City of Basketball Love

Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
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Cardinal O’Hara began their defense of their PIAA 5A state championship with a 58-53 loss to the Cannon School (NC) on Saturday afternoon at the She Got Game Classic in Springfield, Virginia. O’Hara graduated three crucial players from the state championship squad in Maggie Doogan (Richmond), Sydni Scott (Marshall), and Annie Welde (Villanova) and returns this year with a much younger team.

But the youth of the squad is something that they are leaning into. Although this year’s squad may not have the height and experience last year’s team did, they make up for it elsewhere.

“Last year, we were six-foot-[tall] almost across the whole board,” head coach Chrissie Doogan said. “So we had a lot of length, a lot of height. We wouldn't have gotten out-rebounded like we did today last year. But this year's team is probably quicker and just as scrappy.”

The Cannon School is the first of many tests for O’Hara this year as they have their traditional gauntlet of a schedule once they get to Catholic League play. The Lions fell into an early hole and trailed by 13 points at halftime. Doogan said she challenged the team during the break, hoping to get them to play more physical defense and have more of a presence on the glass. The team responded well to this challenge and fought back to within striking distance in the second half.

“We have to punch back,” Doogan said. “We talk about that all the time. They're gonna punch, we got to punch back and I think we did that for the most part.”

O'Hara certainly punched back on Sunday, beating Good Counsel (Md.), 70-44.

Because much of the team was overhauled, O’Hara is trying to use these early-season tournaments to gain experience as a team. With that comes the challenges of playing in a hectic environment with whistles from other courts and college coaches watching closely. There was a bevy of Division I coaches stopping by to check out the action but the ones watching closest were Richmond, Holy Cross and Monmouth. Doogan said she thought the environment factored into her team’s slow start as they settled in and got over the nerves of the first game of the season combined with the atmosphere.

“I think some of our kids were a little nervous with those college coaches,” Doogan said. “And they shouldn't be, because they see it all summer long when they're playing in these AAU tournaments.”

Starring for the Lions on Saturday was one of the few returning contributors from last year’s team in sophomore Molly Rullo. Rullo remarkably led the team in scoring during the postseason last year as a freshman and was voted captain by her teammates coming into this season.

“Last year she had the seniors to look up to,” Doogan said. “This year the whole team is looking towards her and the seniors that were voted captain with her, but she's terrific.”

Even though she didn’t have her best game against Cannon due to a slow start and foul trouble towards the end, she still finished with 15 points and six rebounds in front of many college coaches.

On the recruiting front, Rullo is fielding offers from Drexel, Holy Cross, Rider, Monmouth, St. Joe’s, and Quinnipiac. So far she has been taking it slow and is expecting to see the process really ramp up in the spring.

Rullo’s younger sister Megan, a freshman, also featured for the Lions off the bench. She finished with four points but showcased her ability to be a factor on both sides of the ball with her work rate and tenacity. She was not afraid to take some contact and looks like she could grow into a key contributor next to her sister over the next few years as she continues to adapt to the O’Hara style.

Junior Joanie Quinn was quiet for stretches of the game but heated up in the fourth quarter with nine points. She was very active defensively, finishing with five steals, helping her get out in transition and get easy layups. Quinn is fearless driving towards the basket and finishing through contact. She also showed a willingness to stretch the floor and take some three pointers, although they weren’t falling at the rate she would’ve liked.

Rounding out the most impactful O’Hara players was junior Carly Coleman, who finished with 11 points to go with three assists. Coleman, like Quinn, has a much bigger role this year after being stuck behind multiple future Division I players in Doogan, Scott, and Welde. She is a reliable presence on defense who proved to be a solid option on offense close to the basket. Early on the Lions leaned on her and she led the team in first quarter scoring with five points as O’Hara struggled to deal with the Cannon pressure.

O’Hara struggled mightily on the glass, failing to box out and being punished for their lack of size. With a young, smaller team these sorts of issues are bound to happen, especially early in the season. But Doogan recognizes this and acknowledges it’s something they’re focusing on.

“We'll watch film next week,” Doogan said. “Some of the young kids think they're boxing out, but they're not, so we might have to show some film and get them to really buy in.”

In terms of the team as a whole, they recognize that there will likely be some adversity as they recalibrate following a state championship last year. But the more time the team spends playing with each other, the more the pieces of the puzzle will come together.

“Once they start believing they can push people around and they can compete,” Doogan said. “I think they're going to surprise people. They're going to surprise people just by their aggressiveness and fight.”