Following a win at Butler that clinched a section title last Friday, Seneca Valley players sprayed coach Dorothea Epps with water as she entered the locker room.
“We thought she was going to be mad because you never know with her,” senior Gracie Cato recalled, “but she was laughing about it.”
This specific win was no laughing matter, though … Seneca Valley’s section championship is the program’s first in 48 years.
Coming off a season in which it lost its final six games, Seneca Valley has bounced back in a big way this season. The Raiders, who have won 9 of their last 10, are 14-5 overall and 9-0 in Class 6A Section 1. They can wrap up a perfect section season when they host Pine-Richland on Thursday. When the Raiders edged Butler, 57-53, last week, it gave them their first section title since 1977 and just third overall (they also claimed one in 1974).
“That was definitely a big goal for us that we had been working towards all season,” junior Natalie Hambly said. “But we have our eyes on an even bigger prize, so we’re going to keep working on that.”
Seneca Valley has never won a WPIAL championship in girls basketball, something the Raiders hope changes a few weeks from now.
The backcourt tandem of Cato and Hambly has played an important role in Seneca Valley’s success. Cato, a 5-foot-5 point guard, averages 15 points per game, and Hambly, a 5-7 shooting guard, tacks on 14 a game, giving the Raiders one of the top guard duos in Class 6A.
“Nat, she’s my shooter,” Cato said of Hambly, an all-section pick as a sophomore last season. “I try to get her the ball just as much as she tries to get me the ball.”
Joining Cato and Hambly in the starting lineup are 5-8 senior guard-forward Legacy Joseph-Short, 5-10 junior guard-forward Brooke Dufford and 6-0 freshman guard-forward Reece McFadden.
Seneca Valley’s big season has come after the Raiders went 12-11 and tied for third place in the section a season ago. So, why the marked improvement? Well, getting Cato and Hambly back was key, as is the fact that the Raiders are doing a much better job of finishing games this year. All but one of their losses last season were by 13 points or fewer.
“The leadership has really stepped up and the freshmen have come a long way,” Hambly said. “There is more energy at practice. Everyone is really into it. And it’s just finishing games. Last year we didn’t do that.”
And while Seneca Valley has never won a WPIAL title, the fact that there is no heavy favorite this season combined with there only being eight teams in the field, the thought of the Raiders making some more history this season isn’t far-fetched.
“We know there are a bunch of teams that are really competitive,” Cato said, “so we want to work on getting better and then focus on whoever we play next.”
Unbeatens
Only five WPIAL teams have won PIAA titles with unbeaten records, but three teams could enter this year’s postseason still holding out hope of joining that prestigious club.
It has been a season of perfection for Class 5A Penn-Trafford, Class 3A Shady Side Academy and Class 1A Union, who are all 20-0. Should any of them finish the season unbeaten, they would join 1983 Mount Alvernia, 2009 Mt. Lebanon, 2012 Seton LaSalle, 2019 Peters Township and 2019 Chartiers Valley as undefeated PIAA champions.
All three teams have two remaining regular-season games. Penn-Trafford hosts Indiana (16-4) on Thursday and travels to Class 6A Upper St. Clair (14-5) on Saturday, Shady Side Academy hosts East Allegheny (1-17) on Thursday and plays Monday at Class 6A Butler (10-9), and Union hosts Eden Christian (5-13) on Thursday before traveling to Class 2A Winchester Thurston (16-2) on Friday.
Penn-Trafford would appear to have the longest odds to finish the regular season unbeaten, as Indiana has just one section loss and Upper St. Clair is one of the strongest teams in Class 6A. Beating Butler will be no layup for Shady Side Academy, and Union will need to defeat a Winchester Thurston team that has won 13 games in a row.
Nearing 3K
Clairton’s Iyanna Wade has been shooting for some big numbers this season, among them 2,703 and 3,000. Wade surpassed 2,703 points last month to become Clairton’s all-time leading scorer, and by next week will likely become the fourth player in WPIAL history to reach 3,000.
Wade, who is averaging 41.9 points per game, continues to soar up the WPIAL’s all-time scoring list. Over the past two months, she has passed greats like Tanisha Wright, Swin Cash, Kamela Gissendanner and, most recently, Jess Strom. Wade sits at 2,945 points heading into Clairton’s final two regular-season games. The Bears (15-4 overall, 11-2 in Class 1A Section 2) play Thursday at Monessen and host Ellis School next Monday for senior night.
Wade poured in a season-high 60 against Monessen last month, so it’s quite possible she reaches 3,000 as soon as Thursday. Considering two of the three players who have already reached 3,000 played at Monessen, it would be fitting. The three members of the 3K Club are Monessen’s Gina Naccarato (3,364), Monessen’s Charel Allen (3,110) and East Allegheny’s Brooke Stewart (3,055). Naccarato is Monessen’s athletic director.
Bella’s ballin’
A future 2,000-point scorer could reside at Serra Catholic, where freshman Bella Dumbroski continues to pour in the points.
Dumbroski, a 5-9 guard, leads all WPIAL freshmen in scoring with 21.7 points per game. She has been on a tear over the past few weeks, scoring at least 22 points in seven of Serra’s last eight games, averaging 25.2 in that span. Dumbroski has scored at least 30 four times this season, netting a season-best 34 against West Greene on Jan. 14. She has scored 433 points overall for a Serra team that is 12-8 overall and 10-3 in Class 1A Section 2.
It continues to be a terrific season for the Dumbroski siblings. Bella’s brother, Owen, is a senior guard on the Serra boys team and leads the Eagles in scoring with 20.2 points per game. Owen could soon become Serra’s all-time leading scorer. He has scored 1,370 career points, putting him just 41 points shy of the record of 1,411 set by Marc Rozanski in 2007. The Serra boys host Environmental Charter on Friday and Waynesburg on Saturday.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.