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La Roche women's basketball on 11-game winning streak
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There are a lot of good small-college basketball teams in the area, and several are on a roll. But the hottest of them might be the La Roche women, who are on an 11-game winning streak.
And while the Lady Redhawks are a high-scoring offensive club, their defense has been equally as impressive.
The Lady Redhawks, who average 76.9 points per game, have held four of their past five opponents to 50 points or fewer.
In their past two games, the Lady Redhawks have held opponents to an average of 34 points per game. Their season-average for points allowed has fallen to 52.6 points per game.
On Sunday, the Lady Redhawks beat Hilbert, 81-29, and forced 35 turnovers, had 23 steals and the 29 points allowed was a season low.
They followed that with a 79-39 rout of Franciscan and in that game the Lady Redhawks held the Barons to a season-low 23 percent from the field (16 of 69) and only 7 percent (1 of 16) from 3-point range.
La Roche, 12-1 overall and 7-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, also had 15 steals and forced 23 turnovers against Franciscan.
The Lady Redhawks have a scoring margin of 24.3 points per game, which is the eighth-best in NCAA Division III and they are the 10th-highest scoring team.
La Roche will put that winning streak on the line Saturday on the road at third-place Penn State Behrend (6-5, 5-2).
Pioneers streaky
Speaking of teams that are streaking, the Point Park men's basketball team has won five in a row after losing five in a row.
The Pioneers, who have won three Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games in a row, improved to 10-6, 4-4. .
Point Park is led by two former WPIAL standouts -- Serra's T.J. Heatherington (15.8 ppg, 4.8 apg) and Chartiers Valley's Matt Noszka (13.1 ppg, 7 rpg).
The Pioneers average 92.4 points per game, which is ranked No. 2 in scoring offense in NAIA Division II.
Point Park, which averages 9.4 3-pointers per game, has given up 87 points per game, ranked No. 124 in NAIA Division II out of 127 teams.
A strong week
The Edinboro women's basketball team also is streaking at the right time, winning six in a row to climb to 9-2, 6-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
A big reason for the Fighting Scots success is former Ambridge standout Kiara Brown, a senior guard, who leads the PSAC in scoring at 17.1 points per game.
Brown has had a big run of games this past week, including a career-high 31 points in a 69-64 win Saturday at Millersville. The Fighting Scots trailed in the game but took control with a 19-10 run in the second half -- and 15 of those 19 points were scored by Brown.
That game was on the heels of a 17-point, 5-rebound, 4-assist and 2-steal performance by Brown in a 63-53 victory Friday against Shippensburg.
Brown was named the PSAC West player of the week for her effort.
Waynesburg wrestler rises
Waynesburg's wrestling team has struggled thus far at 1-5, but this past weekend the Yellow Jackets tasted some success as they finished fourth (among Division III teams) at the Waynesburg Invitational.
Leading the way was former Canon-McMillan standout Sam Lombardo, who went 4-0 to win the 157-pound bracket. He is 14-2 overall and was named the Presidents' Athletic Conference wrestler of the week.
Lombardo was the only Yellow Jackets wrestler to win his weight class, but teammate Sam Guidi was a runner-up.
Guidi, from Fort Cherry High School, made it to the 165-pound weight class final but lost a 2-1 heartbreaking decision in the championship match.
Lombardo and Guidi were among eight Yellow Jackets to place in the event.
First Published January 11, 2013 12:00 am
