WPIAL girls basketball Saturday semifinals preview
Aliquippa is getting ready for a WPIAL semifinal game and has its sights set on the ultimate goal of a championship and possibly a run in the PIAA playoffs.
This sounds like another story on the Aliquippa football team or boys basketball squad. But wait a minute. We’re talking Aliquippa girls basketball.
The Aliquippa girls have been one of the bigger surprises of the WPIAL playoffs. The Quips were made the No. 11 seed in Class 2A but have made it to the semifinals, where they meet No. 2 Freedom at noon Saturday at Beaver Falls.
This is the first semifinal appearance for Aliquippa in 24 years. It is another step in the resurgence of a program that had a WPIAL dynasty in the late 1980s, winning four consecutive titles from 1987-90 and having two 2,000-point scorers in Carrie Bordas and Mona Gaffney. Aliquippa also won back-to-back PIAA titles in 1989-90.
No one is confusing this Aliquippa team with those great Quip squads, but Aliquippa hasn’t finished a season above .500 since 2011-12. Since then, they have had eight seasons with seven wins or fewer. This team takes a 12-9 record into the semifinals under thirdyear coach Dwight Lindsey, a former Aliquippa football and basketball player.
“It’s incredibly nice and a blessing, for sure,” Lindsey said of his team’s final four appearance. “I told the girls that this was my third season and it was time to turn the corner. To be in this position, in the semifinals with a chance to go to the championship at the University of Pittsburgh’s Petersen [Events] Center, was probably out of our wildest imaginations.”
Aliquippa knocked off No. 6 seed Washington and No. 3 seed Serra Catholic in the first two rounds. But now the Quips face a Freedom team that made it to the WPIAL and PIAA title games in Class 3A last season. But Freedom will be without leading scorer Shaye Bailey, who is out with a collarbone injury. Freedom beat Aliquippa twice earlier this season (57-54 and 73-42), but that was with Bailey.
“We played them well the first time,” Lindsey said. “We have to do what we’ve been doing, play good defense, share the ball and communicate. And sometimes Aliquippa athletes just have to be athletes.”
While Aliquippa hasn’t been to the semifinals in more than two decades, two others in the Class 2A final four are total strangers to the semifinals. Burgettstown (19-5) meets Shenango (20-4) in the second game at Beaver Falls at 2 p.m. Burgettstown and Shenango have never been to the semifinals in school history.
“My senior group has been pretty successful because some of them played for a WPIAL softball championship and WPIAL volleyball championship,” Shenango coach Ricci LaRocco said. “It’s a great group of seniors. Three [Emilee Fedrizzi, Kylee Rubin and Janie Natale] have been starting since their freshman years. We’ve kind of built on them. This [getting to the championship] has been a goal of ours. We thought we had a shot coming into the year and, as of now, still do.”
Natale has a stress fracture in her foot and has played very little, but Rubin and Fedrizzi have been keys. Rubin has more than 1,000 career points and Fedrizzi needs 40 to reach the milestone.
As for Burgettstown, this semifinal appearance is the latest sign of a program on the rise. Since the 2016-17 season, the Blue Devils have had 9-, 12-, 16-, 15 and 18-win seasons. Now, they have 19 wins.
Burgettstown has been led by 5-foot-11 junior forward Kaitlyn Nease, who averages 17 points per game and scored 20 and 13 in Burgettstown’s first two playoff games.
Class 3A semifinals
The top four seeds have all reached the WPIAL semifinals in this classification. No. 1 Shady Side Academy (22-2) meets No. 4 Avonworth (17-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Montour. No. 2 Neshannock (18-6) takes on No. 3 Laurel (22-2) at noon at Ellwood City.
Neshannock won the past two WPIAL 2A titles before being bumped up a classification. Neshannock and Laurel tied for a section championship, with each team winning easily at home. Laurel beat Neshannock 59-35 and Neshannock won the rematch 72-55.
Both teams have stingy defenses, except maybe when they play each other. Laurel allows only 37.3 points per game and Neshannock 38.3.
In the other semifinal, Avonworth is a team that has allowed only 35 points per game this season and given up only 30 and 25 in two playoff games. But now the Antelopes face a Shady Side Academy team that has a terrific freshman guard tandem in Maggie Spell and Karis Thomas. Spell is averaging 20.7 points per game and Thomas 17.7. You’ll have trouble finding many freshman duos in WPIAL history who scored this much on a WPIAL semifinal team.
“I watched a few of their games and we were in a summer league with [Shady Side],” said Nick Dizon, Avonworth’s first-year coach. “A lot of people didn’t realize what they had at the time, but I knew they were going to be good. They just got better and better over the summer.”
Spell and Thomas against the Avonworth defense is most certainly an intriguing matchup.
“I think our girls take pride in the defense,” Dizon said. “When they realize they’re holding a team, they don’t want to give up anything. They have that mentality.”