Forwards lead way in Archbishop Wood’s PCL championship win
PHILADELPHIA >> Bailey Greenberg had quite a day on Monday.
First, the Archbishop Wood senior had to survive two tests, one in anatomy, the other theology. Then, she had to board a bus, drive down to the Palestra and do what no team had done in 53 tries and beat Neumann-Goretti.
Her teachers probably won’t like to hear this, but the senior wing didn’t have her full attention on their classes Sunday night.
“My day? Well, I was a little stressed because I had two tests and I didn’t want to fail them,” Greenberg said. “But I did well, so it’s OK. I was thinking about the game, last night I didn’t study because I kept thinking ‘we’re playing tomorrow.’ After my two tests were done, I thought ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to the Palestra,’ I had butterflies the whole time, I was so nervous. But then I thought we have nothing to lose, so we’ll go out there and play our hardest. And we did.”
Greenberg scored a game-high 16 points with 10 rebounds as she led Wood to a stirring 40-36 upset of the Saints and delivered the Vikings their first PCL title since 2011 and only the second in the program’s storied history.
Whether it was working her way inside, battling Goretti star Alisha Kebbe the whole way, scoring or grabbing tough rebounds, Greenberg left it all on the line as she pursed her last chance at a PCL title.
Off to Drexel next fall, Greenberg still wants a PIAA title, now the only trophy to have eluded her. If she attacks the District 12 title game and Class AAA state tournament the same way she attacked Monday’s game, the Vikings have a good shot to do it.
Greenberg’s style is infectious and it’s certainly rubbed off on all her teammates but especially sophomore posts Katie May and Kate Connolly.
“We all know Bail’s our best player when she’s feeling it,” May said. “No one can stop her when she is on. When she’s playing well, everyone is playing better.”
May and Connolly were just as big in the win, despite having quieter offensive nights. Connolly, at 6-foot-2 and mobile, anchored the back line of a Wood defense that made the night tough on the Saints’ drivers and slashing attackers.
May meanwhile, hit a pair of 3-pointers 36 seconds apart in the third quarter to give Wood an eight-point lead and just played with a calm and poise beyond her years.
That came as little surprise to her coach, who often touts May’s ability to just be a sound player in every aspect of the game.
“Katie May has an IQ that’s beyond her age for sure,” Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “She knows exactly what’s going on around the court, how to play the game and how other people will play the game depending on their strengths and weaknesses. She just sees things, she has a basketball mind and it just comes out on the court.”
“She’s a genius,” Greenberg slipped in.
Having snapped Goretti’s remarkable streak, Wood is building a nice winning run of its own, having won its last 15 games. The Vikings have eyes on another trophy presentation in a few weeks in Hershey and they seem to be on the right track to getting there.
