PIAA Class 6A Girls Basketball: Neighboring counterparts Cardinal O’Hara, Archbishop Carroll meet in state semifinal

The best rivalry in Delaware County girls basketball, featuring Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O’Hara, will be renewed Monday on a grand stage. The Catholic League counterparts will pair off this time in a PIAA Class 6A semifinal game at Garnet Valley High. The game starts at 7.

It’s fitting that O’Hara and Carroll are the only teams left from eastern Pennsylvania competing for a chance to win a state title in PIAA’s highest classification. They are the most recent Delaware County girls hoops teams with PIAA titles.

While Carroll hasn’t played for a PIAA championship since 2019, O’Hara is aiming for a three-peat. The Lions captured the Class 5A championship – their first in team history – in 2021 and 2022.

Under the old PIAA classification system, the Patriots captured a Class AAA title in 2009 and a Class AAAA crown two years later. Carroll head coach Renie Shields was an assistant for the Patriots during those years. Carroll fell to Chartiers Valley, 53-40, in the Class 5A final in 2019.

Carroll (15-13) advanced to Class 6A semifinals with a 55-43 decision over District 1’s Abington last Friday. It marked the second time this season the Patriots defeated the Ghosts. Carroll overcame a poor first-half shooting performance (6-for-21) and used a 15-2 run in the third quarter to erase what had been a six-point deficit in the second period. Leading the way was All-Delco senior forward Taylor Wilson, an Army recruit, and freshman Alexis Eberz, who scored 20 of her game-high 24 points after intermission.

“She’s very confident with the ball and very mature, and she doesn’t play like a freshman,” Wilson said of Eberz. “She plays like a senior.”

Wilson finished with 12 points and 20 rebounds, while her junior sister Brooke also had a stellar all-around game with 14 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Meg Sheridan excelled on the defensive end.

The Patriots have hit their stride after an underwhelming regular season. They loaded up their nonleague schedule with national showcases, facing elite competition from places such as Fresno, Calif. (Clovis West) and Chantily, W.Va. (Paul VI). They were 1-5 and 3-7 overall to start the year, and didn’t get above the .500 mark until Jan. 17.

Coming into the season, O’Hara had to reset with a young roster. Only two starters, senior Bridget Dawson and sophomore Molly Rullo, returned from last year’s Class 5A championship squad. Dawson was ineligible for the PIAA tournament last winter due to the PIAA’s stringent transfer rules. Juniors Joanie Quinn, Greta Miller and Carly Coleman, all of whom were role players a season ago, stepped in to fill the gaps left by Maggie Doogan (Richmond), Sydni Scott (Marshall) and Annie Welde (Villanova).

O’Hara failed to advance past the semifinal round of the Catholic League playoffs, falling to Archbishop Wood for a second time this season. Carroll lost to eventual champion Lansdale Catholic in the other semifinal. Both Wood (Class 5A) and LC (4A) are in the final four of their respective state tournaments.

Quinn has emerged as a Division I caliber combo guard alongside Rullo, the best pure talent in Delco. Together they combined for 48 points to lead O’Hara to a 61-49 win over District 3’s Central York in the state quarterfinals. Rullo poured in a career-high 31 points to go with nine rebounds. Dawson, Coleman and Miller all thrived on defense. Meg Rullo, Molly’s freshman sister, hit a couple of big shots off the bench.

In the teams’ only meeting this season, back on Jan. 27, the Patriots took a 15-0 lead into the second quarter. The Lions slowly chipped away at Carroll’s sizable advantage. When Quinn drilled a stepback 3-pointer as time expired in the third quarter, O’Hara trimmed its deficit to one point. Rullo scored the go-ahead basket early in the fourth and O’Hara never looked back, earning an improbable 40-36 win.

“It’s great that one of us will be in Hershey next Friday night,” O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said after the Lions’ victory in the quarterfinals. “It’s great that we get to match up. I think we know each other well and there’s not going to be that surprise factor. They’re playing well, we’re playing well and we’re both exactly where we want to be.”