Westmoreland County PIAA basketball playoff preview capsule for March 7, 2026

Bill Beckner TribLive Mon, Mar 9, 2026 • 03:52 PM

Greensburg Central’s Nolan Althofworks against Cranberry’s Jadyn Shumaker during their PIAA Class 3A first round state playoff on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Hampton. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)

PIAA basketball playoffs

Girls

Class 3A

Second round

Greensburg Central Catholic (20-7) vs. Northwestern (22-3)

6 p.m. Tuesday at Sharon

District seeds: Greensburg Central Catholic 7-2; Northwestern 10-1

Winner plays: Winner of 4-3 Troy Area (24-4)/3-1 Trinity (22-2) Friday in quarterfinals (time, site TBD)

Players to watch: Erica Gribble, GCC; Makayla Presser-Palmer, Northwestern

Layup lines: GCC thrust its way into the state second round for the third straight season with a 66-14 victory over Cranberry, the runner-up from District 9. Richmond commit Gribble poured in 27 points, topping 2,300 for her career, Jayla Peterson added 16 and Avery Jones chipped in 10. Peterson is headed to Division II Wheeling, while Abby Dlugos plans to play at Westminster. GCC was coming off a 57-40 loss to Shady Side Academy in the WPIAL championship, a loss that ended their quest for three straight district titles. GCC made the state semifinals in 2A in 2022-23 and 2023-24 but lost to Kennedy Catholic both times. GCC has one state title, in 1997. … Northwestern, located in Albion, about 20 miles southwest of Erie, has won 18 straight games. The Wildcats are powered by Presser-Palmer, an Arizona commit who plays AAU for the Western PA Bruins. The 5-foot-11 guard is the all-time leading scorer in District 10 history with 2,528 career points. She averages 28.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.7 steals a game. She is rated as the 63rd-best player in the country by ESPN. Gribble (24 ppg) is 80th. The Wildcats allow 32.6 points per game. They limited Quaker Valley 6-4 standout Mimi Thiero in a 35-22 win in the first round. The Quakers had three points in the fourth quarter. Presser-Palmer finished with 22 points. She had 33 in the District 10 championship. Last year, Northwestern took a 24-0 record into the state tournament. The Wildcats lost to Shady Side Academy in the quarterfinals, 46-44. They also lost to the Bulldogs in the 2023-24 second round, 62-45. The second-leading scorer for the Wildcats is senior Morgan Gorzynski at 6 ppg. Northwestern has never won a state title.