North Penn’s season ends in PIAA AAAA semifinals with loss to Cardinal O’Hara

ROYERSFORD >> Cardinal O’Hara overcame an eight-point third-quarter lead, getting clutch threes and dominant defense down the stretch, to carve its way to the PIAA Class AAAA State Final with a 48-41 win over North Penn Tuesday night.

A tremendous season came to an end for the Lady Knights, in a back-and-forth semifinal battle at Spring-Ford.
“It’s a disappointing loss but I’m really proud of everybody on the team,” said North Penn junior Jess Huber, who battled her way to 17 points and five rebounds, all on a swollen, bruised foot.

A drive to the hoop by Huber put North Penn up 31-23 midway through the third, but the Lions, champions of District 12, got baskets by Mackenzie Gardler and Hannah Nihill and a big three by Maura Hendrixson to close to within two.

A steal and layup by Nihill evened things up at 33 by the end of the third.

“We just went through a stretch there where we made really poor decisions on offense and took really quick shots,” said Lady Knights coach Maggie deMarteleire, “and you can’t do that against a team like that. They’re just too good.”

O’Hara, led by Gardler’s 18 points, would build a five-point lead early in the fourth and hold NP scoreless in the period until a drive by Huber made it 38-35 with 4:20 to play.

The Lions built the lead back up though, going up by seven with 1:25 to go. A free throw by Gardler sealed it with 18 seconds left to play.

“In the fourth and the last two minutes of the third, they just took the game over,” deMarteleire said.

Early on, a pair of threes by Gardler and one by Nihill helped O’Hara build a 13-8 lead by the end of a tightly-contested first quarter.

In the second, however, North Penn pulled ahead for the first time on a three by Huber and later back-to-back jumpers by Bri Hewlett kept NP up 19-18.

And then in the final seconds of the half, Irisa Ye drove hard to the hoop, took the foul and scored, hitting the ensuing free throw to compete the three-point play and send the Lady Knights into the locker room in commanding fashion, up 22-18.

North Penn would stretch the lead to eight but O’Hara rallied to take control, advancing to Friday’s state final in Hershey against Cumberland Valley.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team that worked so hard on defense and can knock down so many threes in the fourth quarter,” deMarteleire said. “They’re quick, they’re conditioned, and they did a great job on defense.”

Molly Paolino’s defense on the Lady Knights’ Sam Carangi was instrumental for O’Hara, limiting her to just three shots.

Senior Mikaela Giuliani, a 100-game winner during her years at North Penn, scored the final two points of her high school career to bring the Lady Knights within 42-37 with 1:12 to play.

A free throw by Huber and later a three by Mia Melchior twice brought North Penn within six in the final minute, but the Lions put the game away at the line.

“It was a tremendous season,” said deMarteleire, who guided the Lady Knights to states for the fifth straight year, this being the deepest of the five runs. “The only time you end happy is when you win your last game, and that’s very difficult to do.”

Giuliani added eight points and Hewlett had six for the Lady Knights, who had a trip to Hershey within sight.

“I think we’re a great team and we’re all like family,” Huber said. “We’re still gonna hang out and do everything together, but I think it’s just very disappointing. We wanted that state championship, and it just stinks that we couldn’t get there.”