The Hickory boys and Farrell, Greenville, Kennedy Catholic and Sharon girls will compete in the 1st round of the PIAA playoffs on Friday and Saturday.

The following are previews of the games:

Friday’s Games

BOYS CLASS AAA

Who: Hickory (16-9) vs. West Allegheny (15-9).

What: Quarterfinals.

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Fox Chapel High.

Players to Watch: Hickory—Matt Durisko, 6-4 Sr. post (18.2 ppg.); Garret Trosch, 6-3 Jr. forward (8.8); ’Rico Jones, 6-1 Sr. swingman (8.2); Aaron Banas, 6-2 Sr. swing-guard (8.04); Nicky DiBartolomeo, 5-11 Jr. 2-guard (6.8); Matt Votino, 6-0 Fr. point guard (6.4); Justin Lenhart, 5-11 Sr. swingman; Vinnie Mastrian, 6-1 Fr. swingman. West Allegheny—John O’Donnell, 6-0 Sr. guard (19.8 ppg.); Ben Simmen, 6-4 Sr. forward (11.7); Nick Herman, 6-0 Sr. guard; Mike Karas, 5-10 Sr. guard; Greg Kaulius, 6-5 Jr. forward; Alex Reilly, 5-11 Jr. guard.

Bonus Shots: Hickory has not competed in the PIAA playoffs since ’94-95. That club advanced to the western regional finals before bowing to Blackhawk (80-56). Coached by Bill Dzuricsko, that club concluded 26-5. ... In its 54-48 District 10 title tilt loss to East, Hickory had its 7-game win skein snapped, but the Hornets have won 8 of their last 11. In the D-10 tourney Hickory edged Girard (38-36) on Banas’ bomb with approximately 9 ticks to play, then Central Tech (46-45) on Durisko’s spinning leaner with 6.9 seconds remaining. ... In his 6th season at the Hornets’ helm, Nick Cannone (96-74, 56.4 percent at Hickory; 356-239, 59.8 percent career-wise, including stints at Hickory, Farrell, West Middlesex and Wilmington) stands 6th in all-time county coaching annals (boys). He has staked the ’Stingers to 4 consecutive playoff berths. ... Durisko (1,140 career points) has scored in double digits all but once (9 times 20 or more points). Trosch (13), Banas (9), Jones (8), DiBartolomeo (6) and Votino (4) also have contributed double-digit scoring outings. ...West Allegheny, coached by Josh Bears, is averaging 59.5 ppg., but permitting 55.5. The Indians ended 7-15 last year and did not qualify for the postseason, but Bears’ teams are 10-2 all-time in the WPIAL playoffs. ... The Indians bowed to Section 4-AAA rival Chartiers Valley (75-58) in the WPIAL Tourney semifinals. WPIAL champion CV (which defeated Hampton, 64-50) is averaging approximately 85 ppg. and led West Allegheny 47-31 at halftime, but was limited to 28 second-half points, which prompted Bears to remark to The Post-Gazette, “I don’t know if that’s happened this year.” After losing 3 times this season to Char Valley, which is led by the WPIAL’s leading scorer and Duquesne University recruit, T.J. McConnell, Bears told The P-G, “I think I’ve got (Char Valley) figured out, but fixing it is a whole different story. The tempo they play, you’re just not used to it. No one around here is. You can capitalize on some of the things they do, but eventually they’re going to get you. They’re going to speed you up and get you. ... I think the only way you beat them is by playing them ten times in summer leagues so you get used to their pace. Then you have to play them during the season to get used to that pace some more ...” The Indians commenced the campaign 3-4, but posted a regular season-ending 5-game win skein. West Allegheny’s regular-season losses included Sto-Rox (80-77), Moon (56-44, 66-55), Blackhawk (63-47), Hampton (54-38), Char Valley (85-74, 90-66) and West Mifflin (54-52). In the WPIAL playoffs the Indians defeated Keystone Oaks (70-44), Mars (69-52), Blackhawk (52-48) and Highlands (62-59). O’Donnell, who hit Highlands for 24, reportedly is considering matriculating at Mount Union College.—By Ed Farrell, Herald assistant sports editor.

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GIRLS

CLASS AA

Who: Greenville (22-3) vs. Avonworth (22-2).

What: Quarterfinals.

When: 7 p.m. Friday.

Where: Kennedy Catholic High.

Key Players: Greenville — Brooklyn Taylor, 6-0 Soph. swing-guard (16.2); Hannah Horne, 5-8 Sr. forward/center (13.6); Kami Rodgers, 5-7 Sr. swingman (5.8); Allison Pfaff, 5-7 Sr. forward (4.4); Morgan Marshall, 5-6 Soph. swingman (3.3). Avonworth — Tara Gallupe, 6-0 Sr. (23.3); Catherine Costa, 5-3 Jr. (14.0); Molly Frew, 5-4 Sr.; Erin Zakor, 5-8 Jr.; Laura Presutti, 5-4 Jr.; Natalie Zivic, 5-8 Jr.; Marissa Milbert, 5-9 Jr.

