Local roundup: Leopards stun New Castle, 62-56
New Castle had barely been challenged this boys basketball season before meeting Belle Vernon in the Hoops for a Cure Tournament at North Allegheny on Saturday.
Other than a one-point victory over Lincoln Park, the Red Hurricanes had won all of their games by at least 18 points.
The WPIAL’s top-ranked Class 5A team’s perfect season came to a stunning halt at the hands of the Leopards, the No. 1 ranked Class 4A team.
Devin Whitlock scored a game-high 21 points and Belle Vernon rode a big second quarter to a 62-56 win over the Red Hurricanes.
New Castle went up 18-13 in the first quarter but the Leopards used an 18-5 advantage in the second quarter to take a 31-23 halftime lead.
Belle Vernon led 47-40 after three periods and hung on for the win.
The Red Hurricanes fall to 12-1 while the Leopards improve to 8-1.
Jake Haney and Quinton Martin followed Whitlock in the Belle Vernon scoring column with 11 points apiece.
New Castle was paced by Sheldon Cox and Michael Wells with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
Frazier 64, Beth-Center 29 — The Commodores blew open a close game in the second quarter and went on to defeat the Bulldogs in a non-section contest.
The Bulldogs (4-5) led 11-10 after the first period before Frazier used a 23-10 advantage in the second to take a 33-21 halftime lead. The Commodores (9-3) expanded their lead to 47-27 by the end of the third quarter.
Owen Newcomer scored a game-high 21 points for Frazier. Luke Santo followed with 20 points and Colton Arison added 12 points.
Dajion Devers was the only Bulldog to reach double digits with 11 points
Aquinas Academy 76, Geibel Catholic 64 — Aquinas Academy rode a big first quarter and a 48-point performance by Vinnie Cugini, the WPIAL’s leading scorer, to a non-section victory over visiting Geibel Catholic.
The Gators (4-5) fell behind 21-7 in the first quarter but out-scored the Crusaders (7-5) over the final three periods, 57-55.
Geibel was led by Jaydis Kennedy’s 23 points. Kaiden Grady and Trevell White followed with 14 and 12 points, resepctively.
John Bence contributed 16 points for Aquinas.
South Park 61, Southmoreland 30 — The first-place Eagles soared past the Scotties in a Section 3-AAAA game.
South Park (5-1, 5-1) led 15-5, 35-9 and 49-21 at the breaks.
Ty Keffer tallied a game-high 15 points for Southmoreland (0-9, 1-11).
Keith Hutton and Luke Rider each scored 14 points for South Park and Aidan Rongaus added 11 points.
Propel Montour 52, West Greene 45 — The Legends held off host West Greene to record their first win of the season in a Section 2-A game.
Propel Montour (1-5, 1-7) jumped out to an 11-4 advantage in the first quarter before the Pioneers (1-5, 1-7) fought back to within 18-16 by halftime.
The Crusaders widened their advantage to 32-24 by the end of the third quarter and hung on from there.
Cortae Sidberry led Propel Montour with 15 points and Tyler Travillion had 12.
West Greene was paced by Colin Brady with 14 points and Chase Blake added 13 points.
Girls basketball
Uniontown 72, Frazier 57 — Frazier’s Delaney Warnick poured in a game-high 31 points but it wasn’t enough as Uniontown defeated the Lady Commodores in a non-section clash for its third win in four games.
Uniontown (3-7) led 23-11 after first quarter but the Lady Commodores (2-8) countered with a strong second quarter to get within 36-32 by halftime and trailed 53-51 through three quarters.
The Lady Raiders put the game away with a 19-16 edge over the final eight minutes.
Summer Hawk led Uniontown with 17 points and Nekea Lewis followed with 14 points. Dana Vansickle added 12 points.
Kendall Shaporka scored 12 points and Kaelyn Shaporka had 10 points for Frazier.
Charleroi 50, Washington 40 — Charleroi rallied in the second half to top the host Lady Prexies in a Section 2-AAA game.
Washington (2-4, 3-7) led 12-9 after one period and 21-18 at halftime before the Lady Cougars (3-4, 5-6) bounced back to take a 34-32 lead after three.
Charleroi pulled away with a 16-8 edge in the final frame.
McKenna DeUnger scored a game-high 21 points for the Lady Cougars and Bella Carroto chipped in with 12 points.
The Lady Prexies were led by Kyla Woods with 13 points and Kaprice Johnson with 11.
Monessen 63, Jeannette 37 — The Lady Greyhounds gradually pulled away from Jeannette for a non-section win.
Monessen led 14-9, 27-18 and 46-25 at the breaks.
Sydney Caterino topped the Lady Greyhounds (6-4) in scoring with 18 points and Mercedes Majors tossed in 16 points.
Oceana Sirnic led the Lady Jayhawks (0-11) with 13 points and Zoey Vincent chipped in with 10 points.
Wrestling
Westmoreland County Tournament — In a showdown between two of the area’s top wrestlers Mount Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer won a 6-4 decision over Belle Vernon’s Cole Weightmna in the 215-pount division at the Westmoreland County Tournament.
The Vikings’ Noah Gnibus reached the 172 final where he lost a 4-0 decision to Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr.
The Leopards’ Logan Hoffman got to the 189 final where he dropped a 3-1 decision to Kiski Area’s Brayden Roscosky.
Mount Pleasant finished second in the team standings at the event with 163.3 points. Franklin Regional was first with 189.5 points.