Baldwin Girls Draw Kiski Area in First Round of WPIAL Basketball Championships

(Bracket added to media gallery.)

The WPIAL officially invited 's varsity girls basketball team on Tuesday night to its 2012 AAAA championships tournament.

Baldwin finished its 2011-12 regular season with a 15-6 overall record, including a 9-3 mark in WPIAL AAAA Section 4. The top four teams in each section are guaranteed a spot in the championships, and the Highlanders' 9-3 record was good enough for second place in their section behind Mt. Lebanon High School. Third-place Bethel Park High School is also in the playoffs, as are  and high schools, who tied for fourth place.

Baldwin will face Kiski Area High School in the first round of the AAAA tournament in a neutral-site game at Gateway High School on Friday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m. Baldwin, deemed to be a higher seed by the WPIAL, is designated as the home team for that contest.

Kiski Area competes in Section 1 of the WPIAL's AAAA, or highest, level. The Cavaliers finished 2011-12 with a 16-6 overall mark, including an 8-4 record in Section 1, good for that section's third-place entry into the playoffs.

Included in Kiski's 16 wins this season is a 49-42 win over Baldwin on Dec. 9 in an Indiana Area High School tournament. That game was the first this season for both Kiski and Baldwin.

"We expect a tough game against a strong opponent in Kiski," Baldwin's first-year Head Coach  said. "They beat us the first game of the season, so we are familiar with them, which helps."

Should the Highlanders defeat Kiski in the WPIAL playoffs' first round, they will move on to the quarterfinals to face either Penn-Trafford High School or Shaler Area High School on Friday, Feb. 24, at a location and exact time to be determined. Penn-Trafford and Shaler Area play at  in another neutral-site first-round game on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

The winner of every WPIAL quarterfinals game automatically qualifies for the PIAA playoffs, as does the team that loses in the quarterfinals to the eventual WPIAL champions.

Baldwin  in the 2011 WPIAL playoffs before eventually and missing that year's state tournament.

The Highlanders aim to change that this year.

"Our goal is the same as every other team's," Prosser said. "We want to win it all."

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