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Feb 10, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 7 min read

Geibel Catholic has two of the top scorers in the WPIAL in Emma Larkin and Mallory Clemmer and came within a late-season loss in the final seconds of a perfect season.

Even so, that lone defeat, 51-50 to highly regarded Serra Catholic, a team the Lady Gators defeated on the road in their first meeting, 64-55, was enough for the WPIAL pairings committee to drop Geibel to No. 4 in the Class A girls basketball seedings.

Geibel was slotted behind No. 1 Aquinas Academy, No. 3 Union, and, surprisingly, No. 2 Serra, which played a tougher non-section schedule but finished with a 15-6 record.

Lady Gators coach Sara Larkin, whose daughter Emma broke the Fayette County career scoring record in a win at Carrick on Monday night, had a simple response when asked about her reaction to the Class A girls bracket.

“We’ll let our game talk for us,” she said.

Despite the slight, the Lady Gators were the highest seeded local team, along with the Belle Vernon girls in Class 4A, when the pairings were released on Monday.

Five area schools – Laurel Highlands, Belle Vernon, Waynesburg Central, West Greene and Beth-Center – put both their boys and girls teams in the playoffs, joining the Southmoreland and Jefferson-Morgan boys teams and the Geibel, California and Mount Pleasant girls teams.

The Lady Gators (21-1, tied for first in Section 2) are off until Thursday, Feb. 19 when they host No. 5 St. Joseph (13-9, tied for third in Section 1) with the start time to be determined. A win would likely send the Lady Gators against No. 1 Aquinas Academy, which also plays on Feb. 19 against the survivor between No. 8 Bishop Canevin and No. 9 Eden Christian, in a semifinal game on Monday, Feb. 23.

Also in Class A girls, No. 11 Clairton (8-10, tie for fifth in Section 2) will play at No. 6 West Greene (16-6, third in Section 2), 7 p.m. Monday. The Lady Pioneers defeated the Lady Bears twice during the regular season, 53-17 at Clairton and 46-27 at West Greene.

The winner plays at No. 3 Union in the quarterfinals.

“I thought we were on a collision course with Union in the 4-5 game but we’ll just have to play our way there instead,” West Greene coach Ben Brudnock said. “I think you could’ve made a case for either us or St. Joseph as the fifth seed, so I have no complaints. We now get a home playoff game which I think is much better than a nine-day layoff.”

The Lady Pioneers are in the postseason for the 10th year in a row and will attempt to win at least one playoff game for the ninth time in those 10 seasons.

On the boys side, Laurel Highlands (13-8, tied for fourth in Section 1) was seeded at No. 18 in Class 5A and will travel to No. 15 Ringgold (13-9, fourth in Section 3), 7 p.m. Thursday in a preliminary round game. The winner plays at No. 2 Lincoln Park 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“I got the kids out of school a little early and went down to the health science room and we watched the pairings show,” said LH coach John Smith. “We’re excited and looking forward to the opportunity. Ringgold is long and athletic. Scott Stephenson is the head coach there. He used to coach at West Mifflin for awhile. He does a good job with those guys.”

Smith felt his team deserved to get the home court advantage in the matchup.

“I think if you compare our records, who we played, I don’t know how they ended up getting to play at home between us,” Smith said. “I don’t understand that. I don’t know what the thought process on that was.”

Smith hopes to have his team at full strength by Thursday.

“We’ve got a couple bumps and bruises,” he said. “Tyrone (Burton) got a bit of a tender hip but we’re hoping to get him some treatment and hopefully he’ll be good to go.”

In Class 4A boys, No. 9 Burrell (10-12, third in Section 1) plays at No. 8 Belle Vernon (13-9, tied for second in Section 3), 7 p.m. Friday. The winner is at No. 1 Quaker Valley 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18.

There are a pair of local teams in the Class 3A boys bracket.

No. 16 Waynesburg Central (7-15, fourth in Section 4) has a tough challenge at No. 1 Mohawk (20-1, first in Section 1), 7 p.m. Tuesday. No. 12 Washington (12-10, third in Section 2) is at No. 5 Southmoreland (14-8, first in Section 4), also 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Scotties repeated as section champions and hope to record a playoff win for the second year in a row.

There are three area teams in the Class 2A boys pairings.

Jefferson-Morgan, under coach Brandon Lawless, was made the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Springdale (12-9, tied for third in Section 1), 7 p.m. Monday. J-M will be looking for revenge as the Dynamos defeated the Rockets in a first-round game last season.

Jefferson-Morgan is coming off a sparkling 21-1 regular season and a section championship (shared with Chartiers-Houston) for the first time in 26 years, when Jim Romanus was the head coach.

No. 17 Beth-Center (12-10, fourth in Section 3) travels to No. 16 Brentwood (12-10), fourth in Section 2), Thursday, 7 p.m. The winner goes to No. 1 Jeannette, 7 p.m. Monday.

No. 19 West Greene (7-13, fifth in Section 3) is at No. 14 Bentworth (14-6, tied for third in Section 1), 7 p.m. Thursday. The winner visits No. 3 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 7 p.m. Monday. The Bearcats defeated the Pioneers, 62-27, during the regular season.

Three local teams are in the Class 4A girls bracket.

No. 13 Lincoln Park (10-12, tied for fourth in Section 2) is at No. 4 Belle Vernon (19-3, first in Section 3), 7 p.m. Monday. The winner will play either No. 5 Elizabeth Forward or No. 12 Hopewell in quarterfinals.

The surprising Lady Leopards have taken off under first-year coach Cornelious Nesbit, whose starting lineup includes two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen.

Nesbit had no qualms with the pairings.

“I know the committee has some tough decisions when it comes to seedings so I respect what they do,” Nesbit said. “I think in 4A there will be some great matchups in the second rounds if there are no upsets.”

No. 11 Mount Pleasant (10-11, fourth in Section 3) visits No. 6 Beaver (14-8, second in Section 2) and No. 14 Laurel Highlands (8-14, fifth in Section 3) goes to No. 3 North Catholic (17-5, second in Section 1) with both games 7 p.m. Monday. The winners of those two games will meet in the quarterfinals.

In the Class 3A girls bracket is another surprising youthful team in Waynesburg Central, which went 20-2 during the regular season and finished second in Section 3 behind Seton LaSalle, while also handing the Lady Rebels their lone section loss.

The Lady Raiders, who start a trio of freshmen, were seeded seventh and host No. 10 Deer Lakes (11-10, fourth in Section 2), 7 p.m. Friday.

Two local teams are in the Class 2A girls bracket.

No. 9 Laurel (12-10, fourth in Section 1) is at No. 8 California (11-10, second in Section 3), 7 p.m. Tuesday.

That suited Lady Trojans coach Brandi Sutherland just fine.

“We’re happy with our seeding,” she said. “We’re super-excited to host a home playoff game against a comparable team.”

No. 11 Beth-Center (10-11, third in Section 3), led by one of the top rebounders in the state in senior Violet Trump, goes to No. 6 Aliquippa (14-7, third in Section 1), 6 p.m. Tuesday.