HERSHEY, Pa. – It was another day of blowout basketball games Saturday at the PIAA championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
All four games ended up double-digit wins for the newly crowned champions.
The day started off with Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic beating Our Lady of Lourdes Regional, 56-33, to win the Class A girls’ title. Aliquippa followed by completing a perfect 30-0 season with a 68-49 win over Master Charter North for the Class AA boys’ title. Then, in the evening session, Archbishop Walsh knocked off previously unbeaten Villa Maria, 46-29 to take home the Class AAA girls’ championship. The night concluded with Roman Catholic defending its title in Class AAAA boys with a 73-62 victory over Allderdice.
The day included a special moment for Redbank Valley senior Kathryn Crawford who got to sing the national anthem before both games of the afternoon section (see story/watch video here).
GIRLS CLASS A – CARDINAL WUERL NORTH CATHOLIC 56, OUR LADY OF LOURDES REGIONAL 33
HERSHEY, Pa. – Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic outscored Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School by 19 in the middle two quarters to grab its first PIAA girls’ basketball title since 1995 with a 56-33 win in the Class A title game at the Giant Center in Hershey Saturday.
The Trojanettes led by just one, 9-8, at the end of the first quarter and were tied at 12 just over two minutes into the second quarter when a 13-6 half-ending run gave them a 25-18 halftime lead. Abby Goetz and Sam Breen each had five points during the run.
CW North Catholic then outscored the Red Raiders 16-5 in the third quarter to open the lead to 18, 41-23, at the end of the quarter.
Breen, a 6-foot-1 junior, led the way with 27 points, although she was just 9 of 23 shooting, thanks in large part to 9 of 12 from the line. She completed a double-double with 15 rebounds.
Kylie Huffman, a 6-2 junior transfer from California (Pa.) HIgh School, added 10 points and five rebounds, and 6-foot freshman Dani Short had eight points and 13 rebounds.
Carmella Bickel paced Lourdes with 11 points, while Kristen Komara chipped in nine points. Selma Albert had a team-best 10 rebounds.
Neither team shot particularly well with North Catholic going 21 of 58 from the field (36.2 percent) and Lourdes 12 of 49 (24.5 percent). But the Trojanettes dominated the glass out rebounding the Red Raiders 50-28 including 18-7 on the offensive glass. That allowed North Catholic to win the battle of second-chance points, 18-7.
CLASS AA BOYS – ALIQUIPPA 68, MASTERY CHARTER NORTH 49
HERSHEY, Pa. – Oh the difference a year makes.
Last year, Aliquippa entered the PIAA Class AA boys’ title game undefeated only to watch Conwell-Egan end their dreams of being a champion.
But the Quips got their undefeated championship this year knocking off Mastery Charter North 68-49 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.
It was sweet redemption for the Quips (30-0), who also lost the PIAA AA football title game to Southern Columbia in December.
Aliquippa led wire-to-wire and used a 23-10 third quarter to break open a 3-point halftime lead, 25-22.
Sheldon Jeter and Jassir Jordan were the stars for Aliquippa both scoring 22 points with Jordan adding seven assists while going 11 of 12 from the line. Chucky Humphries (seven points and eight rebounds) and Kaezon Pugh (nine points and 11 rebounds).
Jordan was key in the third quarter scoring 10 points.
Daeqwon Plowden led all scorers with 24 points for Mastery Charter North out of Philadelphia. He finished off a double-double with 11 rebounds. Rodney Ross chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
Aliquippa scored 16 points off of 18 Puma turnovers and outscored Mastery 16-8 in that category.
The Quips also shot 19 of 21 from the free-throw line and 23 of 49 from the field (46.9 percent).
Mastery was 19 of 50 (38 percent) from the field and just 3 of 17 from beyond the arc.
CLASS AAA GIRLS – ARCHBISHOP WOOD 46, VILLA MARIA 29
HERSHEY, Pa. – Villa Maria’s shooting left it at the worst possible time.
The previously unbeaten Victors, ranked ninth in the country by USA Today, shot just 20 percent (8 of 40) and it cost them dearly in a 46-29 loss to Archbishop Walsh High School, which finally won a PIAA Class AAA girls’ title after losing to Blackhawk in each of the past two seasons.
Villa’s shooting woes helped Archbishop Wood overcoming a cold start of its own. The Lady Vikings were just 1 of 7 in the first quarter but only trailed by three, 8-5, at the end of the quarter.
Wood heated up in the second quarter and outscored Villa 16-8 to take a 21-16 lead at halftime.
The Victors hung around in the third quarter only being outscored 6-5 and trailed 27-21 going to the fourth.
But in the final eight minutes, the Lady Vikings started on a 10-3 run to built a 13-point lead, 37-24, with four minutes to play, and Villa never got the deficit under 10 the rest of the way.
Bailey Greenberg led Archbishop Wood with 14 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Katie May and Kate Connolly each added eight points with May picking up seven rebounds and Connolly four blocked shots. Cassie Sebold chipped in seven points.
Sarah Agnello led Villa Maria with 11 points, while Madison Demski and Julia Cassella each added five. But Canisius recruit Anna Sweny was held to four points and two assists while going 0 of 8 from the floor.
CLASS AAAA BOYS – ROMAN CATHOLIC 73, ALLDERDICE 62
HERSHEY, Pa. – Roman Catholic proved it’s not how you start but how you finish.
The Cahillites trailed Pittsburgh City League champion Allderdice 10-0 5 ½ minutes into the game and 17-10 at the end of the first quarter but rallied to beat the Dragons 73-62 and win their second straight PIAA Class AAAA boys’ title Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Still down 22-16 three minutes into the second quarter, Roman went on a game-changing 13-2 run that featured six points from Lamar Stevens, and it went into the lockerroom up three, 33-30.
Allderdice got within one, 39-38, on a Ramon Creighton 3-pointer early in the third quarter, but the Cahillites answered with an 8-0 run that was capped off by a dunk by Stevens, his 16th and 17th points of the game, to push the lead to nine, 47-38, with just under three minutes left in the quarter.
The lead then reached double digits, 55-44, by the end of the quarter, and Roman continued to keep the lead in double digits through most of the fourth quarter.
Free throws were the difference in the game, really from the start. Roman went 24 of 32 from the line while Allderdice was 4 of 8. The Dragons got into early foul trouble and never really recovered.
The Cahillites also were able to turn 14 Allderdice turnovers into 18 points.
Stevens had a game-high 27 points to go with seven rebounds, while Nazeer Bostick added 15 points and Tony Carr 13 points and eight rebounds.
James Jackson led Allderdice with 21 points and six rebounds, and Creighton, who scored his 1,000th career point later in the fourth quarter, added 19 points.
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