CHARTIERS VALLEY NAMED TEAM OF YEAR
Colts win 2nd title in row, push winning streak to 57
After completing one dream season, one in which his team didn’t lose a game, Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell thought a repeat performance was an unrealistic goal.
“Starting four sophomores and one senior, not in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought we’d go undefeated just because of the inexperience,” McConnell said. “We had two starters who played very little varsity at all. To be able to answer the bell and do what we did night in and night out, that was really impressive.”
You can now call it a recurring dream.
Another season, another perfect one for the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team. The Colts went 27-0, won a second consecutive WPIAL Class 5A title, and set a WPIAL record by collecting their 57th consecutive win. About the only thing the Colts didn’t do was repeat as PIAA champions, but that’s only because the season was canceled just before the quarterfinal round due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Colts are the Post-Gazette’s girls Team of the Year for the 2019-20 school year. The award takes into consideration all girls teams in the WPIAL and City League.
One of the big reasons why this team will be remembered for a long time is for breaking North Catholic’s long-standing winning streak of 56 games set from 1987-89. The Colts, who went 30-0 a season earlier, broke the record in what turned out to be their last game, a 55-38 triumph against Hollidaysburg in the second round of the PIAA playoffs.
As it turns out, none of the Chartiers Valley players had a clue they were about to break the record, according to Megan McConnell, who scored 16 points.
“We just played it like any other state playoff game,” she said. “After the game, we were told by reporters what we did, and I was so happy. When we found out our season was canceled, I was happy my career ended on that note.”
McConnell, the only senior starter, was again the maestro, conducting the team from her point guard position beautifully throughout the season. McConnell averaged 14.3 points, 4.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds a game. She and teammate Aislin Malcolm were both selected to the Post-Gazette’s Fabulous 5 team. The WPIAL title was the third for McConnell, a four-year starter who won one as a freshman. A Duquesne recruit, McConnell finished with 1,521 career points.
“She’s our point guard, so she leads everything,” said Malcolm, whose sister, Amaleen, was the team’s other senior. “She’s a good leader and communicator, and every time someone needs her, even off the court, she’s there.”
Malcolm was there, too,
showing why she is considered one of the top sophomores in the state. She led the Colts in scoring with 16.7 points per game and knocked down 68 3-pointers, giving her 132 in two seasons. She was the first sophomore picked to the Fabulous 5 team since 2013, and she and McConnell were named first-team all-state. Malcolm poured in a game-high 23 points in a 58-40 win against Trinity in the WPIAL championship.
Of course, Malcolm wasn’t the only sophomore in the Colts’ starting five. Perri Page and twins Hallie and Helene Cowan, all firstyear starters, became key contributors. Page chipped in 12.7 points a game and Hallie Cowan 12.5. Page sparkled in a rout of eventual WPIAL Class 4A champion North Catholic, scoring a careerhigh 27 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Another sophomore, Abby Vaites, saw important minutes off the bench.
“It’s crazy when you hear the starting five and there are four sophomores,” said McConnell. “We knew they were going to be good. The twins and Perri, they stepped up in big games and played on the big stage for the first time. Aislin was there her freshman year. They were outstanding.”
The Colts credit a December trip to Florida for propelling them to the memorable season. After picking up impressive non-section wins against Mt. Lebanon and Oakland Catholic, the Colts beat three out-of-state teams in a KSA tournament in Orlando. They defeated Argyle, 40-35, in the championship. Argyle was coming off its fifth consecutive Texas state title.
“That’s kind of what shaped us for the rest of the season. Any challenging game, we always brought our attention back to the Florida game. We knew if we played like that, nobody could stop us,” Malcolm said.
The biggest challenge came from section rival Thomas Jefferson, which was on the verge of ending Chartiers Valley’s win streak at 46 games. But after the host Jaguars took a 41-40 lead with four seconds left, McConnell drove the length of the court and dished off to Page, who scored the winning bucket just before the buzzer.
“That wasn’t our best game and we knew that,” Malcolm said, “so we wanted to make sure that we didn’t have another game like that.”
As it turns out, the Colts did not. Each of their final 11 wins came by
double-digits, and their playoff wins came by margins of 20, 22, 18, 33 and 17 points.
The record-setting win against Hollidaysburg set up a fourth meeting with Thomas Jefferson, but that quarterfinal was never played due to the season’s cancellation.
It was Tim McConnell’s final season coaching one of his children. He was Chartiers Valley’s boys coach when T.J. and Matty won titles, and now captured his second with Megan after becoming girls coach last season. Assistants Shawn Sherry and Cate Gannon have been there with him all that time, too.
“It was honestly amazing,” Megan McConnell said. “The past few years, I have grown so close to my dad. Just to be able to share those special moments, winning two WPIAL titles and a state title, I’ll cherish those moments forever.”