What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Jan. 3, 2025: Class 6A contenders face tests at Norwin | Trib HSSN

By: Don Rebel


Thursday, January 2, 2025 | 10:30 PM

The third day of the new year could be newsworthy both in and outside of the gym.

While the forecast calls for snow in the area, we are calling for a showdown in Class 6A girls hoops Friday.

Top-ranked Upper St. Clair faces its first stiff challenge in Section 2-6A when it visits Norwin at 6 p.m.

The Panthers and Knights are tied for first place with Mt. Lebanon in the six-team section after both won their section openers before the holidays.

USC is 6-2 overall and has won three straight games by margins of 22, 22 and 21 points over Canon-McMillan, Bethel Park and Franklin Regional.

Norwin began the season with three wins in four games but has lost three of its last four, including two in a row to fall to 4-4 for the season.

Both teams lost on consecutive days to District 1 power Perkiomen Valley in mid-December.

In Section 2-6A boys basketball, six of the eight teams begin 2025 with records of .500 or better.

Two of them meet in the second game of a 6A doubleheader at Norwin when the Knights host Mt. Lebanon.

The Blue Devils are 1-1 in the section and 5-3 overall after winning two of three games in the Seahawk Classic at Hilton Head, S.C.

The host Knights are 5-5 overall and looking to improve to .500 in the section where they are currently 1-2.

Norwin also finished with two wins in its last three games in 2024.

Both games can be seen on Trib HSSN.

Crowded at the top

As section play resumes following the holiday break in WPIAL boys basketball, things might start to thin out at the top of Section 1-5A.

Then again, maybe not.

Uniontown (8-3) is all alone in first place with a 3-0 section record.

Then the traffic jam begins with four teams a game behind with 2-1 section marks.

Latrobe (10-1), Albert Gallatin (7-3), Gateway (4-4) and McKeesport (4-6) are prepared to shuffle the standings following each night of section play.

On Friday, Uniontown hosts McKeesport on HSSN while Gateway makes the trek to Albert Gallatin.

Latrobe visits a Penn-Trafford (4-4) team that is just outside the crowed bubble for second place with a 1-2 section record.

Changing of the guard?

It has been an incredible decade for the Bishop Canevin boys basketball program.

The Crusaders have won five section titles in five years and had an overall record of 98-35 coming into this season, with four semifinals berths, two WPIAL championships and one PIAA state title in 2022.

McGuffey has been competitive with four playoff appearances in five years with a postseason record of 1-4 and an overall record this decade through last season of 66-47.

On Friday, the Crusaders and Highlanders, tied for first place along with Keystone Oaks in Section 2-3A, collide for the first time in a game that could determine if both teams will continue along their recent past paths or if big changes could be in store for this season.

McGuffey has been flying high out of the gates this season, winning its section opener and eight of its 10 games thus far.

The Highlanders won their first six games before splitting their final four contests of 2024.

It has been a tough start for Bishop Canevin, albeit against a tough nonsection schedule.

The Crusaders, who won back-to-back district titles in 2021 and 2022 in Class A and are now in 3A, are 1-0 in the section and 2-7 overall.

However, their losses have been to Neighborhood Academy, Upper St. Clair, Butler, Greensburg Central Catholic, Central Valley, Moon and North Allegheny.

One of their wins, which ended a three-game skid, was on Dec. 20 when they won by two points in their section opener at Washington.

You can watch the game on Trib HSSN at 7:30 p.m.