Resilient Eagles find ways to win
Creach’s injury puts pressure on teammates
Heading into the quarterfinals round of the WPIAL 5A playoffs, the undefeated Oakland Catholic Eagles were playing their best basketball of the season and weren’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Then, in an instant, the season changed. The Eagles’ leading scorer, junior London Creach, suffered a season-ending leg injury. Playing without Creach for the first time all season, Oakland Catholic lost the following two games, first, the semifinal round to Armstrong and then the consolation game to McKeesport. With still plenty to play for in the PIAA tournament, the group has since had to learn on the fly how to run their offense without her.
“The one big thing that I say to our girls is that ‘The sun shines on somebody different every single game.’ And that’s the truth,” Eagles coach Eddie Benton Jr. said. “We don’t care who gets the sunshine. It’s on somebody different every game. I think the girls bought into that and I think that’s what has helped us have some success at this point.”
In Wednesday’s PIAA second-round contest, the sun shined all around the roster as the Eagles (26-2) cruised to a 48-28 victory against the 2023 5A state runner- up South Fayette Lions (19-9). The Eagles came out storming, led by sophomore Josie Fontana, who had eight points in the first five minutes, to help build a 10-2 lead with 2:42 to go in the first quarter.
The lead grew to 17 point leads at halftime, then 20 at the end of the third quarter, and the Eagles were able to run the clock down during the final eight minutes.
Fontana finished with 14 points to lead the way offensively for the Lions.
“Josie was very good early on. I thought she really rebounded the ball [well],” Benton said. “Josie has done a great job all year long. She rebounds for us, she alters shots for us, and she scores in the paint for us. Josie was phenomenal tonight.”
Junior Alayla Bivins had 13 points, while freshman Kaylee DeAngelo, who has taken on a larger role in Creach’s absence, supplied 12 points.
After losing to South Fayette twice last season, Benton switched his defense from man-to-man to zone ahead of Wednesday’s contest, for the first time this season. The Lions didn’t have any answers for the change, and were forced to settle for tough perimeter shots.
“Our zone was pretty good,” Fontana said. “I think we did a really good job rotating and not allowing them to get touches in the paint. I think that really helped. Outside shots are going to happen, but I think we did a good job limiting them.”
South Fayette sophomore Juliette Leroux, who finished with 10 points, was the only Lion in double digits.
Benton said after the victory that he’s learned a lot about the resilience of his group over the past couple of weeks
“With London out, it really shows that our girls are battle tested,” he said. “Everybody says, ‘Next person up, next person up.’ But when it’s someone of [Creach’s] caliber, that’s tough. That’s easy to say, but our girls stepped up to the challenge.”