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By Matthew DeGeorge

The realization set in for Archbishop Carroll guard Darrell Davis once the families lined up and the carnations came out.

It was Senior Night at Archbishop Carroll last month for the Patriots’ 2023 state champion girls team. Davis, the freshman point guard on the boys team, got a glimpse of the time difference between Carroll’s girls and his team.

“When our girls had a senior night, we looked like, man, we’re not going to have a senior night for two more years,” Davis said. “Us having sophomores as our leaders, that’s pretty big for them. It’s something big on their shoulders that they’re got to carry.”

Carroll’s roster may look very different, but it has achieved what the girls team did a year ago: A trip to Hershey for a state final.

Carroll’s young roster is looking to complete an unlikely state title run Thursday night, taking on District 7’s Lincoln Park in the Class 4A final at the Giant Center. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.

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By Andrew Robinson

Every good team needs a player like Greta Miller, luckily for Cardinal O’Hara, the Lions already have Greta Miller.

The senior isn’t going to lead the scorebook, but watch the Lions play for a few minutes and No. 11 will surely be flying around. Miller has been a star in her role this season as an intangible player who’s impact isn’t measured in numbers.

Miller will play her final game Friday night when Cardinal O’Hara faces Spring-Ford for the PIAA 6A title at Hershey’s Giant Center and she’s enjoyed every bit of the ride.

“It’s been awesome, of course, especially being a senior and this is my way of going out, the only word is awesome,” Miller said. “It’s my third time being able to go to Hershey and winning a third one would just make it so much better.”

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By Kevin Gamli

Archbishop Carroll lifted a state championship trophy in 2009, the first year Philadelphia Catholic League programs were allowed to compete in the PIAA tournament.

The players on Carroll’s current roster likely don’t remember that one. The group of all freshmen and sophomores were 2 years old or younger back then. 

The Patriots head to Hershey on Thursday night for the PIAA Class 4A championship game at 8 p.m. against District 7 champ Lincoln Park looking to hoist the trophy for Carroll again.

“The guys are thrilled,” Patriots coach Francis Bowe said. “They’re so young but I think they understand this moment, they’re realizing what they’re achieving is rare.” “They’re starting to embrace it now, and they’re really excited for Thursday night.”

Carroll (21-8) has five sophomores and two freshmen at the top of the rotation. It’s an inexperienced team reaching heights they shouldn’t at such an early part of their high school careers. 

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By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara seniors Joanie Quinn, Carly Coleman and Greta Miller are more than just standout players on the basketball court.

They are model student-athletes and team leaders. They are friends and mentors to the underclassmen. And in the eyes of coach Chrissie Doogan, they are the embodiment of the O’Hara girls basketball program: hard-working, selfless and determined to succeed.

“They are kids who want to get the most out of being O’Hara kids, and they don’t want to waste any experience of their senior year. They want to love every single moment and get the most out of being here,” Doogan said. “Joanie is in 18 student committees, and Carly and Greta are All-Catholic soccer players. They are all great kids and they want to truly experience their senior year. And they are kids who don’t take themselves too seriously.”

The Lions are on the precipice of becoming one of Delco’s great championship dynasties, a win away from capturing the program’s third PIAA title in four years. Only one Delco girls team – Archbishop Carroll – has won three.

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By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan had high praise for senior guard Joanie Quinn after the Lions defeated Parkland in the PIAA Class 6A semifinals Monday night.

“I thought that might have been Joanie Quinn’s best game in her four years,” Doogan said. “She was tasked with guarding (Talia Zurinskas) and that kid is an all-state type guard. And Joanie broke the pressure. She was very good tonight.”

Quinn poured in a game-high 21 points to lead O’Hara to a 51-32 victory over the District 11 champions. The Lions will play for a state title for the third time in four years Friday night in Hershey at the Giant Center.

Quinn and sophomore Megan Rullo were excellent at limiting Zurinskas after she dropped 10 quick points in the first quarter. From the second quarter on, Zurinskas shot 2-for-11 from the floor for seven points.

“I come into every game hoping to play the best game of my career, but of course that doesn’t always happen,” said Quinn, who added six assists, five rebounds and two assists. “Knowing this was such a big game, I can’t describe it. This is my senior year and there have been ups and downs, so this feels great.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

The shirts Archbishop Carroll printed up read, “Built for March,” with the Carroll C in white and red. With a roster full of freshmen and sophomores, it might’ve helped to specify which March.

This first one for coach Francis Bowe’s group, though, is going pretty well.

