PIAA basketball playoffs 2026: Breaking down Karns City, North Catholic, Slippery Rock girls’ Round 1 matchups
If you’ve been waiting to see the best Pennsylvania girls high school basketball teams square off, you can turn your alarm off.
The PIAA tournaments start this week, with three Butler County teams in the dances. Here are some things to keep an eye on in the first round.
Livestream: Many games will be livestreamed on the NFHS Network ($13.99 for a monthly subscription), but some will be broadcast by local or regional media outlets. This will be updated as streaming information for each game is made available.
Tickets: According to the PIAA, tickets can be purchased for $9 in advance on hometownticketing.com and for $10 at the door
Brackets: See the latest PIAA tournament brackets for all classifications here
Site/time: North Catholic High School, 1 p.m. Saturday
Up next: Winner of 10-1 Harbor Creek vs.7-5 South Park
Trojanettes’ key player: Junior Brady Wehner and Lauren Reitz “just by default, by personality, by presence on the floor are sort of the leaders,” North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann said. “They’re still growing into that. I’m impressed with their (willingness) to do it and trying to figure it out — and that’s a whole other side besides scoring.” Wehner is at 980 career points.
Rangers’ key player: Senior guard Aivah Maul is a 1,000-point scorer. She totaled 18 in the second quarter alone in the game during which she accomplished the career feat.
North Catholic wins if ... it spreads its scoring out.
“We just need to continue plugging away and sharing the ball,” Rottmann said. “My thought is I need them all to show up in different capacities. If we can, between seven or eight kids, average 6-14 points, (we’ll be good).”
Site/time: Slippery Rock High School, 6 p.m. Saturday
Up next: Winner of 7-1 Oakland Catholic vs. 10-4 Corry
Rockets’ key player: Slippery Rock coach Jeff Steele believes junior guard Brielle Jordan “can match them athletically,” he said. He estimated Jordan is putting up per-game performances of 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.
“But she controls the game defensively,” Steele said. “The girl this past week (for) Harbor Creek, she was averaging 20 a game, 15 was her low for the season and Brielle held her to six.”
Warriors’ key player: Senior guard Mia Sostaric, Steele said, “is a scholarship kid.” According to statistics on MaxPreps, Sostaric is averaging 15.5 points per game, pacing the Warriors over classmate Kaelynn Settles (15.2).
Slippery Rock wins if ... It plays like it practices. Simple, yeah, but the Rockets are basically holding up a mirror.
“(The Warriors) look to push it, they look to create pace with their full-court pressure,” Steele said. “They look to throw it ahead. That’s kinda the way we’ve played for a year and a half, so our girls won’t be surprised by that.”
Site/time: Moniteau High School, 7 p.m. Friday
Up next: Winner of 6-1 Central Cambria vs. 7-6 Our Lady of Sacred Heart
Gremlins’ key player: Senior Naomi Venesky has been Karns City’s heart all season.
“Of course, Naomi’s our leader, so we need her to have a Naomi-type game,” Gremlins coach Steve Andreassi said.
Rebels’ key player: Freshman Ava Maroney is emerging as one of the best players in the area, as evidenced by her 26-point effort in a December win.
Karns City wins if ... it plays stout defense once again.
“It’s gonna take a group effort to keep this team from getting into the paint and making some 3s,” Andreassi said. “They really like to attack the hoop first, and then get their kick-outs for the 3s. ... It is a challenging thing. We just have to play good help-side defense and then close out on the shooters.”
