Baldwin-Hempfield girls basketball game holds major ramifications

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, February 2, 2020 | 11:23 PM

The final week of the WPIAL basketball regular season is here with games that will help determine section championships and playoff seeding.

Oh yes, and some will determine which teams qualify for the postseason.

Two of those games will be played Monday, one in 6A and the other in 2A.

In Section 2-6A, Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair clinched playoff spots a while ago.

On Monday, Baldwin hosts Hempfield. If the Highlanders (6-6) win, they clinch and eliminate Hempfield and Connellsville.

If the Spartans (5-7) prevail, they will be tied with Baldwin heading into the final night of section play Thursday when Baldwin faces Bethel Park and Hempfield takes on Connellsville (4-8), which still will be in the hunt if it upsets USC on Monday.

In Section 2-2A, Brentwood (5-6) concludes section play with a visit to Riverview (4-5).

Whoever wins will clinch. However, the loser is not eliminated.

If the Spartans win, the Raiders can earn a berth with wins over Springdale and Ellis School this week. If the Raiders win, the Spartans could clinch with Raiders losses in those final two section contests.

Breaking the tie

They aren’t for first place or even fourth place, but ties in two sections will be broken by head-to-head matchups Monday.

In Section 1-6A, Fox Chapel and Seneca Valley are tied for third place with 7-5 section records. The Raiders host the Foxes after both earned playoff spots with wins over Shaler (5-7) last week.

North Catholic has clinched the Section 1-4A championship, but second place is up for grabs when Knoch hosts Freeport.

Both the Knights and Yellow Jackets are 10-2 in the section, with Freeport winning the earlier meeting by 14 points.

State playoffs begin

While freshly crowned WPIAL champions Waynesburg Central in AAA and Burrell in AA earn a few days off, two district teams are in action on the first night of the PIAA team wrestling playoffs.

In Class AAA, Canon-McMillan will visit City League champion Carrick in a preliminary-round match, and Quaker Valley will head north to battle District 10 runner-up Corry in a AA preliminary-round match.

The winners join Waynesburg Central and Seneca Valley in AAA and Burrell and Burgettstown in AA in Hershey on Thursday, where the team tournament will continue through the finals Saturday.

Tags: Baldwin, Brentwood, Canon-McMillan, Carrick, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Hempfield, Knoch, Quaker Valley, Riverview, Seneca Valley