Trojanettes pull away in 2nd half
North Catholic prevails over Mohawk in 3A
There’s an old adage in sports that says, ‘To be the best, you have to beat the best.’
North Catholic proved to Mohawk it was still the best Thursday night.
In a marquee matchup between the top two teams in Class 3A, the No. 2-ranked Trojanettes (8-1, 5-0) used a strong second half to pull away from the No. 1 Warriors (9-2, 4-1) for a 54-38 home win. Mohawk is the defending WPIAL Class 3A champion, while North Catholic won four consecutive WPIAL Class 4A titles before moving to Class 3A this season.
“I just said to them tonight — you officially are off the back of last year’s team,” said Trojanettes coach Molly Rottmann. “I’m really proud of them. They responded really well. … I just feel like it’s a check for where we’re at, and we’re doing pretty well.”
North Catholic graduated its entire starting lineup from last year’s WPIAL championship team, but a youth movement has been the driving force behind the Trojanettes’ hot start and Thursday’s game was no different. Freshman guard Ava Walker scored a game-high 18 points for North Catholic, and fellow freshman guard Alayna Rocco added 15.
“Even if I wasn’t scoring a lot, I feel like I had a big part with my passing and my defense, but tonight was pretty cool being the leading scorer as a freshman on the varsity team,” Walker said.
Senior guard Nadia Lape led the way for the Warriors with 18 points, while fellow senior guard Paige Julian finished with 10. Mohawk came into the game as one of only four WPIAL teams averaging more than 65 points per game, but North Catholic’s length caused major problems for the Warriors, who made just 1 of 15 attempts from 3-point range in the first half.
“We didn’t hit any shots tonight. I know that,” said Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare. “I think some nights you just don’t hit them.
“We got exposed a little bit tonight, and it’s not a bad time to be exposed, I guess.”
The first quarter couldn’t have gone much better for the Warriors. Lape hit a 3pointer and a steal and layup by senior Hannah McDanel to gave Mohawk a 9-4 lead as the Warriors led going into the second quarter.
The Trojanettes seized the momentum early in the second quarter as Walker started things off with a layup after a nifty Eurostep move. North Catholic put together a 12-2 run to take control of the game and take an 18-13 lead into the half.
Mohawk came out of the break on a mission, as Lape drained a 3-pointer from way outside the arc to give the Warriors a 20-19 lead. That would be their final lead of the game, though, as the Trojanettes’ impressive ball movement led to wide-open 3pointers for Rocco and Lewandowski.
North Catholic took a 36-30 lead into the final quarter, and another 3-pointer by Lewandowski made it a 42-34 lead with a little less than five minutes left.
“We’ve improved a lot since the fall,” Rocco said. “We knew it was going to be a battle, so it was great to pull out the win.”