Not a good start by any measure. Washington County teams lost all five of their WPIAL basketball playoff games Friday night. Saturday saw the end of the line from one more plus Greene County’s only boys qualifier. Wash High boys lost a 12-point lead over the final 10 minutes of regulation, then couldn’t get the game-winning shot to drop in overtime, losing to Neshannock in overtime. Charleroi also lost in overtime, failing to get a shot off over the final 75 seconds of regulation before falling to Carlynton. Charleroi has lost 13 straight first-round games since 1997. McGuffey’s boys season ended with a loss to Seton-La Salle. Burgettstown’s girls team playoff drought continues. The Blue Devils haven’t won since 1993, losing to Riverview after leading by 10 points in the third quarter Friday. And Chartiers-Houston girls finished the season without beating a team with a winning record, losing to Winchester Thurston.
Saturday, Shenango ran past California while West Greene lost to Imani Christian.
A dozen teams from Washington County started in this year’s brackets along with two from Greene County. The West Greene girls (1A #2) and the Trinity girls (5A #3) are the highest-seeded teams from the two-county area. The other 12 teams were all seeded seventh or lower. First-round games (Sweet 16) will be played through Wednesday with quarterfinals scheduled for late next week. The WPIAL Basketball Championship games will be played at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center Feb. 27-29. Bracket links and Listen links are listed below for the weekend. All told, we’ll have seven of the 11 first-round games involving Washington County teams for you on WJPA.
Girls WPIAL Brackets — — Boys WPIAL Brackets
Saturday, Feb. 15–First Round
1A Boys #6 Imani Christian 67, #11 West Greene 41
2A Boys #6 Shenango 71, #11 California 51