Feb 24, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

Char-Houston girls fall short in double OT

HOUSTON – A neutral spectator at Monday’s WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball consolation game was provided some edge-of-your-seat drama.

For Rochester girls basketball coach Ronald Moncrief it was more of a stress test.

But once Chartiers-Houston’s final two attempts at the basket were left wanting, he could relax and know his team is in the state playoffs.

It took double overtime but the Rams walked out of Chartiers-Houston with a 48-46 victory and earned a place in the PIAA tournament.

“As a fan it was probably fun to watch, but as a coach your heart is beating out of your chest,” Moncrief said. “Credit to Char-Houston. They did a good job and the coaches do a good job here, but I have to give it up to my girls and my coaches. They put together a game plan and the girls came out and executed it. It was a back-and-forth game and our girls made a couple more plays to finish it off.”

The Rams (11-13) will play for seeding in the fifth-place game against Fort Cherry on Wednesday. Chartiers-Houston (19-6) will have its season on the line in the seventh-place game Wednesday against Laurel. The winner advances to the state tournament.

Tia Yellock scored all five points for the Rams in the second overtime, but her biggest contribution may have been a rebound in the final seconds.

Trailing by one, Chartiers-Houston had the ball with 10.6 seconds left, but Ava Capozzoli’s three-pointer bounced off the rim and Ali Wingard missed a shot inside on the rebound before Yellock snatched the ball out of the air, securing the win.

“It was a tough shooting night for us,” Chartiers-Houston coach Laura Montecalvo said. “We had a lot of good looks, including those last two that didn’t go in. We did a lot of good things tonight, but we also made a few mistakes when we had the lead. It’s things that we have worked on, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Charties-Houston had the lead late in regulation, but a banked-in three-pointer by Rochester’s Camryn Newman with 40 seconds remaining tied the game at 36-36 and forced overtime.

The Rams banked in a trio of three-pointers in the game.

Back-to-back buckets by Ella Richey gave Chartiers-Houston a 40-36 lead, but Gemma Sisco responded with a three-pointer for Rochester.

Then, Yellock had steals and scores on consecutive possessions to put the Rams in front 43-40. Wingard connected on a layup with 43.9 remaining.

Following a timeout, Ava Kolovich stole the ball and it led to Wingard getting fouled on the other end. She made one of two free throws to tie it again and force the second overtime.

A traveling violation gave Chartiers-Houston the final possession of the first overtime. With Kolovich in trouble, Montecalvo called timeout with two seconds remaining, but Capozzoli’s three-pointer at the buzzer was long.

Yellock finished with a game-high 16 points.

“Tia leads our team in scoring and demands a lot of attention, but the biggest moments I’ll remember from tonight’s game were her steals and those last couple rebounds down the stretch,” Moncrief said. “We had two girls (Marque Taylor and Kamryn Newman) foul out and Tia secured those rebounds to help us win.”

The Bucs trailed 15-4 after one quarter and spent much of the game climbing back into it before taking the lead 26-24 in the third quarter on a pair of Wingard free throws. Wingard also had a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Bucs a five-point advantage after three.

Wingard had 13 points for the Bucs and Richey scored 12.