South Fayette ready for rematch with Archbishop Wood
As the defending state champion with nearly every key player returning, expectations were through the roof for the South Fayette girls basketball team this season.
If they’ve felt the weight of the pressure, they haven’t shown it.
The Lions have been dominant against teams from Pennsylvania and have one more challenge ahead of them to win PIAA gold again.
South Fayette (29-1) plays Archbishop Wood (16-12) in a rematch of last year’s Class 5A girls basketball state championship, 6 p.m. Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“Anytime you’re still playing basketball in March you’re super fortunate,” Lions coach Bryan Bennett said. “We’re super excited. There’s been a lot of expectations put on this team for great reasons and the kids actually handle the pressure better than the head coach.”
Outside of a 26-23 win against Trinity in the WPIAL quarterfinals, the Lions have beaten every opponent from Pennsylvania by at least 15 points, and most games went into the mercy rule, including their 67-24 win over Peters Township in the state semifinals.
Archbishop Wood, the District 12 champion, is in the state championship for the sixth consecutive season and 14th time in the 16 years they have entered the PIAA tournament.
South Fayette earned a 45-37 win against the Vikings last year. This is the third time in four years the two teams have met in the state final with each winning once.
This is a somewhat different Archbishop Wood team from the one the Lions faced last year. Ryan Carter, one of the top recruits in the country, left the Vikings at the end of last season and is now at Friends Central.
Carter’s departure didn’t slow them down though. The Vikings blitzed their way through the state bracket until the semifinals where they beat Crestwood, 45-41.
“They’re a super-talented team that has players that can shoot and drive to the basket,” Bennett said. “They have good size and it’ll be a test for us.”
Junior guard Mikayla Finnegan led the Vikings with 15 points in the win over Crestwood and sophomore Zoey Whalen scored 13.
One thing that stood out to Bennett in scouting the Vikings was that a high volume of their shot attempts come from beyond the arc.
“Based off the games we have stats on, they are averaging 12 more three-point attempts than two-point attempts,” Bennett said. “That’s something different from the teams we’ve faced this year. I think the most we saw was a 50-50 split between two-pointers and three-pointers. They spread you out, drive to the basket and kick, so we’ll have to make sure to contain them off the drive and hopefully close out well on shooters.”
The Lions will look to counter that with their size and experience. Seniors Juliette Leroux, Haylie Lamonde and Ryan Oldaker all have the length to deter shots as does sophomore guard Ella Vierra and junior point guard Lailah Wright.
“We don’t have someone that’s 6-foot or taller like some teams do, but it’s not like we’re small,” Bennett said. “We have a couple kids who are 5-10 and 5-11 and some bigger guards, so hopefully our length can help counter their three-point shooting.”
South Fayette left for Hershey Friday morning. The plan was to have a similar itinerary as last year. That included a trip to Chocolate World and attending Friday night’s state final games.
Once they get to Saturday night, the Lions will lean on their experience in their quest to go back-to-back.
“Last year just being there and knowing the gameday routine and what to expect was a benefit from the entire team, including the coaches unlike the first year when we kind of went in blind not knowing what to expect,” Bennett said. “When it comes down to it these kids have been in big games, so when the ball goes up, it’s just basketball. Having that experience before the game is probably helpful. It eases some nerves knowing what to expect.”