helped. We slowed their scoring down and we were able to knock down some shots.”
Solomon scored only nine points in the second half to finish with a team-high 26. That number was matched by Union’s Seth Pinkerton, who also scored 26 points.
“Seth can take it to the hole,” Stanley said. “He was able to get in there and he had some good finishes. He’s not easy to guard when he’s hitting jump shots and he was giving them trouble.”
Vince Fuleno added 16 points for Union, while Mike Flowers had 15 and Nate Meeks 13. The Scotties knocked down nine 3pointers. Meeks made two of them, and Fuleno and Flowers each had two.
Brendan Parsons scored 14 points for Clairton and Andres Wiggins chipped in 12. Solomon, Parsons and Wiggins connected on two 3-pointers apiece. The Bears had seven overall.
Union, the No. 6 seed, will play Section 1 rival and No. 3 Nazareth Prep (16-3) in the quarterfinals Thursday..
Nazareth Prep handed Union two of its four section losses, beating the Scotties by scores of 76-61 and 74-41.
“They’re very good,” said Stanley. “They took it to us twice.
“We’re going to have to make some adjustments. We have to take care of the basketball a little better. We’re glad to be getting another chance. We know it’s going to be a challenge.”
More Class 1A boys
Leechburg 59, Bishop Canevin 40: No. 9 Leechburg (13-9) pulled off a mild upset by knocking off No. 8 Bishop Canevin (14-8) at Fox Chapel. Leechburg outscored Bishop Canevin, 14-4, in the third quarter and 2815 in the second half. Connor McDermott led Leechburg with 17 points and Jake Blumer and Eli Rich added 12 points apiece. Nevan Crossey scored a team-high 15 points and KeVaughn Price 12 for Bishop Canevin, the Section 2 runner-up.
Greensburg Central Catholic 62, Geibel Catholic 35: Geoff Helm’s 29 points propelled Greensburg Central Catholic (17-6) to the win against Geibel Catholic (11-12) at Charleroi. The Centurions jumped to a 2915 halftime advantage and never looked back on the way to their 10th win in a row. Kaeleb Lehman scored 12 points for Geibel Catholic, which lost five of its final seven games.
St. Joseph 78, West Greene 45: St. Joseph (18-5) used a dominant third quarter to blow past West Greene (7-15) at Mt. Lebanon. After leading by six points at the half, St. Joseph began the second half on a 25-0 run and outscored West Greene, 31-5, in the third quarter. Four players scored in double figures for St. Joseph, a group led by Grant Bendis and Matt Arvay, who each scored 16 points. Ben Jackson led West Greene with 14 points.
Class 2A girls
Laurel 63, Chartiers-Houston 16: Senior Caroline Gibson connected on five of Laurel’s 10 3-pointers and finished with 25 points to lead the Spartans (19-4) past Chartiers-Houston (8-15) at Mt. Lebanon. Gibson scored 18 points in the first quarter and had 21 in the first half. Makenna Collins added 10 points for No. 3 Laurel, which has won 13 games in a row. Chartiers-Houston was the runner-up last season.
Ellis School 47, Aliquippa 37: Ellis School (16-7) won its second playoff game and first since 2016 by defeating Aliquippa (7-16) at Fox Chapel. Ellis School raced to a 17-2 first-quarter lead and got big performances from a pair of sophomores. Alexis Crichlow scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Natalie Jasper scored 18 points. Aliquippa’s Amaya Walker made four 3pointers among her 16 points.
Winchester Thurston 60, Frazier 56: Freshman Maya Roberts poured in 28 points to vault No. 10 Winchester Thurston (11-9) over No. 7 Frazier (14-8) at Charleroi. Roberts scored 18 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter when the Bears outscored Frazier, 20-12. Roberts was 15 of 21 from the free-throw line. Brooke Poling paced Frazier with 20 points. Winchester Thurston won the Class 1A title last season.
South Side Beaver 52, Riverview 41: Sydney Payne’s season-high 24 points helped South Side Beaver (15-8) earn its first playoff win since 2004, slipping past Riverview (9-13) at Hampton. The game was tied, 20-20, at the half before South Side Beaver outscored Riverview, 16-7, in the third quarter. South Side Beaver reached the playoffs five of the previous seven seasons, but lost its opener each time. Sydney McDonough led Riverview with 20 points.
Serra Catholic 59, Sto-Rox 29: Gigi Mele-Madigan scored 19 points in leading No. 5 Serra Catholic (18-4) to the win against Sto-Rox (10-13) at Peters Township. Mele-Madigan was 8 of 12 from the freethrow line. It was the seventh win in a row for Serra, which also got 12 points from Rayna Andrews. Mariah Salters made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for Sto-Rox.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 50, Burgettstown 30: No. 4 OLSH (18-4) got defensive against Burgettstown (12-11), forcing 31 turnovers on its way to the win at Peters Township. Ashley Norling led OLSH’s scoring with 18 points and Maddie Hoff chipped in with 12. OLSH outscored Burgettstown, 27-14, in the second half to win for the 13th time in its past 14 games. Avery Havelka led Burgettstown with nine points.