BRIAN HINDT

SCHOOL: Chartiers Valley.

WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-4, 175-pound senior forward and the leading scorer on the Colts' WPIAL Class AAAA championship basketball team.

LAST WEEK: Hindt scored 16 points in Chartiers Valley's 57-47 victory against Connellsville in the title game Saturday. He had 18 points in a 55-45 semifinal victory against McKeesport.

SEASON: Hindt leads Chartiers Valley in scoring with a 19.3 average. He's also one of the best 3-point shooters on the team, which averages nine 3-pointers a game.

SHOOTING FOR 1,000: Hindt has been on the varsity teams since his freshman season and needs only 23 points to become the eighth player in school history to score 1,000.

AW, SHOOT: When Hindt played at Our Lady of Grace Grade School, he was a center. He had to change his game when he got to Chartiers Valley.

"When I came to the first practices in ninth grade, I saw it was a lot of shooting. Everyone was basically a perimeter player," he said. "I realized if I was going to play, I had to develop my outside game. But it helped being an inside player when I was younger because I developed good form. A lot of people shoot long 3-pointers when they're younger and their form gets all messed up."

ONE TO WATCH: Before the season, Hindt wasn't mentioned in a Post-Gazette list of 15 "Players to Watch" in WPIAL Class AAAA. After the title game Saturday, he told Fox Sports Net television he wanted to prove he deserved to be on the list.

"That motivated him some this year," said Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell. "He felt he was good enough to be on there and was a little ticked off about it. He had an 'I'll show you' attitude.'"

THE OTHER SPORT: Hindt also was a member of Chartiers Valley's boys' soccer team.

WINNING HAND: One of the popular activities on Chartiers Valley's team is to play "Texas hold 'em" poker. Players sometimes play a few hands in the locker room after practice. Who usually wins?

"I do," Hindt said. "Or my brother [Matt] or Brian Braithwaite."

THE FUTURE: Hindt, who has a 3.7 grade point average, is being recruited by small colleges. "I think he would be a steal for a Division III school," McConnell said.

-- By Mike White

SCHOOL: Carlynton.

WHO IS SHE? A 5-foot-10 guard/forward on the girls' basketball team.

LAST WEEK: Wilmus had team-highs of 13 points and 7 rebounds Saturday as the Cougars mauled Freeport, 42-20, in the WPIAL Class AA title game. That was their first triumph in six championship appearances.

CAREER: A senior, Wilmus is averaging 13.5 points and about 7.0 rebounds per game this season. She has been with the varsity team for four years, a starter for three, and has 1,015 points. Wilmus became the eighth 1,000-point scorer at Carlynton in a semifinal victory Feb. 25 against Avonworth.

ON A RUN: Toni Roscoe (14.4) is the Cougars' top scorer overall, but not in the postseason. It's Wilmus at 18.3. She and Roscoe shared team honors in the first playoff game, and Wilmus has been the leader in the past three.

LET US PREY: There is a simple reason for this Cougar's postseason prowl: motivation. She has been party to four of the most crushing defeats in the program's history.

While in middle school, Wilmus was a student-manager for the girls' team. She watched her sister, Tara, and teammates drop WPIAL title games in 1999 and 2000. Then as a player, Lauren experienced defeat in the PIAA semifinals her freshman season and in the WPIAL final last year to Greensburg Central Catholic.

"Her mission this year was that we weren't going to lose in the WPIAL playoffs," said Cougars coach Mike McConnell.

"I didn't want to go through that again," Wilmus said of the high-profile defeats. "This year was my last chance."

ALL-AROUND SKILLS: Depending on the situation and/or opponent, Wilmus will play in the frontcourt or backcourt. "Lauren poses difficult matchup problems," McConnell said. "She is able to step outside and shoot the 3-pointer very well, and she can post up inside and score."

THOSE WHO KIN, DO: The Wilmuses of Carnegie have been an integral part of Carlynton athletics. Karen Mitkoski Wilmus, the mother, and all four of her children have played basketball there. Sons Todd and Mike also were quarterbacks in football.

FUTURE: Wilmus, a high honor roll student the first two grading periods, will play at Seton Hill College, an NAIA Division II program.

-- By Rick Shrum