It's a little early to be making predictions about the 2008-09 season, but it's a good bet the Greensburg Central Catholic girls will be in the WPIAL Class AA semifinals, if not the title game.

The Centurions finished 19-9, losing this past weekend to Bishop McCort from Johnstown, 59-40, in a PIAA quarterfinal at Saint Vincent College. Not bad for a team that had just one senior -- 6-foot-1 center Erica Keto -- on its roster.

It won't be easy for the Centurions to replace Keto, who averaged 15 points per game. But coach Rich Rosensteel will have his other four starters returning, along with a couple of players who were sidelined with ACL injuries.

"We had a good season. The kids played hard and I'm pleased with what we accomplished," said Rosensteel, whose team was upset by eventual Class AA champion South Park, 50-38, in the WPIAL playoffs.

Against Bishop McCort, Keto and Megan DePrimio, a 5-10 junior, each scored 13 points. Lauren DePalma, a 5-4 junior, added 12. The Centurions other starters are 5-8 junior Emily Nowicki and 5-11 sophomore Laura McCauley.

Two players who missed time with knee injuries were 6-0 junior Rachel Ringling and 5-9 sophomore Rebecca Keys.

"Those were two key injuries for us," Rosensteel said.

Greensburg Central Catholic has a rich history in girls' basketball, winning WPIAL titles in 1997, 2003, '06 and '07. So, the Centurions having a target on their collective back is nothing new.

"Our players expect to do well every year," Rosensteel said. "Our kids work awfully hard ... they expect to win."

Since many of his players are involved in other sports, Rosensteel said the team probably won't get back together until the summer.

Last week was a tough one for the Centurions. After a more-than-seven-hour bus ride in the snow to play at Clarion Feb. 29, they were involved in a game Tuesday that started at North Allegheny and then was moved to North Hills because of a power outage.

"It was a long week," he said. "A lesser team might have fallen apart."

It has been a banner season in the PG East area for boys' basketball with Central Catholic winning the WPIAL Class AAAA title, Jeannette the Class AA crown and Serra Catholic the Class A title, and Greensburg Salem advancing deep into the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs.

Individually, a number of the area's top players will return next season, which will make things interesting. Here's a quick look at some of the guys who should be back next year.

Arguably the most intriguing player is McKeesport junior Zeke Marshall who is 6-11. He averaged 10 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks a game and, as they say, you can't teach height. His presence makes McKeesport a challenger for the WPIAL Class AAAA title in 2009.

Also returning is junior Lucas Mickens, a 6-3 athletic guard who averaged 14 points and 4.5 rebounds a game despite Central Catholic's "revolving-door" player substitutions.

Others to watch include 5-11 Nick Novak of Franklin Regional, who averaged 21.1 ppg; 5-11 Jeff Yunetz of Latrobe, who averaged 20.7 ppg.; 5-9 Ben Hoffer of Yough, who averaged 19.3 ppg.; 5-9 Chris Klimchock of Greensburg Salem, who averaged 15.8 ppg.; 5-10 T.J. Heatherington of Serra, who is averaging 15 ppg; and 6-4 Andrew Cressler of Plum who averaged 17.7 points and eight rebounds a game.

A sophomore to watch is Hempfield's 6-2 Nate Perry who averaged 18.4 ppg.

Lost in all the hype that is the PIAA tournament is the fact Terrelle Pryor continues to climb the WPIAL's career points list.

Going into last night's PIAA semifinal against North East, Pryor had 2,245 points and was tied with Connellsville's James Hairston for 11th place. He was three points away from passing Pine-Richland's Allan MacQuarrie and moving into 10th place.

Farrell doesn't compete in the WPIAL anymore, moving to PIAA District 10 two years ago. Still, the Steelers have strong ties to the WPIAL from their old Section 3 days.

The fact Farrell, a Class A school in size, will compete in Class AAA the next two seasons in basketball is remarkable.

It's one thing for a school to move up one classification in a sport -- Aliquippa does it in football and basketball. It's something else to jump two classifications.

Farrell's reason for the move to Class AAA in boys' basketball?

"The competition," Farrell athletic director Lou Paris said. "It doesn't do us any good to go out and beat teams by 20 and 30 points. We think the competition will be better in Triple-A, so we'll try it for two years and see how it goes."

Farrell, which was defeated by North East -- which played Jeannette last night -- in a PIAA quarterfinal, finished the season with a 25-5 record. The Steelers won 14 games by 20 points or more and another eight by 15 points or more.