Two teams in WPIAL championship games, two more teams with state playoff berths in hand, and two teams looking to grab a PIAA playoff invitation. ALL of that action happens Wednesday through Saturday this week. Chartiers-Houston girls jumped out to a 15-0 lead and never looked back, snapping a two-game losing streak and clinching a state playoff berth. The Bucs will play the WPIAL champion in the opening round of the PIAA tournament. Both Fort Cherry girls and Chartiers-Houston boys had already clinched state playoff spots. Both will open the state tournament at District 10 champions.
Even a 12-minute power outage in the Canonsburg area couldn’t stop the Canon-McMillan girls from qualifying for the PIAA playoffs. The Big Macs led by 3 points late in the third quarter when everything went dark. Once play resume, CM built the lead to 8 points but they had to hold off a late Mt. Lebanon rally. Canon-McMillan will play at the winner of Saturday’s Erie / Allderdice game when the PIAA tournament opens next weekend.
Peters Township will send both its girls and boys teams to the Petersen Events Center this weekend for the 5A WPIAL Championships. The girls are seeded #2 and will face #1 South Fayette, the three-time defending champion, Friday night. The boys are the 6-seed and will take on #4 Chartiers Valley Saturday night, the last of 12 WPIAL Finals atop Cardiac Hill in Oakland.
We’ll have live coverage of the state qualifier games and the WPIAL championships on the WJPA Sports Network. Wednesday & Thursday broadcasts will be on WJPA-AM (1450) with free-to-access audio online. We’re also producing the NFHS Video stream (subscription required under WPIAL agreements) for both of these games. The WPIAL Championships will be on WJPA-FM (95.3) and online. We are NOT able to provide the video feed for those games under WPIAL restrictions. Click for WPIAL Brackets
State Qualifier/Seeding Bracket
Wednesday, Feb. 26
Girls 2A 7th place game: Chartiers-Houston 60, Laurel 27. Bucs clinch PIAA playoff berth
Girls 2A 5th place game: Rochester 54, Fort Cherry 45. Both have clinched PIAA berths
Boys 2A 7th place game: Northgate 48, Chartiers-Houston 27. Both have clinched PIAA berths
Thursday, Feb. 27
Girls 6A 3rd place game: Canon-McMillan 36, Mt. Lebanon 34. Big Macs clinch PIAA playoff berth
WPIAL Basketball Championships at Petersen Events Center, University of Pittsburgh
Friday, Feb. 28
Girls 5A #2 Peters Township vs. #1 South Fayette, 6:45 pm, WJPA-FM (95.3) Listen Here
Saturday, Mar. 1
Boys 5A #6 Peters Township vs. #4 Chartiers Valley, 6:45 pm, WJPA-FM (95.3) Listen Here