Palestra takes priority as Doogan helps Cardinal O’Hara past Archbishop Wood in PCL semifinals
BRISTOL TWP. >> All Maggie Doogan knew was that after four years of waiting, she was going to the Palestra.
The Cardinal O’Hara senior didn’t know the last free throw she hit Tuesday night gave her exactly 1,000 for her career. Of course, that’s what the Richmond-bound senior wanted, swearing her mom to secrecy in order to put blinders on that coveted Palestra trip.
It was about as Cardinal O’Hara as a Cardinal O’Hara performance could be as the No. 2 seeded Lions edged No. 3 Archbishop Wood 55-48 at Conwell-Egan in the league’s semifinals.
“It was such a great feeling, if I look back on the past three years, we’ve always played (Wood) and always lost,” Maggie Doogan, who scored the exact 17 points she needed, said. “Getting them back here, it’s a great feeling.”
It seemed fitting that finally getting to the Palestra meant going through an Archbishop Wood program that had stonewalled her and fellow seniors Sydni Scott and Annie Welde at every step. Even last year, when O’Hara fell to the Vikings in the reconfigured PCL title game, it happened in Archbishop Carroll’s gym and not the one on Penn’s campus.
During the regular season, the Lions thumped the Vikings by jumping out to a big lead and sustaining a Ryanne Allen barrage in the second half. On Tuesday, there was no huge lead but between the team’s passing, defense and Molly Rullo continuing to play beyond her years, it was enough.
Rullo, the standout freshman, had a game-best 19 points and spent a good deal of time defending Allen, the league MVP and Vanderbilt-bound Wood senior.
“We didn’t want to give up the three, we didn’t want to allow a lot of three-point shots and if they beat us shooting a lot of twos, they beat us shooting a lot of twos,” O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said. “We wanted to make sure Ryanne Allen had to work for every shot she took, which I think she did.
“Molly’s got no fear out there. She’s a tough kid, plays high level AAU competition and I think it was good we had played earlier in the season and had some success early.”
The first quarter was a good back-and-forth with Rullo putting in six but Wood taking the 15-14 advantage thanks to a three by Allie Fleming, just one of four the Vikings got all night. O’Hara built a small lead early in the second and spent the rest of the quarter pushing Wood away everytime the 2020-21 PCL champions inched back in.
While the Lions didn’t hit much from deep either, they got a pretty huge trey from Welde late in the second. The senior, who missed the last few games with a shoulder injury, wore a big brace on her right arm that didn’t hold her back from the shot that helped her team to a 28-27 halftime lead.
Having their full starting five back for the first time since Feb. 6 was an added bonus on the night’s outcome.
“I think you could see it too,” Maggie Doogan said. “Annie coming back was huge. I was a bit nervous, I thought ‘I just hope she’s all the way back,’ and she never disappoints.”
Scott’s loss proved to be O’Hara’s gain early in the third. The senior guard picked up her second foul off the ball, but the officials ruled it had come before Wood seemingly tied the game 30-30 on a three, waving off the shot and giving the Vikings a side-out.
Wood would get to close within 30-29 and something clicked for the Lions. Doogan and Rullo scored the next seven points and any flashbacks of playoff losses past were kindly invited to leave.
“It was kind of scary, I was thinking ‘please don’t let this happen again,'” Maggie Doogan said. “We dug deep and worked hard on defense.”
“She’s put a lot of pressure on herself this year to get to the Palestra and get past Wood,” Chrissie Doogan said. “As much as you tell her not to put pressure on herself, she has put that pressure on herself and I’m glad she was able to enjoy the moment and enjoy the game.”
In all, it would grow into a 13-1 run from 6:19 to the 1:01 mark in the third, giving the Lions a 43-30 lead. Vikings coach Mike McDonald agreed the run was the turning point in the game, crediting the Lions for executing their plays when they had a defensive advantage.
“We had the lapses in the third quarter the way we had them in the first half the first time we played them where they were getting too many easy baskets around the rim,” McDonald said. “I think maybe I left some kids out there too long where they got tired and were asking for switches on defense that led to a couple mis-matches and they executed better than us tonight.”
Rullo had eight total points in the first half. She surpassed it with nine in the third quarter alone and coupled with Doogan, the duo had 14 of the team’s 15 in the quarter.
Maggie Doogan, the veteran, had a pretty straightforward response to the play of her rookie teammate.
“Oh my God,” the first team All-PCL forward said with a laugh.
“I mean coming in as a freshman and going against Ryanne Allen is really impressive. Molly stepped up huge and I’m really proud of her.”
Wood got two quick baskets late in the third and the Vikings found a spark in the final frame thanks to Allen and Ava Renninger. Renninger, a sophomore, scored six of her nine in the fourth while Allen just kept attacking the rim, rebounding her own misses and getting fouled going back up.
The Vikings got within three a couple times but O’Hara answered each time whether it was a key layup by Bridget Dawson or making foul shots late.
“I would have liked to have called a few more timeouts in the fourth to try and help them out, I’ll be kicking myself a lot tonight thinking about what I could have done,” McDonald said. “The bottom line is that O’Hara is really good, a very talented and well-coached team and tonight they deserved to win.”
With just a few seconds left, McDonald subbed Allen, who led Wood with 18 points, off the floor to give the senior a final PCL ovation for a tremendous career.
“She’s a special player and I think other coaches respect her for the way she carries herself and the way she treats other teams,” McDonald said. “She’s a great competitor and special talent so I thought at that moment, the game was over, it was right to give her that moment she deserved.”
The Lions will get another crack at their Delco rivals from Carroll in the title game, with the Patriots the only team to have topped O’Hara in the PCL regular season. They had to get their first, so excuse their senior captain for ignoring a personal scoring milestone to take care of one she valued a little bit more.
“She made me promise not to tell her if she was ever close. She had one focus this year and thar focus was to get to the Palestra and give us a chance at winning a Catholic League championship,” Chrissie Doogan said. “We’ll do something (for her 1,000th) at practice. She just wanted to win this game.
“My parents didn’t know, her aunts, they’re all going to be mad at me.”
O’Hara 55, Wood 48
CARDINAL O’HARA 14 14 15 12 – 55
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 15 12 7 14 – 48
CO: Sydni Scott 1 4-4 7, Molly Rullo 6 6-7 19, Bridget Dawson 2 1-2 5, Annie Welde 1 2-4 5, Maggie Doogan 5 7-10 17, Greta Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 20-27 55
AW: Ryanne Allen 6 4-6 18, Bri Bowen 1 0-2 2, Deja Evans 2 3-6 8, Delaney Finnegan 1 0-0 2, Ava Renninger 4 1-2 9, Allie Fleming 2 0-0 5, Kara Meredith 0 2-2 2, Emily Knouse 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 10-18 48
3-pointers: CO – Scott, Welde, Rullo; AW – Allen 2, Fleming, Evans
