What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Jan. 27, 2022: North Allegheny, Norwin meet again

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, January 27, 2022 | 12:25 AM

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Traditional girls Class 6A powers prepare to battle one more time in the regular season Thursday when first-place North Allegheny visits second-place Norwin in a Section 1-6A showdown.

The Tigers are perfect this season. NA is 9-0 in the section and 15-0 overall.

The host Knights are 8-1 in the section, 11-4 overall and have won three straight and five of their last six games.

North Allegheny held serve at home in their first meeting on Jan. 3, winning a tight one, 46-43.

Jasmine Timmerson led all scorers with 22 points for the Tigers while Brianna Zajicek had 15 points for the Knights.

Norwin led that game after three quarters, 35-31, but North Allegheny rallied, outscoring the Knights, 15-8 in the fourth quarter.

Don’t expect a lot of points in the rematch.

The Knights are No. 1 in team defense in 6A, allowing only 33.7 points per game. North Allegheny is fourth in defense in 6A, giving up 39.3 points per game, but the Tigers are second in offense, averaging over 53 points per game.

You can watch the North Allegheny at Norwin game on Trib HSSN at 7:30 p.m.

Other key girls hoops games

Thursday marks the start of the second half of section play for those teams that did not play section contests earlier in the week.

Some of the key contests around the district include:

• Indiana at Mars as both the Little Indians and Fightin’ Planets have one Section 2-5A loss.

• Beaver at Blackhawk has the defending 4A champion Bobcats visiting the only undefeated team left in the classification, the 14-0 Cougars.

• Luann Grybowski goes for victory No. 701 in her career when Neshannock visits Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The Lancers are 8-0 atop Section 1-2A while the Chargers are in second place with a 5-1 mark.

• Sto-Rox hosts Burgettstown for first place in Section 3-2A. Both teams have four section wins. While the Vikings have one loss, the Blue Devils have none in section play. Sto-Rox’s lone section loss was a 21-point defeat at Burgettstown nine days ago.

Team wrestling brackets unveiled

Following Wednesday’s WPIAL team wrestling sectionals, the WPIAL steering committee will meet Thursday morning and prepare the brackets for the team wrestling playoffs next week.

First round and quarterfinal matches will be held Wednesday, Feb. 2 with the semifinals and championship finals matches held Saturday, Feb. 5.

There will be 16 teams participating in the 3A tournament and 12 teams in the 2A playoffs.