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Previewing the PIAA girls' basketball state championship games

Ethan Morrison, Special to the Times
·3 min read

One lone girls' basketball team from the Beaver Valley will look to capture PIAA gold this weekend in Hershey at the Giant Center as the Blackhawk Cougars look to get over the hump and capture PIAA Gold after falling just short of a WPIAL Championship.

With that being said, let's take a look at Saturday’s PIAA Championship matchup.

Piper Romigh (30) converts a layup in the second half during Blackhawk's PIAA quarterfinal matchup against Fairview at Morrow Field House Saturday afternoon.
Piper Romigh (30) converts a layup in the second half during Blackhawk's PIAA quarterfinal matchup against Fairview at Morrow Field House Saturday afternoon.

PIAA Class 4A Championship

Teams: Blackhawk Vs. Scranton Prep (District 2) Sat. March 23, 12 p.m.

Defending Champion: Landsdale Catholic def. Blackhawk 53-45 in the 2023 PIAA Class 4A Championship game.

Facts & Figures: Blackhawk looks to capture PIAA gold after falling just short of WPIAL gold just a few short weeks ago while it makes its sixth appearance in the PIAA state title game.

The Cougars' journey throughout the season has been a wild one as they dominated their competition throughout the course of the regular season.

Heading into the WPIAL playoffs, Blackhawk had a pretty easy path to the WPIAL Championship game as Blackhawk defeated Greensburg Salem in the quarterfinals 49-25 before defeating Laurel Highlands 51-32.

In the WPIAL Championship game, Blackhawk fell just short of capturing a WPIAL title as it fell in overtime to North Catholic 40-37.

The senior tandem of Aubree Hupp and Alena Fusetti were key pieces in the team’s success during the team’s WPIAL title game as they combined for 21 points in the loss to the Trojanettes.

The Cougars react to Aubree Hupp drawing a foul after making a layup during the Class 4A WPIAL championship game, Saturday at the Petersen Event Center in Pittsburgh.
The Cougars react to Aubree Hupp drawing a foul after making a layup during the Class 4A WPIAL championship game, Saturday at the Petersen Event Center in Pittsburgh.

During the PIAA playoffs in the bottom portion of the bracket, the Cougars have been a defensive juggernaut as their defense has won them a number of games throughout both the district and state postseason.

Blackhawk’s team defense has been one of the key reasons why the team has found so much success over the course of the district postseason tournament and state tournament as the Cougars allowed just 31 points per game on the defensive side of the ball in seven games.

Offensively, Hupp has led the charge over the course of the state tournament as she has eclipsed 20 points in each of her past two games for the Cougars and is averaging 19.4 points per game in their state playoff run.

Along with the offensive prowess of Hupp, Fusetti has also put together an impressive past couple of weeks as she has averaged 12.8 points per game over the course of the state playoffs.

Blackhawk will face off against Scranton Prep out of District Two on Saturday afternoon. The Cavaliers come into Saturday’s matchup with a 23-5 record along with winning their district championship.

Just like Blackhawk, Scranton Prep has made a living off of team defense over the course of the state playoffs holding two teams under 25 points in route to the state title game rattling off wins against North Schuylkill, Villa Joseph Marie, Central Columbia and Universal Auderied.

When both teams set to square off Saturday afternoon, Blackhawk is in search of their fifth state title in program history and first since the 2014-15 season.

As for Scranton Prep, they are in search of its first PIAA title in program history.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Previewing the PIAA girls' basketball state championship games