Back-to-back: South Fayette beats Archbishop Wood for second PIAA title
HERSHEY – In its two-year run of dominance, the South Fayette girls basketball team has seen many different tactics deployed against it defensively.
The Lions may have been a bit surprised to see Archbishop Wood sag off defensively and try to slow the game down, but they adjusted.
And with a stellar defensive effort of their own, the Lions left Hershey a two-time defending state champion.
South Fayette held Archbishop Wood to single digits in the second and third quarters and successfully defended their state title with a 45-35 win Saturday night at the Giant Center.
The Lions beat Archbishop Wood for a second consecutive season and their three seniors, Ryan Oladker, Juliette Leroux and Haylie Lamonde accomplished their goal of another state gold medal.
“It means so much,” Leroux said. “Ending my senior season winning states with some of my best friends is something I wouldn’t trade for the world. Being here junior year was good and all but getting back her senior year and winning was a great experience.”
Archbishop Wood coach Mike McDonald said he watched film from South Fayette’s close call against Trinity in the WPIAL quarterfinals and the WPIAL championship against Thomas Jefferson and decided that some of the defensive tactics deployed in that game were the best way to try and stay with South Fayette.
It worked for a while.
The game was played at a deliberate pace for most of the way, but South Fayette pulled away in the fourth quarter.
“Trinity kind of held it a little more than we did, but the way they defended was a big inspiration for us,” McDonald said. “I thought Thomas Jefferson had a similar game versus them. We felt that was the way to go defensively, because truthfully, I didn’t think we matched up perfectly if we tried to ball pressure, because of their back-screening and curling. I thought we could be in trouble.”
Lions coach Bryan Bennett said he was a little surprised to see the Vikings sag off defensively, but thought his kids adjusted well as the game went on.
“We just had to make adjustments and we did,” Bennett said. “We had it in the game plan for several games. Once the kids settled down a bit we were good.”
A three by Oldaker with 4:52 remaining gave South Fayette its largest lead at 39-27.
The Vikings had one last run in them as they went on an 8-2 run to cut it to six points. Zoey Whalen made a three with 2:44 remaining.
Oldaker made one of two free throws to increase the lead to 42-35 and on Archbishop Wood’s next possession, Lailah Wright stepped in front of a pass for a steal.
Archbishop Wood fouled Oldaker and put her on the free-throw line. She made both and the lead was 44-35 with 1:17 remaining.
The Vikings came up empty on their next possession, and the Lions salted the final 20 seconds away.
South Fayette led by four at halftime and doubled its lead by holding Archbishop Wood to five points in the third quarter.
The Vikings were held to 2-for-8 from the field as the Lions carried over their defensive effort from the first half into the third.
Bennett was pleased with the way his team limited Archbishop Wood’s open looks.
“We wanted to force them into their drives,” Bennett said. “We thought it was their weakness. They live and die by the three and I thought our kids did a great job on them. They run that split action stuff to get people open for threes or back cuts to the basket and we did a great job communicating on that. I couldn’t be more proud of the kids.”
After Lailah Wright had a steal and score to give South Fayette a 9-7 lead midway through the first quarter, the Lions held the lead for the rest of the game.
But that lead never grew to more than six points.
Wright made a layup to make it 13-8, but Zoey Whalen canned a three-pointer right before the first quarter buzzer.
Oldaker converted a shot inside to give the Lions a 20-16 lead. Abbie Kelly sank a three to cut the lead to one, but Haylie Lamonde responded with a three of her own to give South Fayette a 23-19 lead going into the locker room.
Archbishop Wood is a high-volume three-point shooting team, but the Lions did a pretty good job of limiting them in the first half. The Vikings only took three shots from three and made two. As a team, they only took 14 total shots in the first half.
“We knew they could shoot, but we were in their face the hole time when they had the ball,” Oldaker said. “We practice defense every single day. Around 90-percent of our practice is focused on defense, so we were prepared for today.”
Oldaker led the Lions with 14 points and Leroux scored 10.
Oldaker, Leroux and Lamonde finished their careers with a 106-15 record, three WPIAL titles and two state championships. They played in the WPIAL final all four years and in the state championship three times.
“The groundwork was laid by the ones ahead of them, but this group is so unselfish,” Bennett said. “It’s honestly a blessing to get to work with them.”
Archbishop Wood 11 8 5 11 – 35
South Fayette 13 10 9 13 – 45
Archbishop Wood: Abbie Kelly, 9 points.
South Fayette: Ryan Oldaker, 14 points; Juliette Leroux, 10.