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Brooke Stewart Set for WPIAL Hall of Fame Induction

East Allegheny Hoop Standout Brooke Stewart

Set for WPIAL Hall of Fame Induction

 

NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa., January 21, 2025 – Brooke Stewart, who led East Allegheny High School to the 1999 WPIAL Girls Basketball Championship and is one of only three 3,000-point scorers in WPIAL history, has been selected for induction into the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

Stewart is among seven athletes and 15 overall honorees who will be inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame on June 6 at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree. She joins former EA Athletic Director and track and field coach Bob Trautwine as Wildcats in the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

 

Stewart’s sensational East Allegheny career included numerous individual and team accolades and records, culminating in the Wildcats winning EA’s only WPIAL girls basketball title during her senior season in 1998-99. She then matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh, becoming a three-year starter and scoring more than 1,000 career points.

 

“I’m very blessed, it’s very humbling,” Stewart stated when she heard about her selection. “I have all kinds of emotions, including joy. I’m excited to see all of the hard work pay off from junior high and high school.”

 

Stewart put the WPIAL on notice as a sophomore, leading the WPIAL with a 31.5 points per game average. Among her outings in 1996-97 was a career-high 56-point performance against Geibel Catholic, which remains a WPIAL Girls Basketball post-season record.

 

During her senior season, Stewart led the Wildcats to a program-best 29-3 record, East Allegheny’s first WPIAL Girls Basketball title and the semifinals of the PIAA 2A Championship. The Wildcats were the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL 2A Tournament and defeated Brentwood (74-54), Aliquippa (71-49) and Carlynton (51-43) to capture the WPIAL crown in Pitt’s Fitzgerald Fieldhouse. The head coach was Marcie (Vidil) Sippey, who teaches math and is a coach for the Robotics team at EA.

 

In the 1999 PIAA 2A Tournament, East Allegheny defeated Cranberry, Kennedy Christian and Karns City before being edged by Girard in the semifinals.

 

“That season (1998-99) was such a great experience,” Stewart recalled. “We did it with girls I grew up with; some of them, we lived on the same street together. We worked hard. It was cool and very special.”

 

Completing her sensational career with a 29 ppg average, among the accolades Stewart received following her senior season were: Pennsylvania Coaches Association Class 2A Player of the Year, Small School first-team All-State, honorable-mention USA Today Pennsylvania Player of the Year, and honorable-mention Street & Smith High School All-American.

 

In addition to still holding the WPIAL Tournament single game scoring record, Stewart also holds distinction as one of only three 3,000-point scorers in WPIAL girls basketball history, being joined by Gina Naccarato (Monessen) and Charel Allen (Monessen). Her No. 5 jersey has been retired by East Allegheny.

 

“I want to thank my parents (Diane and Walter) and my sisters (Erica, Dana and Jade),” Stewart reflected. “Being a parent now, I really appreciate all their dedication and time they took to help me. My dad would work with me after practices, late at night or early in the morning. And my sisters would play with me and compete against me.

 

“I’m also very grateful to Bob Trautwine for retiring my jersey,” she added.

 

“She could hoop; she did it all,” said Mrs. Sippey, who was the East Allegheny head coach during Stewart’s final two seasons after serving as an assistant coach her initial two years. “Brooke stood out from the beginning (of her freshman season). She practiced hard, played hard, had the skills and her work-ethic was undeniable. She was a complete player – she could rebound, pass and steal the ball.”

 

Stewart matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh and was the Panthers’ top player off the bench as a freshman before cracking the starting line-up and emerging as a three-year starter. She tallied 31 points against Howard to join the 1,000-point club, concluding her career with 1,114 points in 111 games (10.0 ppg), becoming just the 11th Panther with 1,000 career points at the time.

 

She still holds the Pitt records for career three-point shots made (195) and attempted (641). Stewart’s 58 three-pointers made in 2000-01 rank No. 8 on the Pitt season list and her 195 career triples are at least 29 higher than any other Pitt player.

 

Stewart graduated from Pitt with degrees in Psychology and Sociology.

 

“My time at Pitt was amazing,” Stewart said. “We played in the Big East and every game was a hard game; we played against All-Americans almost every game. It was a fun time; there was a strong community and network.”

 

Stewart also was inducted into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Women’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

 

She resides in New Mexico with her husband Kenneth Sanchez, sons Kayson and Kash and is a Physical Education teacher in a grade K-8 school. Stewart and Sanchez also own and operate a youth sports organization, Be Elite Athlete. One of Stewart’s sisters, Dana, is an assistant coach with the Bishop Canevin High School girls basketball team and a niece, Kya Cooley, is a member of the squad.