It’s been five years since Indiana County has had a basketball team reach the Final Four in the PIAA state playoffs. In 2018, both Penns Manor and Blairsville girls made it, both losing, Blairsville by five points and Penns Manor by two in overtime.
Tonight, the District 6 champion Homer-Center girls play a Double-A Final Four game against Montrose High School, the champion out of District 2, in northeastern PA. And the River Valley girls play a Triple-A Final Four game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, a traditional WPIAL power that finished fifth in that conference this year. The winners will play Thursday in the state championship game in Hershey.
On WCCS and on Renda Digital TV tonight, Homer-Center’s girls tangle with a 22-4 Montrose team that knocked off Faith Christian Academy, 45-29 in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Meteors narrowly escaped Marian Catholic by only two points in the second round last Tuesday. At 22-7, Homer-Center has dominated the last two rounds, blasting Millersburg in the second round by 30 points and Sacred Heart Academy Friday in the quarters, 51-15.
The game will be at Central Mountain High School and we will have it both on WCCS and on Renda Digital TV, starting at 5:30. Wildcats coach Nick Moore says his girls have their eyes on a state championship.
The River Valley girls have reached the state semifinals by outlasting York Catholic by eight points in the first round, then knocking off two WPIAL teams, Laurel last Tuesday by two points and Shady Side Academy on Friday by 33. Now they face a third WPIAL team, 22-7 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, known more popularly as OLSH. The Chargers were 18-point victors over Wilmington in round one, 16-point winners over WPIAL champ Avonworth in the second round, and on Friday they beat District 6 runner-up Westmont Hilltop, 47-32.
The game tonight will be heard on Cat Country 106.3 FM at 6:30 PM. Panthers coach Ricc Brown says Charges coach Don Eckerle preaches patient offense and tight defense.
Because the PIAA has awarded exclusive video rights to the pay-per-view streamer NFHS, they have blocked Renda Digital TV from showing the game. NFHS is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the PIAA has given it the power to block local broadcasters in games it intends to show, such as tonight’s River Valley game. Broadcasters across the state have protested the NFHS deal and State Representative Jim Struzzi has introduced legislation in Harrisburg to protect the rights of local broadcasters.
