Encore performance
Perfect a season ago, Peters and Chartiers Valley are the hunted
Peters Township and Chartiers Valley were the Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom of Pennsylvania high school girls basketball last season.
Top of the line.
The Indians and Colts would love to ascend to that level again this season, but for now, they are best associated with another retail store.
Target.
As in the two have enormous targets on their backs.
Defending WPIAL champions. Reigning PIAA champions. No losses since the 2017-18 season. Yeah, it’s safe to say everyone will be aiming for the two when the season gets underway next Friday.
“I think anytime you run the table, people want to be the team to knock you off,” Peters Township coach Bert Kendall said, “but we wouldn’t want it any other way. We know that anyone we line up to play is going to give us their best game.”
Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell added, “I guarantee you we have a target on our back. We’ll get everyone’s best shot night in and night out, but we’re going to embrace that and take it one game at a time.”
Prior to last season, only three WPIAL girls teams had won PIAA championships with perfect records, but on consecutive nights in March, Peters Township and Chartiers Valley increased that number to five after winning their first state championships. Peters Township went 30-0 and won the Class 6A title. Chartiers Valley went 30-0 and captured the Class 5A title.
What will the two do for an encore? Are more titles in store? Will they make a run at the longest win streak in WPIAL history or PIAA history?
Peters Township opens the season ranked No. 3 in WPIAL Class 6A and Chartiers Valley No. 1 in Class 5A.
Each team has a lot of holes to fill, most notably Peters Township, which graduated star guard Makenna Marisa, a two-time Post-Gazette player of the year. Marisa, who has already cracked the starting lineup at Penn State, averaged 20.8 points per game last season.
A second starter, guard Isabella Mills graduated, and the Indians will be without another after senior forward Mackenzie Lehman tore her ACL playing lacrosse in the spring. She is out indefinitely.
Charters Valley must also replace three starters — first-team all-state guard Mackenzie Wagner, guard Alexandra Ferrella and 6foot-2 center Gabi Legister. Wagner averaged a team-best 16 points per game.
The Colts do return one of the WPIAL’s best players in senior
point guard Megan McConnell, a first-team all-state performer last season when she averaged 11 points per game. She is a Duquesne recruit.
Tim McConnell, who has coached all three of his children to WPIAL titles — Megan has bragging rights of being the only one with a PIAA title — said his youngest has a mindset similar to his oldest, Indiana Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell.
“The thing I like about Megan is that she knows when to pass it and when not to pass it, and who to pass it to,” Tim McConnell said. “She’s a pure point guard and reminds me a lot of T.J with her decision making.”
Chartiers Valley will likely start four sophomore guards — Aislin Malcolm, Perri Page and twins Helene and Hallie Cowan. Malcolm and Page both already have Division I offers. Malcolm started last season and averaged 12 points a game. Page, whose father Julius was a star player at Pitt, was often the first player off the bench.
Two of Peters Township’s top players are also sophomores. Journey Thompson, a 6-1 forward, was a starter last season and was impressive, averaging 13 points and 8 rebounds. She has several Division I offers. She and fellow sophomore forward Avana Sayles will form what should be an excellent frontcourt.
“Journey will continue to get better,” Kendall said. “She was only a freshman last year and her potential is high. She will create problems for people this year. Avana Sayles is looking really strong, as well.”
Junior guard Jordan Bisignani is a three-year starter who will be asked to become a bigger scorer this season. Among those also expected to play important roles are junior guard Jillian Stopperich, junior guard-forward Belle Quarture and junior forward Morgan Merdian.
Following up last year’s success will be a difficult act for Peters Township and Chartiers Valley to follow, but some history is on their side. Mount Alvernia (1983), Mt. Lebanon (2009) and Seton LaSalle (2012) were the other WPIAL teams to win PIAA championships with unbeaten records. All three reached the WPIAL final the following season, with Mount Alvernia and Mt. Lebanon repeating as champions. Mt. Lebanon also successfully defended its PIAA championship.
However, no WPIAL team has gone undefeated two years in a row. Mount Alvernia won its first 10 games of the 1984-85 season before seeing its winning streak end at 44 games. Seton LaSalle started 7-0, but its streak fizzled out at 37 games. Mt. Lebanon won its first three games and then saw its run close at 34 games.
“Coming back after winning states, I just remember that the target was on our backs and that we would see how our team would deal with pressure,” Mt. Lebanon coach Dori Oldaker said.
Mt. Lebanon’s win streak ended against nationallyranked Brea Olinda, Calif. in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix.
“It was like someone took the monkey off our backs,” Oldaker said. “We knew how talented the teams were out in Arizona. That’s the type of competition that help us prepare for the postseason.”
Peters Township passed on opportunities to play in out-of-state tournaments this season, including one in Hawaii. The Indians open the season with home games against Woodland Hills and Thomas Jefferson prior to a non-section game at Trinity, ranked No. 2 in WPIAL Class 5A. A pair of other ranked Class 6A teams reside in the same section as the Indians — No. 2 Bethel Park and No. 5 Mt. Lebanon.
Chartiers Valley begins the season against Mt. Lebanon in the Oakland Catholic tournament. The Colts will play in a KSA Disney tournament just before Christmas.
Like Peters Township, the Colts find themselves in a difficult section. When they play Trinity, Tim McConnell will coach against someone he is pretty familiar with — his sister. Kathy McConnell-Miller is the Hillers’ new coach. The section also includes No. 3 Moon and No. 5 Thomas Jefferson.
If Chartiers Valley exits 2019 with its winning streak intact, the program with the longest win streak in WPIAL history will be waiting. The Colts play at Class 4A No. 1 North Catholic on Jan. 4. From December 1987 to April 1989, the Trojanettes won 56 games in a row. Lancaster Catholic ended the streak in the PIAA Class 3A championship.
Molly Rottmann, now the coach at North Catholic, was the leading scorer on those Trojanettes teams. Under legendary coach Don Barth, the Trojanettes went 63-2 her final two seasons.
“It was amazing because we obviously had a very talented team, but we were ranked in the country and we played some other ranked teams,” Rottmann said. “The gym at Troy Hill was sold out. Girls don’t usually get the same crowds as boys, so that was exciting.”
Ironically, the team that ended North Catholic’s streak, Lancaster Catholic, now holds the state record at 62 games.
Megan McConnell said going undefeated isn’t one of her team’s first goals, but it is still a goal. That said, she is well aware it will be a tall task.
“Every team wants to be our first loss. We were 30-0. Every team wants to beat us,” she said.
The same goes with Peters Township, who despite having that target, might be overlooked.
“[Making a run at the WPIAL record] would be amazing,” Thompson said. “I think that we are underestimated as a team this year because of what we lost, but I think we are going to surprise a lot of people.”