Chartiers Valley girls oust Penn Hills, advance to WPIAL Class 5A championship game
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Wednesday, February 27, 2019 | 10:00 PM
Chartiers Valley celebrates as they come to the bench after taking a lead against Penn Hills in the first quarter during semifinal WPIAL action Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Fox Chapel Area School.
Chartiers Valley’s Perri Carlisle-Page blocks the shot of Penn Hills’ Niya Moore during semifinal WPIAL action Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Fox Chapel Area School.
Chartiers Valley’s Megan McConnell defends on Penn Hills’ Ariana Dunson during semifinal WPIAL action Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Fox Chapel Area School.
Chartiers Valley’s Gabriella Legister grabs a rebound over Penn Hills’ Tayonna Robertson during semifinal WPIAL action Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Fox Chapel Area School.
Chartiers Valley’s Megan McConnell fights for the ball with Penn Hills’ Ariana Dunson during semifinal WPIAL action Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Fox Chapel Area School.
It’s a wonderful thing when imagination catches up to reality. That’s what happened for Chartiers Valley girls basketball coach Tim McConnell and his Colts.
Everything came to fruition Wednesday evening at Fox Chapel as the top-seeded Colts rode the red-hot hand of Mackenzie Wagner’s 3-point shooting and punched their ticket to the WPIAL Class 5A championship game with a 45-37 win over No. 4 Penn Hills.
“I told the girls before the game when I got this job back in May, this is one of the things I imagined was us playing and going to the ‘Pete’ for a WPIAL championship, and it happened,” said McConnell, who led the Chartiers Valley boys team to six WPIAL titles before taking over the girls program this season.
Top-seeded Chartiers Valley (24-0) advances to its second WPIAL championship game in three years to face No. 6 Thomas Jefferson (19-6) at 3 p.m. Saturday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. The Jaguars advanced by beating No. 2 Oakland Catholic, 68-55.
Penn Hills (16-7) will enter the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, which begin March 9.
“Today we struggled offensively,” Penn Hills coach Robert Cash said. “They played man (defense), and we just didn’t take good shots. We just weren’t patient. They got what they wanted. We just didn’t get what we wanted.”
Wagner got what she wanted early. The senior scored all of the Colts’ first-quarter points. Wagner connected on three consecutive 3-pointers and drained a couple of foul shots to pace the Colts’ offense.
“The girl is a flat-out shooter,” McConnell said about Wagner.
After struggling in the Colts’ quarterfinal win over Trinity, it was crucial that Wagner found her stroke early in the game.
“Last game, I was really struggling from the 3,” said Wagner, who finished with a game-high 25 points. “But this game, my teammates, especially team captain Megan McConnell, she really helped get my momentum.”
It didn’t take long before Chartiers Valley ran up an 11-1 lead with a little over 1 minute left on the first-quarter clock. Penn Hills’ struggles were all fundamental. Poor passing, shot selection, rebounding and lack of patience were all contributors to the Indians troubles. There was one thing that was consistent, which was Penn Hills’ ability to find a spark late in each quarter.
Penn Hills senior Tayonna Robertson drained a 3-pointer at the top of the arc to stop the Colts’ run and draw the score to 11-5. Adia Brisker added a basket at the buzzer to close out the first quarter at 11-7. Robertson finished with a team-high 15 points and Brisker chipped in with 11.
“We didn’t get a good start to quarters,” Cash said. “The first three or four minutes of each quarter is really important.”
Brisker had a steal and a layup to start the second quarter, but after that the Penn Hills flame fizzled and the Colts went back to knocking down shots. Gagriella Legister scored on a layup and Perri Carlisle-Page came back down the floor and added another bucket to extend the Colts’ lead to 15-9.
Wagner added another 3-pointer from the right elbow, and Legister swished a short jumper to bring the score to 20-11 with 2:34 left on the second-quarter clock.
The Indians went on a small 4-0 run late in the half and went into the locker room trailing 21-16.
“I think we made it tough for them to play from behind,” McConnell said. “They’re a better team when they play from ahead. If they shot from the perimeter we felt like we had a better chance than if they were to drive it.”
Robertson came out of the locker in the third quarter to pace the Indians offense with seven points. Penn Hills was within striking distance down by just three points, 26-23.
Sticking to the script, Wagner found her mark from the left elbow and hit a 3-pointer late in the final seconds of the third quarter to give the Colts a 35-28 lead.
The Indians closed to within five points at 37-32 on a Jasmyn Golden steal and layup with 1:15 remaining in the game. That was as close as the Indians would get. Chartiers Valley went 6 of 8 from the foul line down the stretch to put the game away.
“I’m excited for the girls,” McConnell said. “They bought in, and they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do and more.”
Tags: Chartiers Valley, Penn Hills
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