Mohawk girls fall shy in bid for first state title
Defensive shift seals West Catholic win
HERSHEY, Pa. — If a first PIAA title was in Mohawk’s destiny, it knew it would need to find a way to slow down West Catholic’s Destiney McPhaul, a Virginia Tech recruit and MVP of the Philadelphia Catholic League.
It turned out the Warriors were up for it, holding McPhaul below her season average.
If only they had similar success defending one of her teammates.
Ciani Montgomery had herself a game, scoring 34 points to bring West Catholic its first PIAA championship with a 67-56 win against Mohawk in the Class 3A final Thursday at Giant Center.
And with that, a Mohawk team whose three previous games were wins against a four-time defending WPIAL champion (North Catholic) and two undefeated district champions (Punxsutawney and Forest Hills), saw its postseason run come to an end. The Warriors, who claimed their second consecutive WPIAL title earlier this month, finished 19-5.
“They’ve got a lot of good players over there, and you can’t stop all of them,” said Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare. “We didn’t even key on McPhaul. We know she’s good, but we felt like you can’t just key on one kid over there because somebody else is going to get you.”
It turned out to be Montgomery, a smooth senior guard who came in averaging 17 points. Montgomery was Ms. Efficiency, finishing 14 of 18 from the field and 4 of 4 from the freethrow line.
McPhaul, who scored 19 points in the first quarter and 26 overall in West Catholic’s semifinal win, finished with 16 points (she averages 20) after being limited to three in the first half. She added a game-high 10 rebounds.
Mohawk shot 50% (23 of 46) and got an outstanding effort from leading scorer Paige Julian. A West Liberty recruit, Julian scored 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting. She did most of her damage in the first half when she scored 17 points. Mohawk went four corners against West Catholic’s man-to-man defense, allowing Julian to take advantage of 1-on-1 opportunities.
“I definitely think they were sagging off on us a little bit and keeping those driving lanes open, so that gave us a lot of opportunities to drive,” Julian said.
Added O’Lare, “She was just blowing by everyone. They gave us the space and she was able to get whatever she wanted.”
But West Catholic (11-4) changed its strategy in the second half, shifting to a box-and-one on Julian, who didn’t even attempt a shot in the third quarter as the Burrs stretched their 29-26 halftime lead to 10. Montgomery scored the final 9 points of the quarter.
Mohawk stayed in it, but it was Hannah McDanel, who did not score in the first half, doing most of the heavy lifting. After hitting two 3-pointers in the third, McDanel converted a steal into a layup and then connected on another 3 to bring Mohawk to within 53-49 with 3:24 left.
“That’s our character. That’s just who these kids are,” O’Lare said. “That’s why we’re here. You don’t get here without having tough kids.”
And then, guess who? Montgomery responded with two baskets and McPhaul a 3-point play, increasing West Catholic’s lead to 60-49 with 2:16 left.
“We knew that we could give them a run for their money like we have been with other teams in the past,” Julian said. “We know that we’re good. We just came up a little short.”