North Catholic started slow, but finished fast.

The Trojanettes led Laurel by just a 6-5 count after the first quarter of their WPIAL Class 3A girls basketball quarterfinal game Wednesday night. They outscored Laurel 23-8 in the second quarter, however, and rolled to a 61-33 victory.

The win was the eighth in nine games for North Catholic (17-5), which outscored Laurel 21-2 in the final eight minutes.

Alayna Rocco scored 24 points and Dacia Lewandowski netted 20 for the Trojanettes. Lucia Lombardo paced Laurel (13-11) with 10 points.

North Catholic will play Waynesburg Central (17-4) — a 71-68 winner over South Park — in the semifinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Waynesburg has won 11 of its last 12 games.

Boys Basketball

Coming off an upset win over Uniontown in the first round of the WPIAL 4A tourney, Freeport dropped a 62-42 decision at Belle Vernon in the quarterfinals.

The Yellowjackets ended their season at 13-10. Belle Vernon improved to 19-3 on the campaign.

Lincoln Park 77, North Catholic 67 — The Trojans ended their season with this WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal loss. Ben Tomer scored 21 points for North Catholic (18-4) while Andrew Maddalon added 14, Max Hurray and Max Rottmann 13 each.

Maleek Thomas paced Lincoln Park (17-6) with 26 points. Brandon Cummings added 17, LA Pratt 15.

Lincoln Park scored 26 points in the first quarter, grabbing an 11-point lead in going on to the win.

Bowling

Butler qualified six bowlers for the Western Regional Singles after competing in the WPIBL Singles Championships Wednesday.

Rocco Rice finished fourth overall, averaging 235 over three games of qualifying. He lost in the semifinal round. Brock Hepler placed eighth overall while Marty Imhof took 12th. Eric Devore, Alex Ekas and Luke Keene also qualified for the Golden Tornado.

Freeport’s Colin Cummings reached the semifjnal round as well.

The WPIBL Girls Singles Championships are Saturday at Belle Vernon.