State champions clash in Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery girls basketball bracket quarterfinals

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The second round of the Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery girls’ basketball team of the decade bracket opens with another set of intriguing matchups.

Two of the four matchups pit an Archbishop Wood state champion against another Archbishop Wood state champion. CB West’s 2014-15 squad faces the fifth Vikings state champion and in the final matchup, the first round’s two closest winners in Souderton and Gwynedd Mercy vie for a semifinal spot.

A quick primer on the eight teams still in the hunt.

No. 1 Archbishop Wood (2015-16) vs No. 9 Archbishop Wood (2009-10)

Both teams won their first round matchups by a handy margin in the reader voting, with the 09-10 team upsetting a very strong Archbishop Carroll team that won PCL and PIAA titles in 2011-12.

The 15-16 Vikings brought home plenty of hardware, winning the PCL title, District 12 3A and PIAA 3A championships. Led by senior forward Bailey Greenberg, the state player of the year, Wood finished on a 21-game win streak after a 4-6 start. Greenberg (5-foot-11), along with forwards Katie May (5-foot-11) and Kate Connolly (6-foot-2), gave the Vikings a formidable frontline.

Wood’s 09-10 team was the first to bring home a state title for the program, which started a three-peat of championships. Point guard Samantha Greenfield was the team’s only senior with a rotation of juniors and sophomores learning what it took to win in the state tournament. The Vikings lost to Carroll in the regular season and PCL title game, but edged the Patriots in states on their way to the championship.

No. 5 Souderton (2017-18) vs No. 13 Gwynedd Mercy Academy (2015-16)

Thanks to a late surge, the Indians edged Abington’s 2016-17 team in a close duel of District 1 champions while the Monarchs slipped by a 2018-19 Germantown Academy team that went 30-1 by just two percentage points in the vote.

Souderton’s senior-led squad was eager to build off a PIAA semifinal appearance the year before and behind Kate Connolly, Tori Dowd, Alana Cardona and Sami Falencki, they did just that. Despite a season-long series with SOL Continental rival CB South, the Indians secured SOL Continental and tournament titles before outlasting the Titans in a three-overtime district final. Their run would see a second straight state semifinal appearance.

The Monarchs also wanted more following a promising campaign the year prior. Behind AACA MVP Erica DeCandido, GMA knocked off rival Mount Saint Joseph for a league title, then won a District 1 3A title before advancing to the state quarterfinals and falling to Archbishop Wood, the top seed in this bracket. Seniors Brigit Coleman, Maggie Cameron and Mary Claire Casey formed the foundation of the team around DeCandido.

No. 3 Archbishop Wood (2010-11) vs No. 11 Archbishop Wood (2016-17)

Wood’s most recent state champion, off a win against No. 6 North Penn, faces the Vikings’ state champion with the best overall record of the five.

With all but one player back in the fold, the 2010-11 Vikings found a way to improve on the prior season by going 28-4 and winning the program’s first PCL title before capturing a District 12 title and a second straight state title. Wood won every state playoff game by at least 14 points. Seniors Christine Verrelle, Tori Arnao and Steph Keyes led the team in front of a strong junior class. In the first round, the Vikings knocked off a 29-1 Saint Basil Squad from 2016-17.

With just two starters back from the 2015-16 championship season, the Vikings reloaded well. Cassie Sebold and Katie May remained in the first five, while reserves from the prior like Shannon May, Karly Brown, Meg Neher and others took on expanded roles. The Vikings returned to the PCL final but lost to Cardinal O’Hara before claiming a District 12 title and the first PIAA title in the new 5A classification.

No. 2 CB West (2014-15) vs No. 10 Archbishop Wood (2011-12)

West’s strongest team of the past decade knocked off a state champion 2017-18 Jenkintown team in the first round and will try to down Wood’s third-straight state champion fresh off a win over No. 7 Mount Saint Joseph (2010-11).

From the beginning, the Bucks never hid their goals of getting to Hershey for a state championship and they played like it the whole year going 32-2. While they would fall to Cumberland Valley in the state final, the Bucks rolled most opponents on their way to SOL Continental and tournament titles before hoisting a District 1 4A title. Seniors Nicole Munger, Mackenzie Carroll, Corrinne Godshall and Payton Traina set the tone with a mindset to never be outworked.

A senior class of seasoned state playoff veterans including Taylor Kaminski, Lauren Nealon and Alex Heck navigated a different path to a three-peat. Losing in the PCL title game sent Wood to the District 12 third-place game and then a path through the west in states, where the Vikings knocked off two WPIAL and a trio of District 3 opponents to hoist another state trophy.

Like the first round, quarterfinal voting will be held on Twitter at @ReporterSports.

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson
Montgomery Media/Lansdale Reporter sports writer.

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