The best finish so far in the PIAA playoffs? It would be hard to beat last night's Seton-LaSalle vs. Greensburg Central Catholic girls second-round game.
Seton-LaSalle is the defending PIAA Class AA champion, but the Rebels were cooked. Greensburg Central Catholic's Brittany Stawovy made a shot with 2.5 seconds left to put the Centurions ahead, 52-51. Seton-LaSalle took the ball out of bounds and got it to senior guard Cassidy Walsh. A Pitt recruit, Walsh had to work to get open, but got the ball and ...
Well, just watch.
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Walsh's short near half court let the Rebels live for another day. They will now play Bellwood-Antis.
It was a great finish to a fine game for Walsh, who had 25 points. The memories of that shot will last forever. That video was sent to us by Seton-LaSalle boys coach Mark "Knobby" Walsh, who also happens to be Cass' uncle.
I'm just sayin'
**** Don't be surprised if only one WPIAL boys team makes it to a title game next week. I think WPIAL teams are underdogs in every classification besides Class AA. Aliquippa has the best chance to get to the finals of any WPIAL team, but the Quips' path won't be easy, either.
**** Monessen coach Joe Salvino has been very outspoken about playing charter, private or parochial schools. He believes those schools have a big advantage because they don't have geographical boundaries, like public schools. Wonder what Salvino will have to say after his team's next game?
Monessen plays Kennedy Catholic Friday in the quarterfinals. Kennedy has 6-8 junior Sagaba Konate, who came to the school from the African country of Mali. His brother, Mohammed, is a 6-4 guard on the team. Another starter is Andrew Magestro, who transferred from Sharon.
**** New Castle's fourth-quarter run last night gave the Red Hurricanes a victory against Indiana. But what was the deciding factor? New Castle's hustle.
In big games, it's hard to say one out-hustled the other, but how do you explain New Castle constantly getting offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter against a much bigger team? How do you explain New Castle coming up with nearly ever one of those 50-50 balls? At one point, New Castle got an offensive rebound on three consecutive free throw misses. Another time in the fourth quarter, New Castle got three offensive rebounds on one possession.
I know New Castle's perfect team last year had some talented players. This year's team has talent also. But the Red Hurricanes don't have a starter this year taller than 6-2. Is there a coach who gets more out of his team than Ralph Blundo?
Blundo (pictured) had a few interesting comments after the game.
"I'm proud to say that I think my guys have an amazing will about them," said Blundo. "To me, that means more than anything.
"We turn teams over 20 times a game and we turn it over 10 times. We get a lot of extra possessions that way and we have to because we're small.
"We make it important to go and get [offensive rebounds]. We don't just forego rebounds, saying 'they have the inside position' on free throws. Plus, I think our kids have great hands."
"We call them 50-50 balls. We put them on the board every game. Whether it's in the air or on the floor, we're going to increase our number of possession by getting most, if not all of those 50-50 balls."
But no matter the desire or hustle, New Castle will have trouble winning this Class AAA quarterfinal Friday night. Archbishop Carroll is a perennially strong team from Philadelphia. Carroll features Derrick Jones, a 6-7 senior who is ranked the No. 43 player in the country by Rivals.com. Jones (pictured, courtesy of philly.com) is a UNLV recruit. He has a reputation of a tremendous dunker.
**** Indiana's run this season was one of the neatest stories in WPIAL basketball the past few years. What was a great sight also was after the Little Indians lost to New Castle. After going to the locker room, Indiana's team came back upstairs on the court. A half hour after the game, the players and many of its fans were still milling around the court. The players were still in their uniforms, talking with fans and hugging them.
It was almost as if the players didn't want to take those uniforms off for the last time. You can't blame them.
**** Looking ahead, Class AAA in the WPIAL was pretty good this year, but it should be extremely good next year.
Mars is in the PIAA quarterfinals and has every starter back. New Castle has a number of its top players back. Beaver Falls has the strong inside tandem of Donovan Jeter and Josh Creach, who are only sophomores. Plus, Beaver Falls started a freshman at point guard.