City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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No one or no thing was going to pry the netting or the Philadelphia Catholic League girls’ championship disk out of Maggie Doogan’s hands. The 6-foot-1 Cardinal O’Hara senior won the Catholic League championship in volleyball and she slept with the championship disk for two nights. After winning the PIAA Class 5A title, she slept with that award, too, for two nights.

A forklift or crowbar wasn’t about to get the girls’ Catholic League basketball plaque away from Doogan’s hands, either. Not after she dropped a game-high 19 points on rival Archbishop Carroll on Monday night in O’Hara’s thoroughly dominant 55-30 victory in the Catholic League championship at the Palestra.

It marks O’Hara’s first girls’ Catholic League championship since 2018. Each of the previous three years the Lions lost to Archbishop Wood in the quarterfinals, when Doogan was a freshman, to Wood again in the semifinals when she was a sophomore, and in her junior year lost once more to Wood in the Catholic League championship, which was played at Carroll, since the Palestra was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The proper steps were taken. Doogan and her senior teammates, Marshall-bound Sydni Scott, Annie Welde and Kristen Kutafaris were looking to put a stamp on their legacy.

Doogan had a personal promise she had to deal with. She admits she puts too much pressure on herself, but this gnawed at her. The last time O’Hara played Carroll, she and her teammates were pushed around. The Lions lost, 49-39, on February 1, in a game in which she scored seven points. She was better than that—and she knew it.

Maybe it explains why the Richmond-bound Doogan played as if she was possessed in the championship. She hit the floor diving for loose balls at least six times, and during one stage of the game, she had single-handedly outscored Carroll with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

Doogan spun and scored her 16th and 17th points of the game, while Carroll was still stuck on 16. By then, O’Hara held a commanding 35-16 lead. The Lions’ largest lead was 54-24 in the waning minutes of the game. By then, Doogan and her starting teammates were celebrating on the O’Hara bench watching the time wind down.

Coming to the game on the team bus, Doogan sat in the back left row, occupying a window seat. She said she was surprising calm. The speaker was blaring music, and she was thinking over scenarios in her head. What would she do when she’s double-teamed? What would she do if the Lions were down four with a minute left?

None of that came close to happening, because O’Hara never trailed—thanks to Doogan. The Lions got off to a great start, and bolted from there, after Doogan began the game by hitting a 3-pointer.

“I didn’t want to lose—I wasn’t losing,” Doogan said. “This is something that I’ll never forget and I wanted to get this my last year. Carroll bullied us the last game and I wasn’t going to be bullied again. I wasn’t going to let that happen again, and my teammates weren’t going to let that happen again.

“I kind of blamed myself in that Carroll loss. I was pissed. I had seven points and I wasn’t happy. They took us out of everything we wanted to run.”

Chrissie Doogan, O’Hara’s coach and Maggie’s mom, often has to tamp down the pressure her daughter puts on herself. Maggie would ask her mom, “What if I don’t do it (win the Catholic League championship)?” Mom would reply, “Don’t worry, that’s not your legacy. Look where you came from freshman year to senior year. Your freshman year, I couldn’t put you on the court. Look at the improvement you’ve made. Win or lose, you’ve come a long way.”

“I get on Mags all of the time about putting pressure on herself,” said Chrissie, who climbed the ladder three times herself at the Palestra to cut down the nets when she starred at O’Hara as Chrissie Donahue. “Maggie has played a lot of basketball and she’s played a lot against the Carroll girls. I told her before the game she has to walk in there and own that gym. That’s what I tried to get her to think.

Maggie (left) and Chrissie Doogan celebrate Cardinal O'Hara's championship. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

“My biggest fear about this game was that Carroll was going to come in again and outhustle and outwork us. There were a few times in the first half where Carroll beat us to loose balls. I told my team at halftime that we gave up 11 points, but we were lucky. I really wanted this for Maggie. We do a good job of separating mom and coach, but when she made that first three I knew we were good.”

With 2:31 left to play, Maggie came off the court and was immediately greeted by her mother who gave her a big hug and whispered in her ear, “You did it.”

Maggie teared up a little as she watched the last few minutes dissipate in an electric environment. “My mom has helped me so much,” Maggie said with a tinge of emotion in her voice. “I wouldn’t be where I am without her. I put so much pressure on myself and she’s the one always calming me down.”

Monday night Maggie will sleep with the netting around her neck and the Catholic League girls basketball championship disk.

The school will get it back Tuesday.

Maggie Doogan earned it.

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.