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Bishop Shanahan upsets Springfield in OT to reach District final

02/25/2022, 11:00pm EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

Caydence Oswald bided her time, knowing that if the chance presented itself, the Bishop Shanahan junior guard would take it. Until then, blank lines filled white space next to her name in the scorebook. Nothing through four quarters Friday night.

When the chance did arrive, Oswald didn’t think about the fact she had not taken a shot all night. She didn’t think about her shots falling short during warmups, and, most importantly, she didn’t think about the gravity of the situation she and her team were in.

Oswald let it go and nailed a 3-point shot that turned out to be the game-winning points in No. 4-seed Bishop Shanahan’s 34-29 overtime upset over No. 1-seed and two-time defending District 1 5A champion Springfield in the district semifinals.


Abigail Wolfe (L) and Caydence Oswald will play for the District 1 5A championship next weekend. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

The Eagles (15-8) will now face No. 7 Villa Maria on Saturday, March 5 at Temple in the District 1 5A championship.

It’s the first time Shanahan has reached the district finals in about two decades, to the recollection of Eagles head Jim Powers.

“I don’t know how long it’s been, at least 15 years or so,” Powers said. “I told my team that we’re going to have to win a road game in somebody’s gym. Springfield is a hell of a team and (Springfield coach Ky McNichol) does a great job. They make it rough on you. If you want to win a championship, you have to beat the champs.

“They beat us earlier in the year at our gym (46-38) and Caydence can shoot. We have two bulldogs on our team, Caydence and Sammy Blumenthal, and they don’t stop. They’ll take their shots. They don’t lose confidence. I’m not surprised Caydence made it.”

Powers has one senior on the team. This is a team comprised of mostly sophomores and juniors. What Powers likes is his team’s toughness. What’s more is it could be someone different each game, like sophomore Abbey Wolfe, who scored a game-high nine points and was electric in the first quarter and clutch in overtime, or Blumenthal, who matched Wolfe’s output.

Then there is Oswald, who sat in the corner about a minute into overtime. She saw an opening and took, hitting the three.

“I knew I needed to shoot the ball, I had the shot and I took it,” Oswald said. “We played our hearts out. We were excited. We were all dancing before the game in the locker game with the music blasting.”

What set the tone was Shanahan’s 7-0 start and 9-2 start, seven coming from Wolfe, who hit two big free throws in overtime to seal the victory. Wolfe had a habit of wearing a perpetual smile, until the time she got the ball, and an edge on her face took over.

“I was pumped up to be there, and I loved how all of us were playing together,” Wolfe said. “I actually had the feeling the ball was going in by my form. I just knew we could do this. I felt we were going to win, just looking around seeing everyone else look relaxed. On the foul line (in overtime), I just focused on the first three loops (on the basket).”

Springfield (16-7) had its chances, too. The Cougars went 0-for-10 from the foul line in the second half, until Mia Valerio canned a pair of free throws with 1:08 to play that gave Springfield a 29-27 lead. They happened to be the last points Springfield would score, because with :08 left, Shanahan’s Alexa Bojko knifed through the lane and hit a runner to tie at 29-29.

That set the stage for Oswald’s heroics.

“My kids battle every game, but our Achilles heel all year has been at the foul line,” McNichol said. “We thought we had it fixed. We shot 11 of 13 in our last game. We just didn’t get it done on the foul line. It wasn’t one or two kids; it was across the board.

“We still (have) some season left. They came at us early, and we could have folded, but there is no quit in these kids. We were winning. The bottom line is we have to make foul shots.”

Powers had a feeling his team was capable of reaching this point.

“I think we met expectations, and this is a tough group,” Powers said. “Now we’re going to the finals. I just know how long it’s been since a Shanahan girls’ team has done that. I do know it’s been a long time.”

By Quarter
Shanahan:   12  |   2   |   9   |   6   |   5   || 34
Springfield:   6   |   9   |  10  |   4   |   0   ||  29

Scoring
Shanahan: Samantha Blumenthal 9, Abbey Wolfe 9, Alexa Bojko 7, Alyssa Brown 6, Caydence Oswald 3

Springfield: Anabel Kreydt 8, Taylor Hunyet 7, Kaitlyn Kearney 6, Mia Valerio 6, Cora Fattori 2

~~~

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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