Feb 2, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

NORTH HUNTINGTON – Three years ago, when John Fontana took the girls basketball coaching job at Canon-McMillan, he told the girls that he believed they could become section champions.

The biggest test of all toward that goal came Monday night in the gymnasium of perennial power Norwin and the Big Macs put on a clinic in the third quarter to take a giant leap toward their dream.

The Big Macs outscored the Knights, 17-2, and staved off a late rally on their way to a 44-37 victory.

Canon-McMillan (8-1, 16-4) moved into solo first place of Class 6A Section 2. With a win over Connellsville Friday will win the Section title outright and could clinch the top seed in the upcoming WPIAL playoffs.

“The girls were sophomores back then when I took over and we told them to dream big,” Fontana said. “We have dreamed of this moment and it finally happened. We still have to go beat Connellsville on Friday night, but this was big.”

The only other time the Big Macs have won a section title was in 2016.

After the game the Big Macs celebrated loudly in the locker room and a couple of players came out with sore voices. One of those was Madison Clair, who scored a game-high 17 points.

“I’m just really happy,” Clair said. “We’ve been working for three years to get to this point.

“It’s an amazing feeling, because our freshman year, you would’ve never thought we’d win anything. We were like 2-17, so you wouldn’t have thought in four years we’d turn around and have a chance to be section champs.”

Norwin (7-2, 15-4) hit nine threes in the first meeting and won 56-52.

The Big Macs made life much more difficult for the Knights in the rematch, especially in the third quarter.

With a suffocating defense, the Big Macs frustrated the Knights in the third quarter and allowed only one field goal, a runner by Kylie Rodkey with 1:20 remaining.

Meanwhile, they had a balanced attack on offense with six points from Madison Clair, five points from Brooke Stanton, four each from Lauren Borella and two by Faye Saunders to take a 36-20 lead.

“We were really excited, but we knew the game wasn’t over, because they were a good team,” Clair said. “We stayed focused and couldn’t celebrate too early. A big part of our team is our defense and that was our main focus tonight.

Norwin made it interesting in the fourth quarter, getting the lead down to four points in the final minute on a layup by Giuliana Giannikas. Clair made a pair of free throws and Norwin never got any closer.

Canon-McMillan led 19-18 at halftime and extended its lead with a 7-0 run to begin the third quarter. Brooke Stanton canned a three and Saunders made a layup inside, which made it 26-18 with 4:54 remaining in the quarter. That forced a Norwin timeout.

Saunders had a huge first two quarters, scoring 12 of Canon-McMillan’s 19 points.

It provided a boost for the Big Macs, who played most of the second quarter without starting point guard Lauren Borella.

Borella had two fouls.

She gave the Big Macs the lead with a three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining in the half. She had a pair of threes in the frame and finished with 14 points.

Clair made a runner, which gave the Big Macs their first lead at 14-13 with 3:45 remaining until halftime.

Clair made one of two foul shots to make it 15-13, but Anna Fraser responded with a three-pointer for the Knights.

A three-pointer by Lenyn Brozeski gave Norwin an 8-7 lead in the final 30 seconds of a low-scoring first quarter.

Saunders put in a rebound in the final seconds for Canon-McMillan.

Both teams went long stretches without a bucket, but two three pointers helped Norwin get an early lead.

Canon-McMillan 7 12 17 8 – 44

Norwin 8 10 2 17 – 37

Canon-McMillan: Madison Clair, 17 points; Faye Saunders, 14.

Norwin: Elizabeth Yarosik, 10 points.