Serra riding deep, balanced lineup
In his first 33 years as Serra Catholic’s girls basketball coach, Bill Cleary accomplished virtually everything there is for a coach to achieve. With four WPIAL titles, one state title and more than 600 wins to his resume, there wasn’t much left to keep Cleary coming back other than his love for his players and love of the game. Still, he decided to return for his 34th season and made history anyway, guiding the Eagles (13-0, 9-0) to their first undefeated regular season during his tenure. It may be a shortened season, but it’s still another notch on Cleary’s belt as one of the WPIAL’S most successful coaches of all time. “The girls did a wonderful job adjusting to all the protocols and everything else we had in place,” Cleary said. “We had to screen before practice and we had a couple shutdowns, but we survived it and came back ready to play. The resiliency was marvelous, so I’m really pleased with how everything went this year.” Of course, going undefeated is never one of Cleary’s goals for the team before the season. The first goal is to win the section title, which Serra did for the fourth year in a row. But the ultimate goal is to return to the WPIAL championship game for the 10th time under Cleary’s watch and bring the school a fifth WPIAL title. Cleary’s previous
WPIAL championship-winning team in 2005 went on to win a state title and finished 29-1. This team has a long way to go before it can even think of matching those accomplishments, but the Eagles are certainly on the right track. “You never think that you would go through a season undefeated,” Cleary said. “They really are playing very, very well. They have a feel for each other, they know where each other are. They’re coming close to it. I don’t want to jinx them.” Despite finishing the regular season with a perfect record, Serra only received a No. 2 seed for the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs, while Neshannock (13-2) received the top seed. Some might question the WPIAL’S decision making, but after earning a No. 1 seed for last year’s playoffs before losing to Laurel in the WPIAL semifinals, Cleary is perfectly fine going into this year’s tournament without the added pressure of being the top seed.
“We don’t have that big target on our back now,” Cleary said. “[Class] 2A girls this year is very, very balanced and very open. There’s a lot of good teams there. No. 2 is just a number. You’ve just got to play and win, that’s all.”
All- section forward Rayna Andrews was the star of the show for the Eagles last season, averaging 17 points and 13 rebounds per game. Her graduation left a void that several players had to step up and fill, and doing so has taken a collective effort from Serra’s returning starters.
Junior guard Chloe Pordash leads the team with an average of 13.5 points per game, and senior guard Nicole Pawlowski is right behind her at 12.5 per game. Senior point guard Grace Navarro averages about six points and eight assists per game, and junior forward Chloe Honick and senior forward Rylee Campbell have also made key contributions while taking on bigger roles this season.
Time will tell if this group has what it takes to bring the Eagles their fifth WPIAL championship. And after waiting 16 years, Cleary knows as well as anybody just how hard it is to get back there — let alone to win it.
“Your team has to be good, to start with,” Cleary said. “Your team has to be deep. You have to pull a game out where you probably could lose. You pull a game out that you may have lost if certain things didn’t happen. A lot of things have to go your way.”
South Park
While the Serra Eagles celebrated a fourth consecutive section crown last week, the South Park Eagles (10-2, 8-0) captured a third consecutive section title with a nail-biting, 45-44 home win against Waynesburg on Feb. 26.
Kendall Albert scored a team-high 16 points and sophomore guard Maddie Graham added 12 in the win, which helped the Eagles earn a No. 5 seed for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs. South Park faced Ellwood City in a first-round matchup Wednesday night.
Knoch
The Knights (8-1, 7-0) only played nine games during the regular season, but it’s surely a season they’ll remember forever.
By finishing undefeated in section play, Knoch claimed its first section title in 49 years and earned a No. 5 seed for the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. The Knights will have plenty of momentum going into the postseason, too, having just knocked off Class 5A No. 3 Hampton in their regularseason finale, 50-46.