City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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PHILADELPHIA — March came in like a pride of Lions.

Cardinal O'Hara started the month of February getting, in the Lions' players own words, "bullied" in a 10-point loss to Archbishop Carroll that would be their only setback in the PCL's regular season. The Lions needed the rest of the month to recover, navigating a few injuries but came back together just in time to get a fresh chance to stand up to their bullies with February about to bid farewell.

Tough, together and terrifyingly tenacious, No.2 O'Hara followed senior Maggie Doogan's lead to a dominant effort on both ends, topping No. 1 Carroll 55-30 to capture the Philadelphia Catholic League title Monday night at the historic Palestra.

"They bullied us at their place," Doogan said matter-of-factly. "We weren't going to let that happen again."

The senior, a first team All-PCL selection, was outstanding with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, plus four assists as O'Hara's fluid offense did what it couldn't the first time around and picked apart a pretty good defense. She'd put such a laser focus on getting to the Palestra that she wouldn't accept anything other than a win, scoring the first five points for her team and keeping a vice-grip on the PCL hubcap once it was put in her hands.

Cardinal O'Hara celebrates with the 2022 Philadelphia Catholic League championship trophy. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

At the start of the month, the Patriots bumped and pushed the Lions off their game in a 49-39 Carroll win that made an offense known for its high assist rate look disjointed and ragged. It was a lesson in toughness O'Hara didn't forget and a lesson the Lions were eager to return on the stage their seniors had worked so hard for four years to reach.

"That first loss to Carroll was on me," O'Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said. "I went back and watched that film and we weren't ready for it, they weren't ready for that atmosphere and they weren't ready for that physicality. I told them we weren't ready to beat Carroll a month ago.

"We were ready tonight."

Indeed they were. 

While O'Hara's mascot is the Lions, to Carroll, their opponent may have seemed more like the mythical Hydra, each defender in the way seemingly replaced by two more if the first faltered. The Patriots missed their first six shots from the floor and trailed 13-5 when Maggie Grant finally converted a field goal on a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in the opening quarter.

In the same way they share the ball on offense, the Lions share the job on defense. Their ability to switch, rotate and defend individually kept Carroll from getting much inside the arc and progressively kept pushing the Patriots' shooters further and further back until they were launching behind the college 3-point line on the Palestra floor.

"We knew who we were guarding," O'Hara senior guard Sydni Scott said. "Personnel-wise, we knew what we were doing. Like with Maggie Grant, my coaches told me to keep a left hand up and as far as she goes, you go, because she can shoot from anywhere and with Grace (O'Neill), you can't let her go right so you had to try and make her go left. And the help, our help was there, we practice our help defense so I feel like we're always on the same page."

Scott, who scored eight points and dished a team-best six assists, was a bulldog on the perimeter defensively along with Bridget Dawson. In the event someone did get by them, that person had to deal with Doogan, Molly Rullo and Annie Welde, who combined for 18 rebounds.

Welde, a senior playing a second straight game with her right shoulder in a hefty brace after dislocating it earlier in the month, felt the defense effort embodied the overall toughness the Lions lacked at the start of the month.

"We pride ourselves on defense too," Welde said. "We're talented offensively but on defense, you have to work hard, you have to be quicker and tougher and work harder than they are."

Maggie Doogan was a force in the first half, out-scoring the Patriots on her own 12-11 at the break with O'Hara holding a 25-11 advantage. She started the third by finding Scott for a three, got a three-point play off a putback a few possessions later and scored again off a Scott dish in the heart of a 12-0 run from the 5:53 mark to the 1:16 of the third that all but put the trophy in her hands.

Rullo came on strong with nine of her 11 in the second half and Welde had six of her eight after intermission.

Chrissie Doogan didn't even think her team defended all that well in the first half but there was little doubt the impact the Lions' lockdown effort had in holding O'Neill to nine points, Grant to three and a combined seven from Taylor Wilson and Brooke Wilson.

Winning isn’t a new experience for this group, as the senior trio of Scott, Welde and Doogan were all an integral part of last season’s PIAA 5A championship. However, there’s no substituting what it feels like to play at the Palestra in front of a capacity crowd and finally get a chance to hold the cherished rounded plaque.

“It’s this unsaid thing, we’ve all been here before, we’ve seen people playing in this game and you wish it could be you,” Welde said. “It’s something that such a little amount of people get to experience, we’ve played in so many basketball games but nothing will ever be like this.”

Well, ok, aside from Welde getting a few seconds with it while Doogan cut down the net, nobody else had gotten the chance to hold the thing in the immediate aftermath but there was plenty of time for that.

“The PCL, it’s playing against people we know,” Doogan said. “I have friends on Carroll’s team and I know a bunch of the other girls do too, it’s just more personal playing in the Catholic League. Winning states was great and everything but this is a completely different feeling.”

Scott did not hold back in saying the PCL title meant more to her than the state title, only because of the journey it took her class, including Doogan, Welde and Kristen Kutafaris, to get it.

“This senior class, we’ve been working for this since freshman year,” the Marshall-bound senior said. “We got on the floor, the intensity was there, the defense was there, we were all on the same page and came ready to play.”

The title was the first for Cardinal O'Hara since 2018. It'd been a painful crawl back, with Chrissie Doogan taking over as head coach in 2019 and her team losing first in the PCL quarterfinals, then the semifinals and finally in last year's title game, all to Archbishop Wood.

Vanquishing the Vikings in the semifinals was the first step, and as each starter subbed out to a line of hugs from their coaches, it was a startling turnaround from a humbling defeat on the first of the month to the highest of moments on its final night.

"They took their step every year," Chrissie Doogan said.

"Finally," her daughter interjected, net around her neck, PCL trophy still wrapped in her arms.

By Quarter
Archbishop Carroll:  5   |   6   |   7   |  12  ||  30
Cardinal O’Hara:     13  |  12  |  18  |  15  ||  55

Scorers
Archbishop Carroll: Grace O’Neill 9, Cortland Schumacher 7, Chloe Bleckley 4, Taylor Wilson 4, Brooke Wilson 3, Maggie Grant 3

Cardinal O’Hara: Maggie Doogan 19, Molly Rullo 11, Annie Welde 8, Sydni Scott 8, Bridget Dawson 3, Greta Miller 3, Joanie Quinn 2, Maria McCullen 1