North Allegheny eyes first PIAA title
Bishop Canevin, Trinity one step away from crown
North Allegheny won a WPIAL championship earlier this month, but the Tigers, strangely, don’t have any gold medals to show for it.
“The next day the kids brought them to practice and we put them in the athletic director’s office. They’re sitting there in the corner, so none of them have gold medals right now,” coach Spencer Stefko said. “The kids will get them back at some point.
“They came into practice the next day and said, ‘This is nice, but this isn’t the one we want.’”
They hope to get that one tonight.
North Allegheny (28-1) will play for its first PIAA title when it squares off against Boyertown in the Class 6A final at 6 p.m. at Giant Center in Hershey. Boyertown (27-5) is a District 1 school located in Berks County, about 20 miles east of Reading.
It has been a banner season — as in championship banner — for North Allegheny, which has even opened eyes nationally. The Tigers are ranked No. 20 in the country by USA Today. Stefko, who won a PIAA title at Seton-LaSalle three seasons ago, often talks about his team’s unselfishness as being one of the primary reasons for their success. The team’s stellar work defensively has played a major role, as well. The Tigers give up only 37.9 points per game.
“We’re just enjoying the journey right now,” Stefko said. “These are special kids. Some coaches are never blessed with a great group like this — good enough to make a run, but also so selfless and so dialed-in offensively and defensively. To get another 100 hours with them is a gift to me.”
North Allegheny earned a spot in its first final courtesy of a 32-31 semifinal win against Souderton. With the scored tied, sophomore Rachel Martindale was fouled with 0.9 seconds left and made the front end of a one-and-one to give North Allegheny the win. It was an amazing finish considering a season earlier North Allegheny lost in the semifinals in a similar way when Cumberland Valley made two free throws with 0.8 seconds left to beat the Tigers, 43-42.
Martindale leads North Allegheny in scoring with 12 points per game. Hailey Zeise is the team’s top defender and only senior. She will play next season at Division I Stony Brook, but first hopes to close her high school career with a state title.
“Winning one district was nice, but to win the 12 districts is something special. We’ve always had our eye on it. Winning the WPIAL is something we had to do to get here,” said Zeise, who has helped the Tigers win 102 games in her four seasons.
Boyertown has had a remarkable run to its first state title final. After finishing as the eighth-place team in its district, Boyertown upset three-time defending PIAA champion Cumberland Valley in the first round, and won its quarterfinal and semifinal games in dramatic fashion. Senior Abby Kapp, a 6-foot senior guard-forward and Bucknell recruit, nailed the go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in a 56-55 win against Northampton and hit a foul-line jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining to beat Cardinal O’Hara, 39-37. Kapp leads the team with 15 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Class 5A
Trinity (26-3) is another new kid on the block at these championships, while its opponent at 6 p.m. Saturday, Archbishop Wood (23-7), will play in the final for the fourth year in a row and seventh time in eight years. The Vikings won the 3A title a season ago.
Trinity coach Bob Miles said he isn’t worried about the wide gap in experience.
“It will be a big challenge, but to be honest, I don’t think these girls will be intimidated at all,” Miles said. “I just have a feeling about this group of kids. They just have a way of coming up big and winning basketball games. They’ll step up and accept the challenge.”
Trinity will likely need another strong outing from senior Sierra Kotchman, who connected on seven 3pointers and poured in 30 points in a 61-51 semifinal win against South Fayette. Kotchman averages 18 points per game. Archbishop Wood features junior guard-forward and Northeastern recruit Katie May. The Vikings have won 11 of their past 12 games, the only loss coming to 6A Cardinal O’Hara in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship.
Class 3A
WPIAL champion Bishop Canevin (23-5) has limited its past 17 opponents to 40 points or fewer, but the Crusaders will face a huge challenge at noon Saturday in trying to slow down Neumann-Goretti (23-5), which has two Division I-bound senior guards — Chyna Nixon (Ole Miss) and Ashley Jones (West Virginia). Nixon was the MVP of the Philadelphia Catholic League.
“They’re the best team we’ve played by far. You have to go in and battle them and try to contain them defensively,” Canevin coach Tim Joyce said.
Neumann-Goretti won the 2A title the previous two seasons. Canevin captured the title in 2013 and Joyce said this year’s group reminds him of the championship team because of their defensive intensity. Junior point guard Brionna Allen is outstanding defensively and averages a team-high 13 points.