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Sunday, February 23, 2025 | 11:01 AM
No matter what happens during the final week of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, the Penn-Trafford boys and girls basketball teams have already punched their tickets to the PIAA tournament, which begins March 7-8.
The boys qualified by upsetting No.2 Baldwin, 60-45, in the first round Feb. 18. The Warriors advanced to the quarterfinals and were to play Mars last Friday at Fox Chapel.
Zach Feldman led the Warriors against Baldwin with 20 points, Brayden Stone had 16 and Evan Gross finished with 10. The Warriors used a big third quarter to take control of the game.
The winner of Friday’s game advanced to play the winner of the Uniontown/Peters Township game Tuesday. The WPIAL championship game is 7 p.m. March 1 at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center.
The losing team dropped into the consolation bracket.
The Penn-Trafford girls qualified for the PIAA tournament by defeating Plum, 63-46, in the first round Feb. 14.
They then dropped a 65-60 overtime decision to Thomas Jefferson on Feb. 19. The Warriors rallied from a nine-point deficit to force overtime but went cold in the extra period.
“When we were down nine, I had a huge belief we could come back,” Penn-Trafford coach John Giannikas said. “I am not surprised we came back. That’s not a six seed we just played. They’re really good, to their credit. They just made one or two more plays in overtime than we did.”
Laurel Marton had 16 points, Hannah Weishaar had 13, Torrie DeStefano 13 and Isabella Fontana 11.
Penn-Trafford dropped into the consolation bracket and will attempt to finish fifth. They played host to Indiana on Feb. 21.
“There isn’t much more I can ask of our girls,” Giannikas said. “We had a chance. It just wasn’t our night. I couldn’t be prouder of the kids.
“The season is not over. We’ll give them a day off then get ready for states.”
Water Warriors
head to WPIALs
The WPIAL swimming and diving championships are held over two weekends.
The diving was held Feb. 21-22 at North Allegheny High School, and the swimming is set for Thursday and Friday (Feb. 27-28) at the Pitt’s Trees Hall.
Individuals qualifying for the Warriors were: boys: junior Aaron Burdell (50- and 100-yard freestyle); girls: sophomore Delaney Race (200- and 500-yard freestyle), junior Laela Whetstone (50- and 100-yard freestyle), sophomore Faith Whipple (50- and 100-yard freestyle), senior Caroline Davis (diving).
Relay teams qualifying were girls 200-yard medley, girls 200-yard freestyle, boys 200-yard freestyle, and boys 400-yard freestyle.
Wrestling shines
at sectionals
The Penn-Trafford wrestling team had seven wrestlers advance to the WPIAL Class 3A championship last Friday and Saturday at Canon-McMillan, looking to advance to the PIAA West Region tournament Feb. 28 and March 1 at Canon-McMillan.
Junior Dylan Barrett finished second to Hempfield junior Nico Kapusta in the 114-pound final. Barrett was seeded No. 2 behind Kapusta for the WPIAL championship.
The other P-T placewinners were Sydney Hand, who was third at 145; Luke DeSantis, fourth at 121; Logan Matrisch, fifth at 160; Logan Ventura, fifth at 127; Jake Land, sixth at 133; and Ben Grabowski, sixth at 235.
Junior Warriors place four at WPIALs
The Penn-Trafford Junior Wrestling team competed in the WPIAL Junior High tournament Feb. 14-15 at Kiski Area.
The Warriors had four placewinners.
Jax Brentzel placed third at 103 pounds, Triston Tommasino placed fifth at 172, Reece Clark placed seventh at 89 and Brooks Burmeister placed seventh at 117.
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
Tags: Penn-Trafford
