LAURA BELEJCHAK

SCHOOL: South Park

WHO IS SHE? A 5-foot-9 sophomore guard on the Eagles' basketball team.

THE PAST WEEK: Belejchak has been on a tear with 3-point shooting. In a 49-38 victory Friday against Brentwood, she had seven 3-pointers and 30 points. In a 53-45 victory Dec. 27 against Highlands, she had eight 3-pointers and 27 points.

HOT SHOT: For the season, Belejchak has 57 3-pointers and is averaging 19.1 points. In the past four games, she has 29 3-pointers. "In most sports you go through ups and downs," she said. "Right now, I'm definitely on an up."

POPULAR MECHANICS: Belejchak and South Park coach Pat McGinnis believe one of the main reasons for Belejchak's success is her shooting mechanics.

"She has a great-looking shot," he said. "Her form is like [Penn State All-American] Kelly Mazzante. She has that real snap in her shot. She really has perfect form."

Belejchak said a good follow-through is vital to her shooting.

"Just holding your hand out there after you shoot is important," she said. "I try to visualize putting my hand into the hoop after I shoot. The other big thing is ball rotation. If you don't have backspin, you don't have any forgiveness on your shot."

FOR THE RECORD: Belejchak talks about records, even she doesn't know what they are. She had close to 50 3-pointers as a freshman last season, but she has a ways to go for the WPIAL career record. Kristen Bonner, a 2002 Carlynton graduate, had 363.

Belejchak said she has thought about the WPIAL career record, but said, "The school record is is one of my goals." When asked what the school record is, she laughed and said, "I don't know."

FORGETTABLE PERFORMANCE: Belejchak has scored 15 points or more in 11 of South Park's 12 games. North Catholic, the Post-Gazette's No. 1 WPIAL Class AAA team, held her to three points in a 66-14 victory.

"Being as young as she is, she was just out of her mind that game," McGinnis said. "She wanted to do so well that she was running around like a chicken without a head."

Belejchak said: "My head was totally out of that game. I got myself so hyped up for that game because we lost to them so badly last year. I got benched in the second half, basically because I was crying at halftime. "I went home and said, 'Either I'm going to step it up a notch or I'm going to go downhill.' Things have been good ever since then."

DANNY HARTMAN

SCHOOL: Thomas Jefferson.

WHO IS HE? A 5-foot-8, 160-pound hockey goaltender.

THE PAST WEEK: Hartman helped the Jaguars defeat Trinity, 4-1, Monday night and was in goal for all four games of the Mt. Lebanon holiday tournament, in which his team finished second.

THE SEASON: Through Sunday, he and Timmy Johnson of Serra Catholic were tied for highest save percentage (.951) in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. Hartman also had the second-lowest goals-against average (0.96) and was one reason Thomas Jefferson was 11-0 in league play and No. 1 in the Post-Gazette Class AA rankings.

CAREER: A senior, Hartman has been the Jaguars' starting goalie the past three seasons. He also started some games as a freshman.

NET GAINS: Since his second hockey practice, Hartman has been a goalie. But unlike many seven-year-olds, he wasn't attracted to that position simply because he thought it was neat. "I hated my skates and wanted to get out of them, so I played goalie," he said.

BROTHERLY SHOVE: Older brother Brian also is a standout player, a defenseman who played Junior A for one season in Bozeman, Mont., then for the Pittsburgh Forge for a year. He is now a sophomore on the Niagara University team. Brian also helped Thomas Jefferson win state championships in 1998, '99 and 2000, which is a source of motivation for his younger brother, who has no state gold medals. "That's the only thing he's got on me," Danny said. "It's bothered me plenty."

TOUGH TO BEAT: Don Powell is in his 11th season as the Jaguars' coach and said he has worked with some quality goaltenders. "But Danny is the best I've coached by far. When you have a goalie with a save percentage over 95, you've got something special. He's very athletic, extremely quick with his legs, so he takes the bottom half of the net away. Shoot high and he's lightning-quick and will stop you."

FUTURE: Hartman said he wants to play hockey next year, but isn't sure whether he will pursue the Juniors, club or college levels. Powell said, without hesitation, "He's good enough to make a Junior A team."