The 2002-03 WPIAL Class AAAA basketball championship won by Upper St. Clair wasn't necessarily a springboard.

After the title, the Panthers didn't return to the playoffs for two consecutive seasons. Last year, they reached the postseason but were eliminated in the first round.

Playoff success has returned for Upper St. Clair.

In a Class AAAA quarterfinal yesterday at Plum, the Panthers (21-4) held on for a 58-55 victory against Pine-Richland (14-12).

Alex Gensler led Upper St. Clair with 25 points and Andrea Pion and Meghan McLean each had 11. Tricia Adamczyk made four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 16 points for Pine-Richland.

Upper St. Clair will get a shot at some redemption. New Castle, which knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs last year, will be their semifinal opponent.

Other Class AAAA

Bethel Park 62, Latrobe 46: The Black Hawks (23-3) pushed their winning streak to 10 games with the victory at Canon-McMillan against Latrobe (18-7). Katie Kendall led Bethel Park with 18 points and made three 3-pointers. Samantha Loadman added 14 points and Danielle McNabb had 10. Latrobe, the Section 1 champion, got 14 points from Courtney Sherwin and 10 from Lindsey Muchnock.

New Castle 72, Shaler 55: Jaleesa Sams scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and New Castle used a 25-point fourth quarter to beat Section 3 rival Shaler (16-10) at North Hills. Melissa McQuade's 23 points weren't enough for the Titans.

Class AA

Bishop Canevin 64, Seton-LaSalle 33: The Crusaders (21-6) allowed just 13 second-half points and didn't let an opponent score in double figures as they downed Seton-LaSalle (23-3) at Chartiers Valley. Megan Reffert led Canevin with 21 points while Megan O'Keefe led the Rebels with nine. Canevin had lost twice to the Rebels in the regular season.

Ford City 43, OLSH 38: Ford City (24-2) came back from an 11-point deficit after the first quarter to gain the win at North Allegheny. Marisa Wolfe, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, scored 20 points for Ford City, including 7 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter. Devin McGrath led OLSH (20-6) with 15 points and Micki Cerchiaro had 14.

Cerchiaro scored nine points in the first quarter as OLSH opened up a 15-4 advantage, but she was held to five the rest of the way. Ford City held OLSH to two points in the third quarter and took a 28-24 lead into the final eight minutes. A 3-pointer by Cerchiaro brought OLSH within 36-35 with 3:18 left, but OLSH didn't score again until 5.8 seconds remained.

Greensburg Central Catholic 59, Shady Side Academy 42: Pitt recruit Ashley Henderson scored a game-high 20 points to push the defending WPIAL champion Centurions (19-6) to the win at Woodland Hills. Shady Side (19-8) committed 30 turnovers.

Beaver 56, Washington 29: Beaver (21-5) advanced to the semifinal for the first time with the win against Washington (16-10) at Ambridge. Carly Vendemia scored 20 points for Beaver.