BOALSBURG — After very successful seasons, both St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s basketball teams qualified for the 2026 PIAA Tournament, and both played first round games last weekend.
In the girls’ 1A tournament, the Lady WolfPack swept past Geibel Catholic on March 7 in Connellsville, but the boys got off to a slow start against 7-1 Neighborhood Academy on Friday and had their season come to an end.
SJCA 91, Geibel Catholic 35
The SJCA girls’ basketball team got rolling in the middle quarters against Geibel Catholic on March 7 in the first round of the PIAA 1A tournament and stormed to a 91-35 victory over GCHS.
The score in the game was close after the first eight minutes with SJCA ahead 17-14, but a 24-2 run in the second quarter and another 33 points in the third period sent the WolfPack into the second round.
Senior guard Naomi Crispin sparked the rallies with 11 points in the second quarter — and 25 overall — as her team jumped to a 41-16 halftime lead that they would not lose.
In all, St. Joe’s put four other players in double figures in the game with Alexia Luckovich getting 19 points, Aubrey Yartz, 18, Lauren Himes, 11, and Jacee Cunningham, 10.
“The girls played four solid quarters, which was nice to see,” head Coach Bethany Irwin said. “I’m not sure if we’ve ever had that in a game just yet so they really stayed focused and pushed themselves extremely hard for 32 minutes.
“First quarter, we didn’t shoot as well, but then by the third quarter we weren’t missing. They shot a lot and there were a ton of rebounds. Aubrey Yartz had a double-double, Lauren Himes a double-double, and Layla Fetzer had 11 or 12 rebounds.
Naomi Crispin had a double-double with points and assists, and she missed a triple-double by one rebound.
“The girls played really, really well and focused on what we had to get done for that game,” Irwin said.
The WolfPack will now move on to the second round against 9-1 Clarion Limestone, 20-7, on March 11 at Clearfield Area High School.
C-L will come into the game after winning the District 9 Championship with a 45-34 win over Elk County Catholic and then beating St. Joe’s, 58-37, in the PIAA first round at home.
Against St. Joe’s, C-L pulled away steadily after a close first quarter for the win. The Lions were ahead by one early but rallied to take a 29-21 lead at halftime that they extended to 46-31 heading down the stretch.
Guard Hannah Beggs led the team with 17 points, and Corinne Hepfl added 10.
For the season, Beggs led the team with a 16.5 average followed by Julianna Schwabenbauer. Schwabenbauer led in rebounds while Hepfl was first in assists.
C-L will come into the game with nine victories in its last 10 games.
The winner will move on to the state quarterfinals and play either 6-1 Bishop Guilfoyle, 19-4, or 7-3 Aquinas Academy, 22-3, on March 14.
Neighborhood Academy 50, SJCA 32
St. Joe’s boys’ basketball team could not get out of the gate against District 7 champion Neighborhood Academy in the first round of the PIAA 1A tournament on Friday night.
The WolfPack scored just seven points in the first two quarters against Neighborhood, fell behind by 18 points at halftime, and could not recover in a 50-32 loss at Thomas Jefferson High School.
SJCA played an even second half, 25-25, but the Neighborhood start was too much to overcome and the WolfPack saw their season come to an end with a final record of 17-11.
SJCA finished the season with three players averaging in double figures, Isaiah Crispin at 14-4, Chase Luckovich at 12.0 and Zach Cadman at 11.0.
Neighborhood Academy will now move on to play 9-2 Johnsonburg, 20-7, in the second round on March 10.
