Archbishop Wood wins Class AAA title

HERSHEY >> The ball swung and swung around the floor until it found Bailey Greenberg low in the post.
Archbishop Wood hadn’t looked itself for much of the night but it held a seven-point lead on Villa Maria with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter. It was a key moment for Greenberg and naturally, she made the right choice.
The senior kicked out to a wide open Shannon May on the wing, May drained a 3-pointer and Wood led by 10 with 5:34 to go.
It was not the prettiest effort or game, but when it ended, Wood had broken another opponent and stood atop the state, defeating previously unbeaten Villa 46-29 in the PIAA Class AAA girls championship game at the Giant Center. After two straight years of heartbreak, Greenberg was a state champion and she had relied on all her teammates to get to the summit.
“Our team as a whole, we all have a year of experience under our belt, we’ve all been here,” Greenberg said still clutching the giant chocolate bar handed to state champions. “Last year it was just (now graduated) Aubree (Brown) and I but this year, everyone has that experience. Everyone really clicked as a team on both defense and offense.”
The Victors, coming in with a 29-0 record as the District 10 champions, had Wood in a rut to start the game, using a zone to slow Wood’s patient but potent attack. But for all the issues the Vikings had putting the ball in the bucket, Villa Maria led just 8-5 after one quarter.
With her team needing a spark, Katie May delivered. Her layup cut the lead down to 8-7 then after Villa Maria pushed it back up to 12-7, May hit two foul shots with 4:51 left in the second half and tied the game 12-12 on the next possession after saving a broken play.
A pass for the corner started to sail high when May caught it, turned to face the hoop and with space, rose up and drilled the 3-pointer.
“It definitely was for Meg (Neher) but it came to me,” May said. “No one was on me, so I knew I had to knock it down and put momentum back on our side.”
It wasn’t just the points. May forced a couple of steals and provided energy the sagging Vikings needed while trying to figure out Villa and a choppy start thanks to plenty of fouls on both teams.
The teams traded the lead back a few times before Greenberg scored inside to put the team up 15-14 and setting off an 8-2 run to close the half. The key moment came when Villa Maria’s bench was assessed a technical foul with 1:13 before the half. Karly Brown sank both free throws and with possession going to Wood, Greenberg scored on the following possession for a four-point swing.
Still, the Drexel-bound senior felt like she could be doing more.
“I knew my first half wasn’t good,” Greenberg said. “My free throw shooting wasn’t good. I’ll hear it from my dad later and my uncles and my aunts and my mom, maybe. Definitely from (my grandmom). I really just felt like my third quarter wasn’t great either and my aunt (assistant coach Kathy Greenberg) said Bailey this is your quarter. I said I want to leave on a good note, I don’t want to look back and think I didn’t play great in the state final.”
The third quarter was slow for both teams, with Wood holding a 27-21 lead going into the final frame. Then Greenberg started the fourth with four straight points, found Shannon May for the 3-pointer and Wood finally clicked.
Villa got it back to 10 at 37-27 with 3:47 to go, but Wood’s defense was just too stifling as the Vikings closed on a 9-2 run to win their first state title since 2012.
“The memory of losing last year really helped us when we were down and we knew we had to come back and win this game,” senior guard Claire Bassetti said. “We started to watch where their shooters were and when we doubled, we weren’t leaving shooters open or their players we had scouted to be the better. Turnovers and pushing the ball for transition layups are big for us.”
After leaving Hershey despondent the last two years, Wood finally got what it went for.
“It was maturity and the experience of being here,” McDonald said. “We knew what to expect, it was similar to the Palestra. We got there two years in a row so we were able to go in there and just focus on playing the game, it was a confidence builder. Getting here, being her two years, these seniors are motivated to be here so we had more focus on the game than the whole experience itself.”