Carroll pulled away in the second half and held off a veteran Scranton Prep squad that had already upended one powerful Catholic League foe in a 66-56 decision Monday night at  Liberty High School in Bethlehem.

Carroll will face Lincoln Park, which won an all-District 7 match over Hampton Monday night, 74-53. It’s the fourth state final in program history for the Patriots and first since 2015.

“Coming into Carroll last year, that was the goal, to change it back to how it was,” sophomore guard Ian Williams said, “back when Ryan Daly, Josh Sharkey, Derrick Jones were here. That was the goal, to bring the Carroll community back together.”

Carroll (21-8) did it in a classic clash of generations. When all is said and done, this group of Patriots will end up with more players fielding Division I offers than its opponent. But District 2 champ Scranton Prep (19-10) was a cohesive, veteran team with a clear identity. The Cavaliers’ dream run included an upset of Neumann-Goretti in the quarterfinals for its first state semi since 2008, vying for a first ever title-game berth.

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By Bob Grotz

It was a heartbreaking loss for Garnet Valley, its underdog season coming to a teary end in the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball semifinals Monday at Norristown High.

At the same time, it was a heart-warming victory for Spring-Ford, which scored a 62-43 win to return to the state championship for the first time since 2021, when such seniors as Aaliyah Soliday, who scored 14 points, were freshmen. Rams coach Mickey McDaniel remembers the last dance quite well.

“We lost to North Allegheny,” McDaniel said of the last trip to Hershey. “Lucy Olsen’s senior year.”

Olsen left for Villanova with 1,699 points, more than any girl or boy in the history of Spring-Ford High. The Rams (27-6) will get a chance to avenge that outcome against Cardinal O’Hara, which cruised to a 51-32 triumph over Parkland in the other semifinal. The state title game is Friday at 6 p.m. at the Giant Center.

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By Matt Smith

Kylie Mulholland packs a whale of a punch for a 5-foot-4 guard, her energy, speed and decisiveness on the floor a vital source of Garnet Valley’s resurgence in the PIAA playoffs.

As the Jaguars continue their improbable run in the Class 6A tournament, reaching the final four as the sixth-place team from District 1, the junior Mulholland has become a breakout star

In the Jags’ 58-51 victory over North Penn in the quarterfinals, Mulholland jumpstarted the scoring with a 3-point field goal, her first of two triples in the opening quarter. She came through at clutch moments driving quickly to the basket and hitting pull-up jump shots.

When the Jags found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter, Mulholland helped lead them back. She scored seven points in the final stanza, and ended with a game-high 21, as the Jags punched their ticket to Monday’s semifinal double header at Norristown Area High School. Garnet Valley (25-6) faces Spring-Ford at 6 p.m.

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By Andrew Robinson

Four teams, two spots in the state title game and one venue to sort it all out.

The final four Class 6A girls’ basketball teams left in Pennsylvania will converge on Norristown Monday to sort out which of them get to face each other in Hershey on Friday night. 

Cardinal O’Hara (12-2) vs Parkland (11-1), 6 p.m.

Monday’s first matchup figures to feature defense, defense, defense and a little more defense.

Parkland’s been extra stingy in the postseason, the Trojans allowing just 32.6 points per game since the end of the regular season. The EPC champions gave up a postseason-high 37 to Archbishop Carroll last time out but even that came with no shortage of frustration for the Patriots.

Seniors Talia Zurinskas and Madi Siggins – the EPC MVP – make it all go for coach Ed Ohlson and despite extra defensive attention their way, the duo has been productive this postseason. Zurrinaskas had 23 against Carroll while Siggins put in 16.

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By Josh Verlin + Rich Flanagan 

The state playoffs are a time where experience and maturity reign supreme.

Just don’t tell Archbishop Carroll’s boys that.

Francis Bowe’s Patriots have what has to be the youngest roster in the state, but they’re right there in the state semifinals on Monday night, a matchup with Scranton Prep upcoming at Bethlehem’s Liberty High School at 7 p.m.

Bowe doesn’t have a single junior or senior under his watch, like the high school version of a junior college roster. His sophomores are the experienced vets leading the freshmen, in a year when most of their basketball-playing classmates around the country are still on junior varsity rosters.

“It’s very unorthodox,” Bowe said. “I don’t know if a lot of coaches can say they’ve been in the same predicament I’ve been in. When you’re worried about what sets you’re running in January and how clean you look on the defensive side of the ball, I’m still reminding guys that you have to be locked in for two hours in practice, you can’t be daydreaming. 

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