Bonus Shots: Fourth-year coach Scott Taylor’s Lady Trojans had won 15 straight games before running into the Kayla McBride-led Villa Maria buzzsaw in the District 10 title game at Edinboro University. Taylor (9 points) and Pfaff (6) were the only 2 girls to score for Greenville in the 61-15 loss. ... Greenville, the D-10 Region 2 champs, opened the D-10 playoffs with a win over Mercer (47-23) and then beat Girard (33-25) in the semifinals before bowing to defending state champion Villa, which captured its 4th straight D-10 crown and has won 32 straight games against Pa. teams. ... Greenville’s 2 other losses this season were against Sharon (67-45) in the Rick Fragle Sharon Lady Tiger Classic championship game and Bishop McCort (40-25) in the title tilt of the Cranberry Christmas tourney. ... Bishop McCort was the team that ended Greenville’s season last year (50-27) in the 2nd round of the PIAAs. The season is over already for McCort, the defending District 6 champs, which lost the D-6 consolation game to Cambria Heights (51-45). ... Greenville beat Seton-LaSalle (41-34) in the 1st round of last year’s state playoffs, without the school’s all-time leading scorer in Larae Tymochko (1,417 points) after she tore all 3 ligaments in her knee in the D-10 consy game vs. Reynolds. ... Bob Schulz’s Avonworth Antelopes were the WPIAL Section 6-AA champs with a 12-0 record. ... This is Schulz’s 1st year back as head coach after retiring in 2007 due to health concerns (leukemia). He coached the Avonworth boys for 15 years (185-145), then coached the girls for 12 seasons (271-55) before retiring. The girl won the 2005 WPIAL title. ... Avonworth opened the season on a 15-game winning streak before losing to North Catholic (36-28) on Jan. 28. The other loss was to Seton-LaSalle (41-30) in the WPIAL semifinals on March 2. ... North Catholic, which has won 16 Class A WPIAL crowns, fell to Vincentian Academy (57-31) in the WPIAL title game. Deann Ryan, who scored 342 points as a frosh for West Middlesex last season, had 2 points for North Catholic in the title game. Jeannette beat Seton-LaSalle (39-36) for the AA championship. ... In that WPIAL semifinal loss to Seton-LaSalle, Avonworth only scored 9 first-half points due to S-L’s tough defense (22-9 at halftime). The closest it would get was 32-26 late in the 4th frame. Gallupe, who only had 7 points, didn’t score until 1:27 was left in the 3rd quarter. Laura Mayernick led Avonworth with 9 points. ... Avonworth beat West Shamokin (62-30), in the 1st round of the WPIAL playoffs and Bishop Canevin (58-51) in the quarterfinals. ... Gallupe, who will play at Walsh University next year, was the 2nd-leading WPIAL girls scorer during the regular season. She went over 1,000 career points vs. St. Joseph’s on Dec. 28. Her sister, Taylor, was also a 1,000-point scorer for Avonworth 3 years ago. ... Catherine Costa is the 4th Costa sister to play for Avonworth. The others were Christina, Kelli and Lyndsey (and Nicole plays for her father, Gus, on the 4th-grade team at St. Sebastian School in Ross Twp.). Christina (’02 graduate) had 1,108 career points — 8th-most in school history, while Kelli (’05 grad) is the all-time leading scorer with 1,589.

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Saturday's Games

GIRLS

CLASS A

Who: Farrell (17-5) vs. Coudersport (19-7).

What: Quarterfinals.

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Slippery Rock University’s Morrow Field House.

Key Players: Farrell — D’Asia Chambers, 5-10 Sr. guard (23.1); Marissa Carry, 5-6 Soph. guard (14.8); Jalisa Archie, 5-9 Soph. forward (6.4); Deidre McKenith-Williams, 5-10 Sr. forward (6.0); Tyra Robinson, 5-8 Soph. guard (5.9). Coudersport — Delanie Cowburn, 5-4 Soph. guard (14.7); Jenna Matzinger, 5-8 Jr. guard (11.4); Hannah Fink, 5-9 Jr. forward (10.8); Tori Brown, 5-3 Jr. guard (8.0); Katelyn Karpinski, 5-10 Sr. forward (5.2).

