Feb 21, 2017 By Eleanor Bailey 4 min read

As the top teams in their classifications, Bishop Canevin, Mt. Lebanon, Chartiers Valley and Chartiers-Houston expected byes in the WPIAL basketball playoffs.

“Under the new format we knew four teams were going to get a bye, so we had anticipated it,” said Canevin coach Tim Joyce. “Receiving a bye means you’ve had a good season.”

Having had a good regular season, however, means a long wait to compete again. While not playing in the first round of the tournament afforded coaches an opportunity to scout their next opponents, the delay meant as much as a two-week layoff for some local teams. The lack of action, however, is not seen as a detriment.

“I don’t mind the bye,” said Tim McConnell, who for 24 seasons has scheduled a non-league game on the final regular-season playing date for his CV boys’ team. The Colts beat South Fayette, 76-65, on Feb. 13. “I think it allows us plenty of time to prepare for our opponent. We can scrimmage to stay sharp. So, I am not concerned because we will have some scrimmages and intensify our practices.”

Mt. Lebanon girls’ head coach concurred with McConnell.

“A bye gives us plenty of time to prepare and opportunity to see our opponent live,” said Dori Oldaker. “There’s no impact,” she added. “I’m not concerned.

“Our goal is to really improve our game as a team and individually, offensively and defensively. We will add some new wrinkles to our offenses and some new defensive schemes.”

Because Hollidaysburg canceled at the last minute, Bishop Canevin found itself without a final regular season game. Thus, the Crusaders have one of the longest layoffs from action, 16 days.

“I am concerned about the length of this year’s layoff,” Joyce said. “We try to stay game ready by scheduling the toughest scrimmages. We’ve used this same formula for five years.

“But, a bye doesn’t impact our preparation since the past several years we’ve had over a week before our first game.”

While Canevin did not receive the No. 1 seed it had this time, the Crusaders always had to wait for an opponent to be determined by a play-in game. Joyce welcomed the top billing for his team, which won the WPIAL Class AA title last year and enters this year’s playoffs with a 16-5 overall record and a perfect mark, 12-0, in Section 3.

“The number one seed is nice because it does recognize the accomplishments of the season,” Joyce said. “It also was nice that the committee took into consideration the schedule we played. But it doesn’t mean much, especially once the games start.”

The Crusaders play the winner of the Brownsville (10-11) vs. Riverside (17-5) contest. Their approach to whichever opponent they face is similar to their season’s outlook. Offensively, they will rely upon Brionna Allen (13.7 ppg), Shamyjha Price (12.2), Sarah Green (9) and Lauren Gamble (6). Defensively, they hope the opponent makes the mistake, not them.

“Our defense has carried us. We need to keep improving and working at it,” Joyce said. “We have to not turn the ball over on offense, play solid half court defense, rebound, force turnovers and convert them to points.”

Meanwhile, Lebo prepares to play either Norwin (16-5) or Butler (10-11) on Feb. 25. The Knights were two-time WPIAL champions the past seasons and they knocked the Blue Devils out of the WPIAL tournament and PIAA state playoffs last year. While Norwin has four new starters, Oldaker said, “I think that we know them pretty well. We’ve watched Butler on film. We will be prepared to play either team,” she vowed.

CV (16-6) earned the No. 3 seed in the Class 5-A tournament behind section opponents Mars (14-8) and Moon (17-5). The Colts will play the winner of the Gateway (10-12) vs. Thomas Jefferson (11-11) game.

“I thing the No. 3 seed showed our section some respect,” McConnell said. “We scrimmaged TJ and have watched film on both teams to be prepared for whomever wins.”

Chartiers-Houston will play Leechburg (14-9) at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Northgate. The Bucs are 20-2 overall and the top seed in Class 2-A.