Joe Koch's recap of South Park's win over Blackhawk:
(Photo: Breanna Raymond, left, and Allison McGrath of South Park celebrate after defeating Blackhawk, 63-59, and earning a spot in the PIAA Class AAA championship. Bill Wade/Post-Gazette.)
South Park came from behind, and the game was neck-and-neck through the third quarter:
The Eagles' Shelby Lindsay scored the game-high 20 points.
Many thought South Park and Blackhawk would meet in the WPIAL championship, but that notion was discarded when the Cougars were upset in the semifinals.
A few weeks later, the two finally will play one another, this time with a berth in the state championship on the line.
South Park (26-2), the WPIAL champion, will play Blackhawk (27-1) in a PIAA Class AAA semifinal Tuesday at Chartiers Valley at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to take on the Bethlehem Catholic-Malvern Villa Maria winner in Saturday’s championship at the Giant Center in Hershey.
South Park High's girls basketball team looked as if it was going to run Franklin High out of the North Allegheny High gym in the first quarter of this past Saturday's PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal game.
But Reggie Wells, the coach of the WPIAL Class AAA champion Eagles, knew the District 10 champion Knights, would have a run or two that could get them back to within striking distance. So, his team responded with runs of their own.
"When they did make a short run, we were able to stem the tide," he said of his Eagles after they earned a 61-43 victory to improve to 26-2. "I don't think they ever got into a good rhythm the whole game."
Mike White's feature on South Park head basketball coach Reggie Wells:
"Growing up in Philadelphia in the 1960s, Reggie Wells almost always had a basketball in his hands. At the time, Wilt Chamberlain was a larger than life figure who
played pro ball in town. Wells was more of a college fan himself -- specifically of the legendary Big 5 -- and he emulated local players such as Pittsburgh native
Kenny Durrett, who played at La Salle.
But amidst all the outstanding men's players who were displaying their talents while Wells was honing his own skills in the inner-city school yards, it just so happened that it was a woman who was his first coach."
basketball