North Allegheny, Peters Township will host WPIAL basketball championships
By:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 | 5:55 PM
New Castle’s Mike Wells takes a shot against Belle Vernon during a game on Feb. 6, 2021, at North Allegheny.
North Allegheny and Peters Township, two of the area’s larger high school gyms, are expected to host all 12 WPIAL basketball championship games.
The finals are March 12, 13 and 15.
The WPIAL already revealed the schedule for the first two nights of championship games with two contests per day at each site. The WPIAL hasn’t announced the schedule for the final night, but North Allegheny and Peters Township are expected to host all three days with start times at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The gyms will be cleared between games.
The WPIAL has traditionally rented college arenas for its basketball finals, but the coronavirus pandemic prompted the league to use high school gyms this winter.
North Allegheny seats 2,400, and Peters Township holds around 2,500.
Petersen Events Center had served as host to the WPIAL finals since 2015, but Pitt won’t let outside groups rent its facilities over covid-19 concerns. The WPIAL also reached out this week to Duquesne and Robert Morris but found those smaller arenas weren’t cost-effective options.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that gatherings at indoor events are now limited to 15% of capacity. That means the WPIAL possibly could allow around 375 spectators per game in the high school gyms.
The WPIAL already revealed the championship schedule for eight games.
On March 12, North Allegheny will host the Class 2A girls final at 5 p.m., and the Class A boys final at 8 p.m. Peters Township will host the Class 4A girls final at 5 p.m. and Class 6A boys final at 8 p.m.
On March 13, North Allegheny will host the Class 3A girls final at 5 p.m., and the Class 5A boys final at 8 p.m. Peters Township will host the Class 2A boys final at 5 p.m. and the Class 6A girls final at 8 p.m.
The boys Class 4A and 3A boys championships along with the Class 5A and A girls finals are March 15.
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: North Allegheny, Peters Township
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