Bill Beckner stories, Page 126

The Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team did not play its best in two section games against Southmoreland, but the Vikings will get another shot against the Scotties. The Section 3 opponents will meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Southmoreland in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals. Mt. Pleasant (11-7), the No....

Latrobe has been working on situational plays in practice to get ready for the potentially tight fourth quarters it might see in the playoffs. Inbounds plays and careful possessions are a sidecar to mentally handling the pressure that comes with late leads. On Thursday night, the Wildcats girls got to...

As Hempfield boys basketball coach Bill Swan and his staff prepared for this season, masks on and attitudes upbeat, they pondered what might happen in the coming months. Would covid-19 take a swing at the Spartans? Would there even be a season, let alone playoffs? The questions piled up, yet...

Here’s a look at Friday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Boys Class 6A Quarterfinals 6-Pine-Richland (12-5) at 3-Hempfield (12-5) 6 p.m. Friday Coaches: Bob Petcash, Pine-Richland; Bill Swan, Hempfield Winner plays: Winner of 7-North Allegheny (16-6) at 2-Fox Chapel (19-2), 6 p.m. Tuesday in semifinals About Pine-Richland:...

Baldwin girls basketball coach Jamal Woodson sounded like he was at the podium at an awards show when senior forward Meghan Dryburgh’s name came up in a postgame interview. He went all Golden Globes after he and his team celebrated with a small group of fans Wednesday night. And the...

Austin Butler plans to play another year of college basketball, but it won’t be at Holy Cross. The senior guard from Latrobe who saw this season end prematurely when Holy Cross had to pull out of the Patriot League playoffs due to a positive covid test on the team has...

Here’s a look at Thursday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Girls First round Class 5A 11-South Fayette (14-5) at 6-Latrobe (12-2) 6 p.m. Thursday Coaches: Bryan Bennett, South Fayette; Mark Burkhardt, Latrobe Winner plays: Winner of 14-Moon (7-11) at 3-Hampton (14-5), 6 p.m. Monday About South Fayette:...

There was a time when Latrobe girls basketball players felt a certain kind of way about fourth-quarter leads. The ball became slippery, the heat of the moment unsavory, as time crawled by and became their enemy. But this year’s edition of the Wildcats seems to appreciate the challenge that comes...

The American Basketball Hall of Fame out of Detroit prides itself on recognizing basketball stars of note who reached the doorstep but did not get into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It is a tweeners’ delight. The new hall, which sprouted in 2019 due in large part to...

Stepping foot into what is considered a wide-open WPIAL Class 6A playoff field, while exciting, can also be like a mine field. Leads, no matter how large, can be unstable in a year like this as teams look for bracket-busting upsets. Need proof? Look at Hempfield. Need proof of a...

Shattering throwing records are nothing new to Hempfield’s Orie sisters. They’ve had spots on the Spartans’ big leaderboard. Now they’re breaking marks together at the collegiate level. DePaul sophomore Mackenna Orie broke a school record in the shot put in the program’s first competition since March at the Big East...

Rivalry is a strong word. Franklin Regional and Mars have a history, yes. But it’s more of a friendly get-together when they play than a mean-spirited rivalry. You could argue Franklin Regional had more of a competitive spark with Highlands before the Golden Rams went to Class 4A. (They’re back...

Here’s a look at Wednesday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Girls First round Class 6A 9-Baldwin (8-7) at 8-Penn-Trafford (10-6) 6 p.m. Wednesday Coaches: Jamal Woodson, Baldwin; John Giannikas, Penn-Trafford Winner plays: At 1-North Allegheny (19-1), noon Saturday About Baldwin: After a rash of early-season postponements, the...

The long wait is over for Derry. And don’t even think about stamping an asterisk next to the Trojans’ accomplishment. Forget the circumstances surrounding a season unlike any that came before it in the WPIAL. Forget program shutdowns, daily uncertainty and a free-for-all playoff tournament that gave the Trojans the...

Senior Olivia Miller will again compete on a national stage for the Carlow women’s track and field team. Miller, a Ligonier Valley graduate and multi-event athlete, qualified to compete in the high jump and pentathlon at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship held Wednesday through Friday at Dakota State...

Abnormal best describes their season. Resilient characterizes how they have handled it. Norwin’s boys basketball team has run the gamut on and off the court, from player setbacks and covid pauses to impressive wins. Buddy Valinsky never imagined his second year as coach of the Knights would be such an...

Here’s a look at Tuesday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Boys First round Class 6A 14-Baldwin (6-12) at 3-Hempfield (11-5) 6 p.m. Tuesday Coaches: Jeff Ackermann, Baldwin; Bill Swan, Hempfield Winner plays: Winner of 11-Peters Township (6-8) at 6-Pine-Richland (11-5), 6 p.m. Friday About Baldwin: Baldwin, under...

Size matters this year in the WPIAL basketball playoffs, but it has nothing to do with height. The WPIAL said there might be cases where lower-seeded teams would host playoff games because their gymnasiums have more room to put up a percentage of spectators than their opponents. That will be...

The Roundball Classic is returning in full force this spring. Organizer Allen Deep said the all-star basketball event will be played May 13-15 at Geneva. Rosters are far from finished, but Deep knows one player he will invite to the event. He said Norwin senior guard Ty Bilinsky will be...

Here’s a look at Monday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Boys Preliminary round Class 4A 20-Southmoreland (2-16) at 13-Derry (5-6) 6 p.m. Monday Coaches: Frank Muccino, Southmoreland; Tom Esposito, Derry Winner plays: At 4-Quaker Valley (12-4), 6 p.m. Thursday About Southmoreland: The youthful Scotties debated going to...

Franklin Regional scored three points in the third quarter and surrendered the lead for the first time to that point against visiting Armstrong. Some teams might have withered at the lack of offense and shift in momentum, especially in a playoff atmosphere. Not Franklin Regional. “We weren’t losing this game,...

Norwin will remember the 2020-21 swimming and diving season for more than a global pandemic. The girls team made history in the water this year, claiming its first section title since 2007. “The strength of this team is our depth,” coach Doug Watson said. “We are really three-strong in most...

Saturday’s games Boys Class 6A Preliminary round 17-Canon-McMillan (0-13) at 16-Greensburg Salem (0-12) Noon, Saturday Coaches: Charles Murphy, Canon-McMillan; Mark Zahorchak, Greensburg Salem Winner plays: At 1-Upper St. Clair (15-1), 6 p.m. Tuesday About Canon-McMillan: The Big Macs may be winless, but they have been in a number of games....

In a flash of a couple of seconds, Kadyn Hannah saw a microcosm of his basketball career manifest before his eyes, in the form of a turnover. A painful turnover. But he owned the moment. “It was a travel, yes,” the 6-foot-4 senior forward from Franklin Regional said. “But here’s...