Late chances elude Archbishop Wood in PCL final against Archbishop Carroll

PHILADELPHIA >> For all of 20 seconds, things were finally looking up for Archbishop Wood.

After playing catch-up for almost the entirety of the game, the Vikings got a three-pointer from Lindsay Tretter to start overtime, putting themselves in front on what they thought was a tide-turning bucket. Just 20 seconds later, Archbishop Carroll’s Erin Sweeney ripped their hearts out when she answered with a triple of her own.

From there, not much else went right for Wood and as Carroll made all the plays it needed down the stretch to top the Vikings 48-42 in overtime of the PCL girls’ basketball championship game at the Palestra.

“Our layups weren’t falling, a lot of fouls were going their way and it’s hard to play a game like that,” Wood sophomore Kaitlyn Orihel said. “It messes with you, I think we were getting in our own heads. We were down seven or eight, came back and tied it, we’re used to that so we were feeling pretty good, then we lost the lead again and we started to struggle.”

Carroll won its first PCL title since 2012, which also came at Wood’s expense.

While Wood had been to the final four out of the past five years, missing out last year meant 14 players on this year’s roster were making their debut at the historic arena. Of course, none of Carroll’s players had ever played in Penn’s hallowed gym either and both teams has some early jitters.

Carroll senior Harlem Jennings found her nerves quick and sparked the Patriots to an early lead that put Wood in chasedown mode early on. The fact that Orihel picked up her second foul with 36.2 left in the opening quarter also didn’t help.

“I thought they got a lot more easier shots than we did and it was a credit to them running offense and a discredit to us on the defensive end,” Wood coach Mike McDonald said. 

With Orihel limited to mostly offense-only situations the rest of the half, Wood struggled. Of course, a lot of that credit can also go to Carroll’s defense. The Patriots rotated extremely well in the halfcourt, and it seemed like almost every time a Wood player caught a pass, there was a hand up in their face.

Carroll’s press was also pretty effective, with Jennings playing free safety and poking away four steals.

“It’s our program, we all share in what we do,” Carroll coach Renie Shields said. “They do all the work, but I want us to be a respected program so I constantly talk to them, what do they want to do, what do they want to be known for and they say just working hard.”

The trio of Sweeney, Jennings and superb freshman Grace O’Neill accounted for 96 percent of Carroll’s scoring on Monday night. Karli Doughty, the only other Patriot to score, hit a key shot at the end of the first half, splashing a jumper off a Jennings feed to send Carroll to the half up 23-16.

Wood found something to start the third quarter. Senior Annie Whalen scored five straight points before Orihel completed a three-point play to give the Vikings their first lead at 24-23.

Unfortunately for Wood, the guard would pick up fouls three and four by the 4:03 mark of the quarter, further limiting the Vikings.

“It’s the hardest environment, the best environment, it’s the biggest stage a high school kid can play on, there’s not too many college players who get to play in this environment,” McDonald said. “It’s incredible, I’m happy for the seniors to get here but I wish they had a different result to go home to.”

Wood, as it’s done quite a few times late in this season, rallied back in the fourth quarter. This time, they didn’t rely solely on Orihel to get it done.

Freshman Ryanne Allen hit two monumental 3-pointers around a trey by Tretter before Orihel’s driving layup tied it 39-39 with 13 seconds remaining.

“Once you start behind a team, it’s always hard to get back and if they’re scoring when you’re scoring, they’re always going to be ahead,” Tretter said. “We kept playing hard the whole time, I’m really proud of us as a team but it wasn’t enough at the end.”

Tretter started the overtime period with an all-net three off a dish from Orihel, putting Wood ahead with 3:45 left in the game.

“I was excited, I thought to myself ‘we’ve got this now,’ then they came down and tied it,” Tretter said. “I could say was ‘come on, really?’”

Sweeney, the first team All-PCL junior did what someone of that standing should, hitting nothing but net on her own trifecta to tie things back up 20 seconds after.

“She’s a good player and that’s a big-time shot,” McDonald said. “If she misses that, it could have been a different result for us, we just had a couple mental errors in the very final part of the game. I’m so proud of my kids and how hard they played on the biggest stage.”

Thanks to a change in the PIAA 5A brackets this year, the Patriots and Vikings could meet for a third time if both are able to advance to the state quarterfinals. As they watched Carroll celebrate with the PCL hubcap and cut down the net, the Vikings let the motivation build.

“It’s an unbelievable environment to play in,” Orihel said. “Seeing them celebrate is honestly the worst feeling, having to stand there and watch them, so it’s just more motivation.”

Archbishop Carroll 48, Archbishop Wood 42 (OT)
Archbishop Carroll 10 13 8 8 9 – 48
Archbishop Wood 8 8 12 11 3 – 42
Archbishop Carroll: Erin Sweeney 5 7-9 18, Grace O’Neill 4 4-5 13, Harlem Jennings 4 7-8 15, Karli Dougherty 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 18-23 48.
Archbishop Wood: Kaitlyn Orihel 5 4-5 15, Ryanne Allen 2 0-0 6, Annie Whalen 3 2-3 8, Liz Fasti 1 0-0 3, Noelle Baxter 0 2-2 2, Lindsay Tretter 3 0-0 8. Totals: 14 8-10 42.
3-pointers: AC – Sweeney, O’Neill; AW – Tretter 2, Allen 2, Orihel, Fasti.