Central Valley’s Harlee Johns, left, and North Catholic’s Lucy Waskiewicz battle for possession in North Catholic’s win in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game.
Dominant performance in third quarter brings another championship
North Catholic already had the richest tradition of any WPIAL girls basketball program.
The rich got richer on Friday night. The No. 1-seeded Trojanettes (22-3) quickly erased a four-point halftime deficit with a dominating performance in the third quarter, then poured it on in the fourth for a 75-57 win against No. 2 seed Central Valley (22-2). The victory gave North Catholic its third straight WPIAL title and 19th overall, extending the school’s WPIAL record.
“We’ve come back before. We’re a fighting team,” senior forward Dani Short said. “It’s not a big deal for us to be behind.”
Trojanettes coach Molly Rottman said there was no secret message she delivered to her team at halftime. Rather, just simple reminders of what got them this far.
“It wasn’t any magical words. They’re competitors. They want to win,” Rottman said. “I said, ‘We’ve been here, done that.’ They know what they needed to do, and they just settled in in the second half and played the way they’re capable of playing.”
Junior guard Tess Myers started the game 0 for 2 from the field, then made 10 of her last 12 shots for a game-high 26 points. Fellow junior Kylee Lewandowski finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Senior forward Harlee Johns led the Warriors with 22 points in defeat.
Central Valley stormed out to a 17-9 lead after the first quarter, as the Warriors made 7 of 12 field goal attempts in the opening quarter. Meanwhile, North Catholic shot just 2 of 9 from the field and struggled to get any offense going — but they wouldn’t stay quiet for long.
The Trojanettes came alive in the second quarter as Lewandowski made a 3pointer to cut Central Valley’s lead to 2115, then Myers followed with a pull-up jumper in transition. A step-back three from Myers on the team’s next possession tied the score at 22-22.
Junior forward Allyson Kirby then buried a 3-pointer to put the Warriors back on top, and they took a 30-26 lead into the break. But all the momentum Central Valley had generated in the first half evaporated to start of the third quarter.
“We just came together at halftime,” Myers said. “We knew what we needed to do, pick it up like coach said. Get through screens, rebound and keep shooting our shots, and they’ll get in. We just did amazing. I’m really proud of them.”
North Catholic came out of the break on a mission with Lewandowski, Myers and Short leading the way. Short grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and tied the score at 30-30 with a putback, then Lewandowski gave the Trojanettes a 32-30 lead with a driving layup. Junior guard Cassie Foster then nailed a 3-pointer, and Lewandowski followed with a putback of her own plus a free throw to make it 3830.
After a 3-pointer by Myers and another layup by Lewandowski, North Catholic had a 43-30 lead before the Warriors even knew what hit them.
“I think it was absolutely huge,” Rottman said of her team’s offensive rebounds.
“We missed a couple of layups, we missed a couple of threes, and we kept the ball alive in our possession. And that’s a backbreaker.”
Central Valley temporarily stopped the bleeding after a three-point play by Kaelyn Underwood, but the Warriors couldn’t stop Myers and Lewandowski. By the end of the third, the Trojanettes had opened up a 56-42 lead, and Central Valley never came close to mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter.
With the win, Rottman moved into a tie for second place all-time with her eighth WPIAL title as a head coach.
“That’s great, but it’s them. I’m just trying to help them along,” Rottman said about her players. “It’s awesome, but it’s great because they won it.”