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PIAA Class 5A: Cardinal O'Hara girls shut down Chartiers Valley, go back-to-back

03/25/2022, 11:00pm EDT
By Sean McBryan

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)

Maggie Doogan turned the ball over with 51 seconds remaining and her team up by 25; she made a pass to the Cardinal O’Hara sideline which was caught by a coach.

The brief pause allowed everyone to realize what happened: Maggie passed the ball to her mom and Cardinal O’Hara head coach Chrissie Doogan in order to be subbed out of the game.

“It happened last year, so we just wanted to do it again if we were up,” Maggie said.

“It was nice that we were up by that much and could do that,” Chrissie said. “We did it last year too so it was nice to finish it off one more time.”

The subs went in, the Doogans embraced, and the Lions began celebrating the final championship in their triple crown season with a 42-19 victory over District 7 runner-up Chartiers Valley in the PIAA Class 5A girls basketball championship Friday evening at Hershey’s GIANT Center.

Cardinal O'Hara celebrates its 2022 PIAA Class 5A girls state championship trophy. (Photo: Sean McBryan/CoBL)

It was a rematch from last year’s championship, which O’Hara won 51-27, and it went pretty much the same.

“It’s really hard to get here and last year we only had to win three games to win the championship,” Chrissie said. “So I did want that five-game tournament feel because it’s not easy. I said to the girls before the game that not a lot of teams play a 30-game season, so we were right where we wanted to be.”

“I think I watched that game from last year like 10 or 15 times,” Maggie said. “It was a lot of film. I was hoping we could get a big lead again and cruise to the end.”

The Richmond-bound Doogan led the way with 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals; Villanova preferred walk-on Annie Welde contributed 11 and the senior duo outscored the Colts (28-3) on their own.

O’Hara was bumped down to the third-seed out of District 12 due to a paperwork error that had them playing with an ineligible player in a few games during the season; technically the Lions’ record now stands at 5-24 due to forfeiting the majority of their regular-season games.

“We knew if we got through the first weekend we’d be back in the bracket where we would’ve been even if we were the No. 1 seed,” the elder Doogan said. “It was just a one game at a time mentality. Try to block out anybody that was talking about us. There were a couple parents and stuff that would yell as we walked into a gym. 

“But these guys have played enough basketball together and enough high-level competition throughout their careers that they’re able to just focus on winning. They set a goal and were just able to go after it.”

The lower seed in the PIAA tournament had no effect as O’Hara beat District 1 runner-up Bishop Shanahan 52-32 in the first round, then Greencastle-Antrim 57-29, Springfield (Delco.) 38-22 and Mechanicsburg 50-18 in the semifinals to get to the title game.

“Chrissie teaches honesty can never go wrong and prides herself on that,” Welde said. “She commended our team on having a lot of resilience throughout the whole thing. Led by the seniors, but the whole team realized we have to keep it together and get it going.”

The Lions jumped out to an 8-2 lead by the end of the first quarter, with Welde (five points) and Doogan (three points) doing all of the scoring; Chartiers Valley struggled from the field going 1-for-9.

But the Colts came to play in the second quarter as leading scorer Aislin Malcolm hit a jumper and Marian Turnbull and Perri Page each made two foul shots to tie it with 4:03 left until halftime. That was the closest they’d get.

Sophomore Greta Miller and freshman Molly Rullo both swooshed 3s and Welde’s 3-point buzzer-beater to end the half gave O’Hara a 17-11 lead at the break.

Sydni Scott, who had missed her first 10 shots, finally got on the board with a 3 to start the third quarter. Then, it was all Doogan.

Cardinal O'Hara seniors (L to R) Maggie Doogan, Sydni Scott, Kristen Kutufaris and Annie Welde celebrate their second state championship. (Photo: Sean McBryan/CoBL)

First the 6-2 senior forward hit a 3, next she hit a jumper in the lane, then she got a steal and made a layup. With 4:09 left in the third, the lead was now at 14 and Chartiers Valley only had scored 13.

The quarter ended with the Lions leading 29-15 with a 12-4 advantage in the third.

They sealed it in the fourth as Rullo scored five of her eight points to help O’Hara outscore the Colts by nine.

Scott chipped in eight rebounds to complement Doogan, Welde and Rullo for the Lions; Page had four points and nine rebounds to lead the Colts, but fouled out with 7:29 left in the game.

Chartiers Valley shot 17.9% from the field and 9.1% from the three-point line; Cardinal O’Hara shot 40.5% and 42.9%, respectively.

Now Welde becomes a Wildcat and Doogan a Spider, with back-to-back state titles to their names.

“I take a lot of pride in doing the little things,” Welde said about starting her Villanova career. “And being a part of a really good team. I’m really excited to get with them, they’re amazing basketball players, and to just get in there and do my own thing.”

“I’m really excited,” Doogan said about heading off to Richmond. “My coaches were here tonight so I’ll be able to see them. I’m really looking forward to it. A new atmosphere, new teammates.”

She’ll take with her the lessons learned from having her Big 5 hall-of-fame mother coaching her along the way.

“It’s been amazing,” Doogan said. “She’s my best friend. We do everything together. We watch film, talk basketball, don’t talk basketball. We’re two peas in a pod.”

By Quarter
Cardinal O’Hara   8   |   9   |  12  |  13      ||  42
Chartiers Valley    2   |   9   |   4   |   4   ||  19

Scoring
Cardinal O’Hara: Maggie Doogan 12, Annie Welde 11, Molly Rullo 8, Greta Miller 6, Sydni Scott 5.

Chartiers Valley: Aislin Malcolm 4, Perri Page 4, Marian Turnbull 4, Hallie Cowan 3, Ella Cupka 2, Emma Reynolds 2.


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