Delcohoops.com

By Michael Bullock

Waiting for head coach Carl Arrigale to join them in their Giant Center locker room before they really cut loose, Neumann-Goretti’s basketball-playing Saints had a plan in place when their remarkably successful skipper finally arrived.

Yep, the ice bucket still was sporting plenty of the wet stuff.

And while the game plan was to lay in wait for the suspecting Arrigale to enter before unloading the jug’s chilly contents, a giddy bunch of Saints failed in their first attempt to drench their head coach. Honestly, it was the only thing N-G didn’t convert all night.

Or so it seemed.

“We picked the wrong guys to do it,” cracked laughing senior Zane Martin.

With Martin bucketing 33 points and Quade Green nearly popping a triple-double (25 points/9 rebounds/8 assists), hot-shooting Neumann-Goretti spent Friday night peppering Mars 99-66 en route to its third straight PIAA Class AAA boys’ basketball championship and its sixth state title in seven seasons.

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By Aron Minkoff

For the PIAA Class AAAA season finale two teams–from two opposite sides of the state and spectrum–will clash for the right to be called champions.

One team, an inner-city public school team out of Pittsburgh, making its first ever appearance in the state championship game: Taylor Allderdice. The other, a highly-touted Catholic school out of Philadelphia looking to win back-to-back state titles: Roman Catholic.

Perhaps the only thing that these two teams have in common is the desire to be wear gold around their necks, not silver.

“They are excited to play the best,” Allderdice coach Buddy Valinsky said of his Dragons. ”Roman is the best around and has been the last two years. So they are really excited to play the team that is considered the best in the state.”

All season long, either Allderdice or Roman Catholic have been ranked first in AAAA all season by CoBL, with Roman holding the top spot through the first five weeks of the season, before Allderdice took the spot on January 11 and has not given it back.

In a way, this is destiny. This is the exact showdown that many anticipated and wanted to see as the season waned on.

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By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara goes after its first PIAA Class AAAA championship Friday night.  Here’s a glance at the big matchup with reigning state champion Cumberland Valley

Cardinal O’Hara (26-3)
District 12 Champion

Probable Starters: G Hannah Nihill (5-5 Jr.), G/F Mary Sheehan (5-11 Jr.), G Kenzie Gardler (5-6 So.), G Maura Hendrixson (5-9 So.), G Lauren Leicht (5-4 Jr.) or G Molly Paolino (5-6 So.)

Cumberland Valley (28-3)
District 3 Champion

Probable Starters: F Morgan Baughman (5-10 Sr.), G Morgan Frazier (5-5 Sr.), G Katie Jekot (5-9 Jr.), G Kelly Jekot (6-0 Sr.), Addison Kirkpatrick (6-0 Jr.).

What To Watch: The Eagles are vying for their third consecutive PIAA Class AAAA championship, led by the Villanova-bound Kelly Jekot, who is the two-time Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Player of the Year. O’Hara thrives in stopping athletic players such as Jekot, an excellent ball handler who can drive and shoot, but the Eagles have three of those players. St. Joseph’s verbal commit Katie Jekot, who is Kelly’s sister, and Morgan Baughman have shot the ball extremely well during CV’s postseason run.
O’Hara has weapons all across the floor, with Sheehan (12.5 ppg.), Nihill (11.1 ppg.) and Gardler (10.5 ppg.) leading the way. Nihill is the engine that makes O’Hara go; if she’s bottled up, the Lions will have a difficult time. Gardler (48 3-pointers) and Hendrixson (49) have to hit shots early to establish a tempo, and the Lions can’t afford to find themselves playing from behind the whole way. A five-point deficit to Cumberland Valley is not the same as a five-point deficit to North Penn.
Sheehan will be a major factor inside the arc. If she can score inside the paint and control the glass, the Lions will be in good shape.

When: Friday, 6 p.m.

Where: Hershey’s Giant Center

Who to Follow: Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) and @DelcoSports on Twitter.

 

By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara faces a mammoth challenge Friday night in the PIAA Class AAAA championship game.

The Lions will try to put a stop to Cumberland Valley’s dominance, while also facing the expectation of becoming the first team at their school to win a state championship.

Cumberland Valley (28-3) is a seasoned squad with the championship pedigree. The District Three champs are going after their third consecutive PIAA Class AAAA title, a team oozing with Division I talent and experience.

To suggest O’Hara (26-3) is a decided underdog in this, its second state finals appearance, wouldn’t be a stretch. But that doesn’t belie the fact that O’Hara is equally deserving and capable of going the distance.

At the start of the season, O’Hara and Cumberland Valley were considered the two favorites in PIAA Class AAAA. In fact, according to PennLive.com’s weekly state rankings, the Eagles and Lions were Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the preseason. Both programs have lived up to the hype, setting up a date with destiny at Hershey’s Giant Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 o’clock.

O’Hara began its campaign with eight consecutive victories before falling to Delaware powerhouse Ursuline Academy in mid-January. Its only other defeats were to Catholic League rivals Neumann-Goretti in the regular season, and Archbishop Wood in the semifinal round of the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs. Both N-G and Wood are playing for state titles this weekend, as well. O’Hara has won 14 of 15 games, including a 48-41 decision over North Penn in the state semifinals Tuesday.

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By Matthew De George

In the many twists and turns of Tuesday night’s PIAA Class AAAA girls basketball semifinal, the contributions of Cardinal O’Hara’s Kristen Denoncour could easily get overshadowed.

It isn’t necessarily a new feeling for the junior forward. And while even the boxscore of O’Hara’s 48-41 win over North Penn barely affords Denoncour a passing glance, she remains a sizeable if understated cog in the Lions’ run to the Friday’s state final in Hershey.

Blink and you might have missed Denoncour’s statistical input Wednesday night — two rebounds, one block, no shot attempts. She played sparingly, a few minutes in the second quarter with Hannah Nihill nursing two fouls, then spot duty in the second half to bolster O’Hara’s defense down low.

But Denoncour is one of the foundational elements that helps the talented guards flourish. And when O’Hara runs up against defending state champion Cumberland Valley Friday night (Giant Center, 6 p.m.), she could occupy a big role, literally and figuratively.

Denoncour flies under the radar with all of O’Hara’s scoring threats and Division I talents. But she does a lot of the dirty work that gives those attack-minded perimeter players freedine to operate.

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By Matthew De George

When Linus McGinty convened the Cardinal O’Hara huddle after three quarters in a tie game Tuesday evening, he had good news and bad.

The bad news was that forward Mary Sheehan had yet to get on track against North Penn in the PIAA Class AAAA semifinal. The good news was that even without her, the Lions were on level terms with eight minutes to play.

And the better news was that a player of Sheehan’s caliber had no intention of continuing to go so quietly.

Sheehan came to life in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of her nine points and powering O’Hara to the state final with a 48-41 win at Spring-Ford High School.

The District 12 champs (26-3) advance to Friday’s final at Hershey’s Giant Center, where they’ll meet defending champion Cumberland Valley. The Eagles eked by North Allegheny, 43-42, Tuesday night, on a pair of last-second free throws.

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