WPIAL girls title contenders lose top players to injuries in playoff tune-ups

Two WPIAL girls championship contenders will be without one of their top players for the foreseeable future.

Blackhawk, the No. 1 seed in Class 4A and defending champion, and Freedom, the No. 2 seed in Class 3A, suffered big blows this week, as each had a standout performer go down with a significant injury in playoff tune-ups.

Blackhawk’s Quinn Borroni, a senior guard-forward and Mercyhurst recruit, ruptured her Achilles in a scrimmage against Oakland Catholic on Thursday and will miss the remainder of the season. Blackhawk coach Steve Lodovico said Borroni has surgery scheduled for Thursday. Borroni is second on the team in scoring (11 ppg) and leads the team with nine rebounds a game.

“She was standing in the middle of the floor with nobody around her. She took one step and just hit the floor,” Lodovico said. “She looked over at me and asked, ‘Who hit me?’ And then she said she heard something pop.”

Also injured was Freedom junior guard Shaye Bailey, a first-team all-state performer last season and one of the top scorers in the WPIAL (21.7 ppg). A week after breaking her school’s single-game scoring mark by scoring 51 points, Bailey injured her collarbone late in the first half of a non-section game against Central Valley last Monday. Freedom coach John Kaercher wouldn’t disclose the severity of the injury, but did say that Bailey could miss three to four weeks.

“She set a harmless screen,” Kaercher said of Bailey, who has scored more than 1,000 career points. “She was standing still when she set the screen. Hardly any movement on her part. She came down the court and reached with her right hand to her left clavicle. Two possessions later, CV came back down the floor. The ball went to the corner. Shaye came across and swung with her left arm for the steal, and just came up with air.”

Freedom (18-4) played its postseason opener Friday when it defeated visiting Carlynton, 56-24. Junior Morgan Keller took Bailey’s spot in the starting lineup. The Bulldogs got a big performance from senior Julz Mohrbacher, who tallied 30 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs will meet Chartiers-Houston (16-7) in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

“It’s a loss, but as we told the team after the CV game, ‘unfortunate things happen.’ But we always preach the family aspect of the basketball family,” Kaercher said. “It’s next girl up and our success always starts with defense, and that’s how we’re approaching it.”

Meanwhile, Blackhawk (19-3) won’t open the playoffs until Friday. The Cougars will face the winner of Tuesday’s matchup between Belle Vernon (14-8) and Greensburg Salem (14-8). Lodovico said that freshman Aubree Hupp will likely start in Borroni’s place. 

“It’s a huge loss for us what she produces on the floor,” Lodovico said. “She’s a double-double girl. She has five or six double-doubles. Her leadership, the girls really look up to Quinn. We’re going to continue to need that. Her on-the-floor performance, we can’t fill that spot with one person. I don’t have anyone else on the team that’s a Quinn Borroni.”