Bonus Shots: Farrell coach Ed Turosky has led his Lady Steeler teams to a 156-95 record over 10 seasons. ... Farrell, the Region 1 champs with an 8-0 mark, had a 1st-round bye in the D-10 playoffs. The Lady Steelers routed Eisenhower (41-29) in the semifinals and then beat Kennedy Catholic (49-48) for the D-10 title at SRU. Chambers rifled in 24 points and Carry had 13 to lead Farrell in the title tilt. ... In the 4 years that Farrell has been in D-10 since leaving the WPIAL, they have won 3 of 4 district crowns. ... Chambers has 1,400 career points and will play college hoops at St. Bonaventure next season. She set a school record with 50 points vs. Rocky Grove this season, breaking Jill Platteborze’s record (46). ... Carry is 2-for-2 in D-10 title games. She won the title playing at KC last season. She has 594 career points. ... Farrell went 4-18 last year. ... Farrell’s 5 losses this year were against Greenville (51-43 and 60-53), Wilmington (48-42), West Middlesex (43-40) and Warren Harding (69-30). ... Fourth-year coach Brian Green’s (118-20) Coudersport Lady Falcons are one of the premier Class A teams out of District 9 every season. They have won 12 D-9 championships since 1990. ... Coudy beat Johnsonburg (53-40) in the 1st round of the D-9 playoffs, then defeated Clarion-Limestone (55-51) in the quarterfinals before losing to West Forest (56-34) in the semis. The Lady Falcons then beat Otto-Eldred (60-37) in the consolation game. ... In the consy contest, Brown (17), Matzinger (17) and Fink (15) scored in double digits for Coudy, which outscored Otto-Eldred 27-7 in the 3rd quarter to put the game away. ... Other than the D-9 semifinal loss to West Forest, Coudy lost to Clearfield (77-52), Wellsboro (57-48), Keystone (50-45), DuBois (62-44), Troy (64-47) and Otto-Eldred (45-43). That Otto-Eldred win ended Coudy’s 69-game win streak in their conference, the North Tier League (NTL). ... Cowburn tore her ACL in the middle of the season but is still playing. ... The semifinal loss to West Forest meant that Coudy would not compete in the D-9 title game for the 1st time since ’05, the 2nd time since ’01 and the 6th time since 1989. ... Coudy won D-9 titles in ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04 and ’08 and lost in the title game in ’06, ’07 and ’09. This is Coud’s 10th straight year qualifying for the PIAA playoffs.

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Who: Kennedy Catholic (20-5) vs. Bishop Guilfoyle (25-0).

What: Quarterfinals.

When: 6 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Altoona Area High Fieldhouse.

Key Players: Kennedy Catholic — Alex Ricketts, 5-10 Fr. swingman (13.0); Marina Wareham, 5-0 Soph. point guard (11.5); Rachel Burns, 5-9 Fr. swing-guard (10.4); Victoria Harrison, 6-1 Soph. post (7.7); Brie Dickson, 5-6 Fr. swingman (6.9). Bishop Guilfoyle — Alli Williams, 5-11 Sr. swing-guard (15.9); Halee Adams, 5-7 Fr. guard (15.3); Kaleigh Floyd, 5-7 Sr. guard (7.4); Kelsey Livoti, 5-10 Jr. guard (6.4); Elyssa Ehredt, 5-7 Fr. forward (6.8).

Bonus Shots: Altoona-based Bishop Guilfoyle’s Lady Marauders have a 5-to-10 minute ride to the game site while KC has to travel 3 hours. ... KC coach Tom Burns has led his Lady Golden Eagle teams to a 48-27 record the past 3 seasons. ... KC has won 16 District 10 titles in the program’s 38-year history and just missed making it No. 17 in last Saturday’s championship game loss to Farrell (49-48). Harrison (15) and Burns (12) led KC in that game at SRU. ... KC rolled over Cochranton (54-37) in the D-10 quarterfinals and routed Conneaut Valley (55-23) in the semis. ... Last season, KC was ousted in this round of the PIAAs by West Forest (53-38). ... KC starts 3 frosh and 2 sophomores, so the future is bright. There is not 1 senior or junior on the roster. ... 3 of KC’s 5 losses this season were against Farrell. The other 2 came against Ursuline (62-35) and Greenville (49-36). ... KC’s last PIAA championship came occurred in 2001 when the Lady Golden Eagles beat Pottsville-Nativity BVM. The following season, Kennedy KO’d Guilfoyle (45-40) in the PIAA quarters at Indiana University of Pa. ... Bishop Guilfoyle coach Mark Moschella is 418-122 in 17 years at BG. He was The Associated Press coach of the year last season while Williams was The AP Class A girls player of the year. ... BG, which just joined and copped the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference this year, has won 2 of the last 3 PIAA championships and just captured its 4th straight and 20th District 6 title. ... Williams, who will continue her hoops career at D-I St. Francis, is the school’s all-time leading scorer and became the all-time top rebounder in the D-6 title game. ... BG’s D-6 playoff run was a rout of Saltsburg (71-39) in the quarters, a lashing of Conemaugh Valley (66-32) in the semis and an overtime win (42-37) vs. Northern Cambria for the crown last Saturday at Pitt-Johnstown’s Sports Center. In that D-6 title game win over Northern Cambria, Williams scored all of her team’s 6 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game, then bucketed the first 4 in OT. She finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Adams had 13 ... The only connection, schedule-wise, between KC and BG is that Greenville beat KC and Greenville lost to Bishop McCort, while Guilfoyle swept McCort this season (40-30 on Dec. 15; 56-33 on Feb. 20). ....

