History made: Canon-Mac tops Norwin for first WPIAL girls basketball title
By Jerin Steele
jsteele@observer-reporter.com
PITTSBURGH – It was the first time the Canon-McMillan girls basketball team was at the Petersen Events Center for a WPIAL final, but it certainly didn’t look like it.
From the opening tip the Big Macs looked like seasoned veterans on the big stage.
And they made history for their school in the process.
The top-seeded Big Macs led from start to finish and won their first WPIAL title by downing No. 2 Norwin, 50-38, in the Class 6A final Saturday night.
“They’re a seasoned group,” Canon-McMillan girls basketball coach John Fontana said of his players. “This is our eighth playoff game together as a group. When I got here today and looked at them, I didn’t see any nerves. What I saw was a team that was ready to play.”
Canon-McMillan’s three seniors led the charge, helping win two out of three meetings with the Knights. Madison Clair had 15 points, Sam Miller scored 12 and Lauren Borella had 10, including nine free throws in the fourth quarter that helped put the game away.
All three have come a long way from their freshman year to become champions.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about,” Borella said. “We started literally from the bottom. Freshman year we won one section game and to come to our senior year and win WPIAL’s is absolutely crazy. I’m so proud of my team.”
Big Macs senior Liv Ross sang the national anthem to begin the game and they kept hitting the right notes from there.
Samantha Miller nailed four threes in the first half to help the Big Macs take a 27-15 lead into the break. She sank two in each quarter and provided a spark offensively to go along with her team dominating on defense and on the boards.
“Honestly, I walked out there confident, but not cocky,” Miller said. “I did my warmup, got myself collected and kind of just did my thing. I just shot the ball and didn’t try to think too much.”
Canon-McMillan’s lead swelled to 19 points early in the third quarter when Clair scored on a drive in the lane, but Norwin had one run in it.
Backed by four three-pointers, two from Lenyn Brozeski and one each by Ava Christopher and Guiliana Giannikas, the Knights went on a 15-0 run to cut the lead down to 34-30.
Clair scored in the final seconds to make it a six-point game heading into the fourth quarter.
“If you wanted to put a couple of minutes on that clock and continued the third quarter I would’ve been good with it, the way the momentum was going,” Norwin coach Brian Brozeski said. “You try to keep rolling with it and it’s our job as coaches to try and carry it over, because other teams are going to make adjustments. It’s a fine line between staying in what’s working and understanding on how to be ahead of the curb on the adjustment being made.”
The adjustment by Canon-McMillan (21-4) was to switch to a zone in the fourth quarter and they limited the Knights (19-5) to eight points to put the game to bed.
The Big Macs outrebounded the Knights, 45-30.
Once the clock struck zero it completed a vision Fontana had when he was hired three years ago.
“When I first took the job, I thought about how they win in every other sport whether it’s volleyball or soccer or no matter what it is,” Fontan said. So why can’t we win in basketball? You think about how they had never won a championship or until last year had never even hosted a playoff game, this is so significant. I just knew these three girls (Borella, Clair and Miller) were going to be the change. I bought a shirt that said ‘Be the change’ and they all made fun of me and I get it, but they were the change in this program.”
Canon-McMillan hosts the eighth-place team from District 3 in the first round of the state playoffs. Norwin travels to the top seed from either District 4 or District 6. Those games are on Friday.
Norwin 7 8 15 8 – 38
Canon-McMillan 13 14 9 14 – 50
Norwin: Ava Christopher, 9 points.
Canon-McMillan: Madison Clair, 15 points; Sam Miller, 12; Lauren Borella, 10.