Seniors lead Archbishop Wood back to PIAA-5A title game

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FRANCONIA >> The look on Katie May’s face said it all.

The Archbishop Wood girls basketball team felt it wasn’t getting a favorable whistle on a lot of holds and bumps Saturday afternoon in its PIAA 5A semifinal game. The lack of calls were making May and the Vikings angry and as Southern Lehigh learned, you wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.

Wood channeled its frustration into its play and smashed its way to a 59-39 win over the Spartans at Souderton, advancing to Hershey and the state title game for the eighth time in the last nine years.

“We know we’re not going to get every call and it is frustrating but you just have to turn to your teammates, turn to your coaches, keep playing hard and get the next possession,” May said. “I think when we’re playing angry, we’re more dangerous. Especially for the seniors, we want it this year and it played to our advantage.”

None of them turned into the Hulk, but Wood’s senior trio of May, Bridget Arcidiacono and Erin Morgan did plenty of damage. The trio combined for 38 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and five steals. Arcidiacono led Wood with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and played a terrific defensive game against Southern Lehigh’s standout junior, Olivia Snyder.

After a slow start, Wood (22-7) scored the last nine points of the first quarter to open up a 17-4 lead. The Spartans found their footing in the second quarter, with senior Amanda Mobley and Snyder each scoring six of their respective 11 points in the frame. Mobley had a big shot, beating the buzzer on a three to cut Wood’s lead to 29-21 at the break.

“We worked on stuff they do specifically and the extra time helped us,” Arcidiacono, who added four boards, an assist, two steals and a block, said. “We had to shut down (Mobley) and (Snyder). They fought to the end and made it hard for us, but we finished off strong.”

May had 10 points at the break, as did freshman Kaitlyn Orihel while no other Viking had more than four points. Orihel, who added five rebounds, four assists and two steals, had a quiet second half offensively but her seniors more than ready to take over the game.

Morgan, who started the game off by diving on the floor for a steal, jump-started Wood’s dominant third quarter with a corner three off a feed from May. Morgan finished with seven points, three steals, two assists and three boards in making sure her high school career would end in Hershey.

“I wanted my last game to be at the state championship,” Morgan said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to play in college or not, so this is really exciting. It hit me last game so when we’re down or things are going against us, I try to push the team because I wanted to get back to that state championship.”

It’ll be the fourth straight year ending in Hershey for Wood’s seniors and the Vikings are going for their third straight state title, winning the old 3A crown in 2016 and the first 5A title last year.

To get there, they used a 16-0 run to open the third quarter and held Southern Lehigh scoreless for the first 7:32 of the frame. Arcidiacono scored 12 of her 16 after the break while May stepped up everywhere else.

The Northeastern bound senior finished with eight rebounds and four assists while also chalking up three of her four blocks in the third quarter as Wood denied the Spartans over and over.

“It’s not what I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a tooth-and-nail type of close game,” Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “I thought the difference was that we were getting layups and they were working for every shot. It looked like they weren’t able to get up and down the floor as well as us because of our bench.”

The Vikings led 45-23 after three and kept up the pressure to start the fourth quarter. Wood’s top three bench players – Ryleigh Parsons, Mia Andrews and Lindsay Tretter — combined for 10 points and more importantly, helped get the ball up the floor quick and forced the Spartans to keep sprinting end to end.

Wood’s knockout shot came on a 6-0 run to open the fourth. Orihel got a steal and found Parsons on a 2-on-1 for a layup, May hit a cutting Arcidiacono for a layup and finally, off an inbound, May took a page of out the football playbook and went long to a wide open Arcidiacono for a score and 51-23 lead.

“We had to use it as motivation to run back up the court and play hard on defense,” Arcidiacono said. “If something’s not going your way, you want to convert it into something good instead of letting it become something bad.”

It wasn’t quite a gamma ray experiment gone wrong, but Wood’s feeling it wasn’t getting calls did create a monster in the second half.

“You have two ways to go at that point, either back off and get frustrated or get frustrated and start to play harder and compete beyond the point of those fouls,” McDonald said. “They just did a great job today.”

Wood will face Mars, a 52-39 winner over Archbishop Carroll, in the state title game Wednesday night at 6 p.m. The state title game had been scheduled for Saturday prior to the snow earlier in the week, but for Wood, the wait turned out to be worth it.

“We were all a little disappointed we had a few more days of practice but it gave us a chance to really focus on this game and not take the opportunity for granted,” Morgan said. “You can’t look past any game and we really came out and showed them what we’ve got.”

“It was the most (Hershey) Kisses I’ve ever seen on the court, but it’s just remarkable,” McDonald said. “It’s not something we ever take for granted. I think the experience of being her makes them mentally prepared for anything that comes at them.”

The team’s seniors weren’t able to make the Palestra this year for the PCL final, so they put all the energy they had left into making sure they got to Hershey. They achieved that goal and now they’re hoping they get to end their last game in possession of a trophy and a really big candy bar.

“It’s still surreal now, it’ll probably sink in tonight but I’m so proud of everyone on this team,” May said. “Our actions showed how much we wanted it and how happy we are we got it. We’re excited for it, but it’s another game we have to prepare and be ready for if we want to come out on top.”

ARCHBISHOP WOOD 59, SOUTHERN LEHIGH 39
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 17 12 16 14 – 59
SOUTHERN LEHIGH 4 17 2 16 – 39
Archbishop Wood: Bridget Arcidiacono 7 2-3 16, Katie May 5 2-2 15, Kaitlyn Orihel 2 2-3 10, Annie Whalen 0 1-2 1, Erin Morgan 2 2-2 7, Ryleigh Parsons 2 3-4 8, Lindsay Tretter 1 0-0 2. Nonscoring: Mia Andrews. Totals: 20 12-16 59.
Southern Lehigh: Amanda Mobley 4 0-0 11, Avery Bennett 1 0-0 2, Taylor Moncman 0 2-2 2, Olivia Snyder 4 1-3 11, Ellie Cassel 3 1-3 7, Kaya Mobley 2 0-0 4, Jeanne Rautureau 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Rice 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 4-10 39
3-pointers: AW – May 3, Orihel 2, Morgan, Parsons; SL – A Mobley 3, Snyder 2.

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson
Montgomery Media/Lansdale Reporter sports writer.

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