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CLASS AAA

Who: Sharon (20-4) vs. Indiana (21-2).

What: Quarterfinals.

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Baldwin High.

Key Players: Sharon — Brittany Benedetto, 5-7 Jr. forward (18.8); Karlesia Edwards, 5-5 Jr. guard (14.5); Annie Carpenter, 5-6 Sr. guard (8.7); Kristen Johnson, 5-7 Jr. forward (5.5); Marketta Jackson, 5-9 Soph. forward (4.0); Brittany Johnson, 5-4 Jr. guard (3.4). Indiana — Leslie Stapleton, 5-10 Jr. swingman (16.4); Tiara Stossel, 5-7 Sr. guard (11.3); Kristin Brice, 6-0 Jr. forward (7.7); Aubree Frye, 5-10 Sr. forward (7.7); Marita Mathe, 5-7 Jr. guard (7.6).

Bonus Shots: Gene Sarazen has led his Sharon teams to a 129-49 (72.4 percent) record over his 7 seasons as head coach. ... Sharon has advanced to the D-10 playoffs for the past 6 years. The Lady Tigers went 10-13 in his 1st season as coach in 2003-04. ... Sarazen’s Sharon squads have advanced to the PIAA playoffs twice. In 2005-06, Sharon made it to the western region semifinals in Class AA by beating Wilkinsburg and Shady Side Academy, then lost to Westmont Hilltop. In 2006-07, bumped up to AAA, the Lady Tigrs beat Montour in the 1st round, then fell to Moon (69-47) to finish 23-6. That was Brittany Csatlos’ senior season (1,697 career points). ... Sharon’s 4 losses this season are to Franklin (69-57), Hickory (53-51) and Slippery Rock (66-44; 59-40). The latter score was the D-10 title game. ... Benedetto (15) and Edwards (12) scored in double digits in the D-10 championship game. Sharon had won 11 straight before the loss. ... Sharon beat Lakeview (54-48) for the D-10 Class A title in 2006. In 2007, it fell in the AAA title game to Slippery Rock (51-39). ... Sharon opened the season with 9 straight wins before losing 3 in a row, then rebounding to put together that 11-game streak. ... The Lady Tigers beat Warren (62-42) in the D-10 quarterfinals and Mercyhurst Prep (67-59) in the semis. ... Gen. McLane ended Sharon’s seasons the past 2 years in the D-10 quarterfinals. ... Coach Dave Woodall’s (14th season) Indiana Little Indians repeated as WPIAL Section 3-AAA champions with a 12-0 record. ... Indiana posted a 1-9 record in the WPIAL playoffs in Woodall’s first 11 seasons, losing in the 1st round 8 straight times. ... Indiana has a deep bench, with a 10-player rotation that sees action in almost every game. The key subs are Kelsey Thompson, 5-5 Sr. guard (3.3); Desiree Cavalancia, 5-11 Jr. forward (2.8); Megan Lewandowski, 5-8 Sr. swingman (2.4) and Jordan Mateer, 5-4 Sr. guard (2.1). ... Indiana’s 2 losses were to Mercyhurst Prep (60-58) in Erie on Jan. 30 and to New Castle (58-45) in the WPIAL semifinals on March 3. New Castle went on to win the WPIAL crown with a 66-61 OT win vs. Hopewell. ... Indiana has never competed in a WPIAL championship game. The past 3 seasons the Little Indians have lost in the semis (to Hampton in OT in 2007-08 and West Mifflin last year). ... In the WPIAL playoffs this season, Indiana beat West Mifflin (62-46) in the opening round and Uniontown (60-41) in the quarterfinals. ... In the semifinal game vs. New Castle, Leslie Stapleton led Indiana with 16 points (her sister Audrey is a freshman on the team). ... Against Uniontown in the quarterfinals, Stossel drained 4 treys en route to 19 points while Mathe had 10. ... Indiana and Slippery Rock were scheduled to play in both teams’ regular-season finalé on Feb. 16 at Indiana, but it was canceled due to snow. — By Rob Malsom, Herald sports writer.