South Fayette girls, Belle Vernon boys earn top seeds in WPIAL playoffs

Feb 10, 2025 By Jerin Steele 5 min read

One of the burning questions going into Monday was how the WPIAL basketball steering committee would sort out the top three seeds in the Class 5A girls bracket.

They ended up leaning toward past success to break a tie between three teams South Fayette, Peters Township and Penn-Trafford, which had not lost to a WPIAL opponent all season at the time of the unveiling.

South Fayette, the three-time defending champion, was awarded the top seed. Peters Township was given the No. 2 seed and Penn-Trafford, which is 22-0, was seeded third.

The Lions will host No. 16 Greensburg Salem, 7 p.m. Friday. They are one of two local teams that received a No. 1 seed, the other being the Belle Vernon boys in Class 4A.

“We are just happy to be part of the postseason,” Lions coach Bryan Bennett said. “Class 5A is extremely competitive and a number of teams have a chance of winning it all. The girls are really focused and continue to work hard every day to improve.”

All first-round games tip at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Peters Township hosts No. 15 Fox Chapel on Friday.

Star forward Natalie Wetzel suffered an injury in Monday’s season finale against Mt. Lebanon.

According to The Almanac, she was on crutches after the game, but said she planned to play on Friday.

Another difficult girls bracket to sort out was Class 2A with multiple co-section champions.

Fort Cherry, which split Section 2 with South Side Beaver, received the No. 5 seed and hosts No. 12 California next Tuesday in the first round.

A potential third meeting looms with South Side if both teams win in the first round. The Rams were seeded fourth.

“I’m OK with the No. 5 seed,” Rangers coach Clarence Edwards said. “To be honest, I’m not surprised being that we lost to South Side on Thursday. The committee normally looks at what you do in the second half rather than the totality of the season.

“We’re hoping to build off some playoff success from last season. It will be a tough road. We cannot look ahead in the brackets.”

Chartiers-Houston went unbeaten in Section 3, but because of ties in other sections and losses to Fort Cherry and Winchester Thurston, ended up with the No. 6 seed and will host Brentwood next Tuesday.

“We made a concerted effort to create a challenging schedule,” Bucs coach Laura Montecalvo said. “We played seven teams in higher classifications and two very strong 2A teams in our nonsection matchups. I’m hopeful that those experiences and our strength of schedule will help us be prepared for playoffs.”

In other Class 2A games, Bentworth plays at Apollo-Ridge in a preliminary round game Thursday.

Beth-Center is the nine seed and travels to No. 8 Laurel. Carmichaels is the No. 15 seed and will face No. 2 Aliquippa.

Both games are next Tuesday.

Canon-McMillan received the No. 4 seed in Class 6A and a home game.

The Big Macs entertain Butler on Feb. 20.

Belle Vernon is the No. 10 seed in Class 4A and will play at Central Valley Monday.

in Class 3A McGuffey also received the No. 10 seed and travels to No. 7 Quaker Valley Friday.

West Greene is the No. 7 seed in Class A and will host No. 10 Eden Christian Monday.

Boys basketball

Belle Vernon finished the regular season on a 12-game winning streak, won a section title and was rewarded with the top seed in Class 4A and a first-round bye.

They’ll play either section rival and No. 8 seed Elizabeth Forward or No. 9 Highlands in the quarterfinals next Wednesday.

The Leopards will try to send coach Joe Salvino out with his seventh WPIAL title and first at Belle Vernon. He is retiring at the end of the season.

Another local section champion was not looked upon as favorably by the steering committee.

Chartiers-Houston won Class 2A Section 3 and hasn’t lost since five days before Christmas, but was given the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Shenango on Monday.

The Bucs are seeded behind three second-place teams in other sections.

“We can whine and complain about it, but when we’re done doing that, we’re still going to be No. 7 and playing Shenango on Monday,” Bucs coach Rich Tranquill said. “I’d rather us just get at it and use our time productively and get prepared to play.”

Fort Cherry, which made a run to the state semifinals last year, is the No. 9 seed and will play at Union Monday.

The other four local 2A teams that made the playoffs are in preliminary round games Thursday.

Two of the games are at Peters Township. Beth-Center plays Winchester Thurston at 6 p.m. and Bentworth meets South Side afterwards.

Local teams have home games for the other preliminary games. Springdale plays at Jefferson-Morgan and West Greene hosts Brentwood.

In Class 5A, Peters Township and South Fayette earned home games next Tuesday.

The Indians are the sixth seed and host Penn Hills. South Fayette is the No. 7 seed and draws No. 10 Mars.

The Fightin’ Planets beat the Lions 56-51 in overtime in a nonsection game on Jan. 25.

In Class 3A, McGuffey received the eighth seed and a home game. The Highlanders will host Shady Side Academy.

Waynesburg is the No. 14 seed and will make the long trek to No. 3 Mohawk.

Charleroi is seeded 15th and plays at No. 2 South Allegheny.

All three 3A games are next Tuesday.

Monessen is the sixth seed in Class A and is matched with Nazareth Prep. The game is next Wednesday at Sewickley Academy.