PIAA finalizes sites for Reading High, Wyomissing quarterfinals
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Last week Reading High tuned up for the PIAA Tournament by scrimmaging with Muhlenberg and Pottsville at Martz Hall.
Now the Red Knights are headed back to the historic arena for a real game: They’ll play Coatesville Saturday at 1 in a PIAA boys Class 6A quarterfinal.
Unbeaten Wyomissing continues along a familiar path, heading back to Bald Eagle High School in Bellefonte for a girls Class 4A quarterfinal against Pittsburgh North Catholic Saturday at 2. Those teams met there last year in the same round, the Trojanettes ending the Spartans’ season 60-27.
Reading and Wyomissing are the lone Berks teams still playing in the tournament.
Reading High (20-10) reached the quarterfinals for the third time in four years by pulling out a 54-47 overtime victory over Erie McDowell Wednesday at Altoona. Berks scoring leader Yadiel Cruz led the way with 21 points.
Reading lost at Coatesville 69-51 in mid-January, though the Red Knights have grown considerably since then. They are 14-4 since that loss.
Coatesville (22-8) finished sixth in the District 1 Tournament after losing 67-64 to Chester in the quarterfinals and then to Methacton 47-42 in the fifth-place game. Reading opened the state tournament with a 65-63 win at Chester.
The Red Raiders have rebounded in the state tournament with a 57-46 win over Liberty and a 52-37 win over District 3 champ Cumberland Valley Wednesday at Garden Spot. Reading lost to Cumberland Valley 66-47 in a district semifinal.
Wyomissing (30-0) became just the third Berks Girls League team to win 30 games in a season and the second to win its first 30 when it beat Neumann-Goretti 62-52 Wednesday at Pottstown.
North Catholic (19-7), the District 7 champ, has advanced to the quarterfinals with a 47-29 win over Conneaut and a 59-32 win over Warren.
Wyomissing ended last season at 28-3 and with a program record for victories.
