Archbishop Wood girls basketball back in Phila. Catholic League final
WARMINSTER – On Monday, Feb. 22 at the Palestra, the Archbishop Wood girls return to the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) championship for the eighth consecutive season. The fact that the Lady Vikings have fallen in the PCL final at the hand of the Saints the past two years does not matter to Wood head coach Mike McDonald, who was there when unbeaten N-G defeated the Vikes 50-45 in the title tilt last season.
“I like our chances against anybody. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing; I really like our chances,” the coach stated. “Obviously, you have to go out and play well but our girls ARE playing well and they’re playing together so I definitely like our chances in this game.
While the Saints have taken the court this season without the likes of 2015 players Ciani “C.C.” Cryor (Georgia Tech), Ahnje Timbers (Towson), Christina Aborowa (Texas) and Sianni Martin (Towson), they are still the team to beat. N-G went unbeaten again. Goretti is 23-0, overall, 14-0 in the PCL including playoff wins over St. Hubert’s and Archbishop Carroll. The Saints have gone unbeaten in the PCL in their last 53 tries, a win string that dates back to February 2013.
Goretti has supplanted last year’s departures with four new Division 1 recruits in Kamiah Smalls (James Madison), Alisha Kebbe (Syracuse), Morgan Lenahan (Wagner) and Jada Russell (Longwood).
“I don’t know if you can compare last year’s team with many teams but they are definitely very good again this year,” said McDonald.
“They are definitely a different team than last year. They don’t have the big kids that they had last year but they have five good kids on the court the whole game so you have to play at a high level.”
The Saints got past Wood for a fifth straight time in a mid-December matchup at Wood. Smalls led N-G with 15 points and Chyna Nixon added nine but more importantly, the visitors held Greenberg (9) and Bassetti (2) to single digits in the battle.
“Goretti is probably the best team that we’re playing for the rest of the year,” “said McDonald. “That’s not a knock on anybody that we’re going to see in states; they’re just better than everybody else right now.
“It’s a big test but I think we can play so we’ll see what happens on Monday.
While the Saints crushed Archbishop Carroll for the second time this season in the PCL semifinal, the Vikings pulled away from Cardinal O’Hara in the third quarter in the other semifinal, posting an eventual 47-34 win over the Lions, who defeate Wood back in January.
Since a 4-6 start, the Vikings have won 14 straight games dating back to Jan. 10 when they outpaced Malcolm X Shabbaz 55-28 in the Maggie Lucas/ Philly.com Rally Classic at Philadelphia University.
Last night back at the Gallagher Center, Wood was led by seniors Bailey Greenberg and Claire Bassetti. Bassetti’s 11 points were a game high and Green chipped in a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Vikings.
“We’re playing much better at this point in the season then we were at that point,” said McDonald. “I thought we had some advantages down low and we were able to take advantage of those.”
“We’re playing much more as a team now, much tougher,” the coach added. “I think the girls knew going in that they had to be tougher against O’Hara because they beat us earlier in the season.”
“I knew it was going to be a battle and it was and luckily, we came out on top.”
While Wood started out with wins in just four of its first 10 games including a 1-2 mark in the Catholic League, McDonald says his group is battle-tested. Playing for a fifth straight year in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, the Vikings dropped three straight to nationally ranked teams then lost another one in New York to Saint Anthony.
“That’s the way we like it,” said McDonald. “We like to play the toughest non-league schedule that we can find so that we’re prepared this time of the year.”
Greenberg is the leading scorer for Wood and she’s good on the glass, too. She typically records a double-double in every game for the Vikings. She’s averaging close to 14 points-per-game this season and is 29th among her peers in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
“Bailey played all but 21 seconds for us last night and Claire is usually up there in minutes. We are just better with them on the floor because of their leadership, because of their desire as seniors to win in their last year.”
May and Connelly are a pair of 6-foot wings who are playing their second year in the rotation.
“They played well for us last year but now they have bigger expectations,” said McDonald. “They’ve gotten us through some tough spots this season.
“Katie May did a really good job for us last night defensively. Kate Connelly is always chipping in. She shoots the three from the outside, helps rebound, block shots. She does a little bit of everything.”
McDonald would like nothing more than to see his team go out on top, especially for the two seniors, Greenberg and Bassetti
“Getting there the last two years has not been enough and they do want to win this Catholic League championship and they want to win a state championship.”
The coach says his seniors are the reason why the Vikings are headed back to the PCL title game on Monday.
“When you’re 4-and-6, nobody is happy when you’re losing games, and they kind of turned it around. They started to lead better and really push everybody else on the team to get better,” he said.
“You could see it on the floor with their play and you could see it in practice with the way they were being vocal toward the other players.
“They really stepped it up a notch and now, we’re playing really well because of it.”
While Wood won three straight PIAA titles from 2010 to 2012 and has won the last two District 12-AAA championships, the Vikings have not won a PCL crown since 2011 when they defeated Archbishop Carroll for the title.
Wood has also made it to the PIAA-AAA championship game the last two years but lost both times to Blackhawk.
NOTES: Wood also has a sophomore in 5-11 wing Bridget Arcidiacono, whose brothers played football for the Vikings before taking their game to the next level. Of course, her cousin Ryan, from Langhorne, is a standout guard for the Villanova men’s basketball team.
Archbishop Wood 47, Cardinal O’Hara 34
(Feb. 16 at Phila. University)
Cardinal O’Hara 5 7 6 16 – 34
Archbishop Wood 4 11 12 20 – 47
ARCHBISHOP WOOD — Claire Bassetti 11, Cassie Sebold 7, Meg Neher 2, Shannon May 5, Katie May 5, Bailey Greenberg 10, Kate Connolly 7.
CARDINAL O’HARA — Mackenzie Gardler 6, Maura Hendrixon 5, Lauren Leicht 2, Hannah Nihill 9, Molly Paolino 2, Mary Sheehan 10.
3-POINT GOALS: Bassetti 2, May, Connolly.
