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PIAA Playoff Preview: 4A + 5A Girls' Semifinals (March 19)

03/18/2022, 11:00am EDT
By Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)

It’s time for the state semifinals, one loaded with local squads.

The girls’ 4A and 5A brackets and the boys’ 3A and 6A brackets have seen quite a few programs from District 1 and District 12 making runs into the Final Four, giving us quite a busy slate on Saturday, with eight different state semifinals — including Chester vs. Imhotep, the boys’ 5A matchup moved back from Friday — to cover involving squads from the Delaware Valley.

Here’s a look at each of the three girls’ games taking place Saturday involving area teams, a trio of Catholic League squads all with legitimate championship hopes; a preview of the boys games will come shortly:

Archbishop Wood vs. Jim Thorpe (Girls 4A)
Liberty HS, 2:30 PM

Archbishop Wood hasn’t allowed 30 to an opponent in states. Jim Thorpe averages 60 on offense for the season.

Wood coach Mike McDonald has his team in familiar territory back in the final four while the Olympians are making their first trip to the semifinals but there’s no reason either team will be fazed by the moment. With four seniors, all averaging double figures, in the starting five, Jim Thorpe has been building for this stage over the past few seasons.


Shannon Morgan (above) runs point for a Wood squad that's been dominating defensively this postseason. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Of course, Wood’s trio of seniors have their sights on ending as back-to-back state champions and aren’t giving up their title easily.

Ryanne Allen, the Vanderbilt recruit, PCL MVP and newly-named All-American, has shouldered the load as Wood’s offensive leader and has rounded out her game to add post threat to her lights-out perimeter shooting. 

Wood’s defensive duo of senior Bri Bowen and junior Delaney Finnegan have been catalysts in the Vikings’ suffocating efforts and they’ll be busy against a balanced Jim Thorpe lineup. In the paint, Deja Evans has been a force for Wood with double-figure rebounds in all three PIAA games thus far and senior Shannon Morgan is steady at point guard to round out the first five.

The Olympians, who avenged their only loss with a last-second win over Dunmore in the state quarterfinals, are an extremely solid all-around team under second year coach Nadia Gauronsky with a District 11 title and Schuylkill League championship on this year’s ledger.

Jim Thorpe is led by Skylar Searfoss, a three-time all-state selection and Holy Family recruit who is one of three 1,000-point scorers in the lineup. Searfoss, who has more local ties as a Comets AAU alum, scores 14 per game and is a terrific passer, rebounder and defender.

Leila Hurley is the team’s sniper, with 50 made threes while 6-foot-1 center Olivia Smelas is averaging a double-double inside and Leah Snisky is the fourth senior who puts up at least 10 per game. Mackenzie Yuhas rounds out the first five as the only junior starter.

One area Wood should have an advantage is its depth. The Olympians rely heavily on their first five while the Vikings routinely go 10-deep with Ava Renninger, Allie Fleming and Kara Meredith usually getting the most time off the Vikings’ bench and in the quarterfinals against Gwynedd Mercy Academy, had six different players knock down a 3-pointer.

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Lansdale Catholic vs. Villa Maria (Girls 4A)
Bald Eagle High School, 1 PM

With each passing round, the trips have grown longer and the challenge larger for the Crusaders.

To get to Hershey, LC first has to go west, like way west, to face a Villa Maria Academy team out of Erie that fell a win short of a state title last year. Of course, the Victors have their own long bus trip - with an unusually early tip time for a pair of teams each traveling more than three hours out to the venue - but VM’s been sure to pack its defense for its first three state games.


Gabby Casey (above) scored her 1,000th point in a LC uniform earlier this month. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

Villa Maria stifled District 7 Blackhawk in the quarterfinals and the District 10 power has yet to allow 30 points to any state opponent including the previously unbeaten Cougars. Long state playoff runs are common for Villa Maria and with a veteran cast including IUP recruit Daniela Shaughnessey and senior guard Carissa Dunham plus an emerging standout in sophomore Jayden McBride - the younger sister of former Notre Dame star and current WNBA guard Kayla McBride - the Victors can get it done on both ends.

Tori Mayes has assumed the controls at point guard and has piloted a Victors offense that controls the pace to back up that rigid defense to a so-far dominant state run.

A final four game is new territory for everyone on Lansdale Catholic’s roster but it’s not like LC has leisurely strolled its way to a ride out past State College. The Crusaders have gone through a trio of programs in Lancaster Catholic, Allentown Central Catholic and Delone Catholic that all have state title pedigree with their own solid defense.

Junior Gabby Casey leads the way at 23 points per game for LC, which will need another robust defensive effort and little bit of a cleaner finish if it wants to take the last step to Hershey. Casey, who registered her 1,000th point in the second round, has been a problem for defenses in the state playoffs and has gotten some solid team play around her.

Lauren Edwards, the only senior in the starting lineup, has been LC’s unsung hero with timely hoops and stout defense as an undersized post while freshman Saniyah Littlejohn has emerged as a stopper with two standout defensive performances in the last two games. Sophomore Olivia Boccella bounced back from an off game against ACC with a team-best 14 points against Delone while freshman Nadia Yemola has stepped up on both ends of the floor.

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Cardinal O’Hara vs. Mechanicsburg (Girls 5A)
Governor Mifflin Int. School, 1 PM 

The Lions are one win away from returning to Hershey to defend their state title.


Maggie Doogan (above) and Cardinal O'Hara are the defending PIAA 5A state champs. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Given the talent on the O’Hara roster, from seniors Maggie Doogan, Annie Welde and Sydni Scott to freshman Molly Rullo, it’s not a surprising statement. But given the upheaval that hit the team just before states - when the discovery of an ineligible player erased most of its wins, its District 12 winner status and even put its PCL title into question - O’Hara has managed to just carry on winning.

Wednesday, that meant getting through a local rival in Springfield Delco and involved another team-oriented victory that’s become the Lions’ trademark.

They shoot well, they share the ball incredibly well and they defend well. There’s a buy-in from every player, especially someone like Scott - a Marshall recruit - who willingly gives up some opportunities on offense to be a game-changer on the defensive end.

Doogan, the 6-foot-2 Richmond recruit, has played at a high level all year while Welde seems fully back from a shoulder injury that cost her a couple games at the end of the regular season. If Rullo wasn’t designated a freshman on the team roster, it would be hard to tell with the way she’s fit right in with her veteran teammates and continues to come through in clutch moments.

The Wildcats have been knocking on the door out in District 3 for a few years and finally got through, qualifying for their first-ever state semifinal. 

Mechanicsburg’s success parallels O’Hara’s in that the Wildcats believe in strong defense, unselfish basketball and team offense. They’ll be at a size disadvantage against O’Hara’s three 6-foot starters but have gotten solid guard play all season.

Priya Loran, Cassie Eager and Jayden Eager are all solid two-way players, with Loran coming off a strong game against West York in the quarterfinals. Emma Castilla and Bella Gilliard are also cogs in the Wildcats’ selfless style.


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