City of Basketball Love

By Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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UNIVERSITY CITY — Ava Renninger and Lauren Greer were doing their best to stay focused on their worksheet in Anatomy class early on Monday. 

Meanwhile, their peers badgered them with questions about the big game at the Palestra later that day.

How many points are you going to score? How much are you going to win by? Are you nervous? 

Eventually, Greer broke, removed her pencil from the paper, and leaned over to Renninger. 

“You only need 17 to reach 1,000 career points,” Greer said.

Renninger paused and processed. She had forgotten.

 "Oh," she uttered. "That'd be cool." 

“She was so nonchalant about it," Greer recalled. 

Her reaction was minimal because the senior point guard only had one image in her head — cutting the net. 

The Fairleigh-Dickinson commit accomplished both feats at the Palestra on Monday Night. 

She scored a game-high 22 points, setting her career scoring total to 1,005 with the PIAA 5A State Tournament left to play. She also recorded four rebounds and two assists, pushing Archbishop Wood past Archbishop Carroll through two overtimes, winning 54-52 in the PCL Girls Final. 

True to her unselfish nature, Renninger wasn't keeping track of her point total during the championship. 

"I had no idea," she said. "I was just trying to make my free throws." 

Renninger almost missed out on 1,000 and the championship though after missing two free throws with 25.1 seconds left in regulation. Fortunately, Wood survived the final seconds with a defensive stand to end regulation at 41-41. Then, they got through the first overtime period tied at 45-45. 

The senior flushed her mistakes away and went 8-for-8 from the stripe in the second overtime period in a pressure-packed and loud Palestra. Her third and fourth free throws of the extra-extra frame marked her 1,000 and 1,001 career points, putting the Vikings up 49-45 with 41.8 left. 

"I definitely was frustrated with myself because I could have closed it out at the end of (regulation)," Renninger said. "I knew if I was given another opportunity to close the game out that I was going to knock those shots down because it's my last chance. It's the last opportunity to do it. 

"I wanted to leave it all out there." 

Wood head coach Mike McDonald was surprised Renninger couldn’t get the foul shots in regulation to go. He wasn't surprised about how Renninger gathered herself and rebounded. 

"She's not really afraid of the big moment," the nine-year head coach said. "I'm sure she was nervous just like every other girl, but she's a competitor. I think that drives her and I think that's why she's able to show up on a big stage like this."

She got a strong start, scoring nine points in the first half. Still, Archbishop Carroll started to make life difficult for Renninger through stretches of the second half, forcing a couple of loose balls and steals. 

One steal led to Carroll's tying bucket near the end of the first overtime period, with Abby McFillin finishing off an assist from Brooke Wilson.  

Renninger only had four points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field in the second half. She didn't register a shot in the first overtime period, either. 

"It was a little sloppy on my part," she said. "But I'm glad we just stuck it through."

She hit four more free throws in the final forty seconds of the second overtime, giving Wood enough to squeak by Carroll despite their best efforts. 

The win was Wood's 15th title game in 18 years but only their fifth PCL crown. After falling in last season's championship game to Lansdale Catholic, delivered the Vikings their first title since the 2020-2021 season.

"Last year's loss hit (those) seven seniors very hard," Renninger said. "They all wished us good luck heading into this game. We wanted to win it for them also."

With all the hype built up by their classmates throughout the day, the pressure to avenge past Vikings, and the adversity faced at the charity stripe, Renninger could have let the moment get to her. 

But nothing phased her, not even the career milestone she set on the biggest stage in Philly hoops, because she knew what mattered. 

"The plaque was more important to me," Renninger said. "I could have had 5, 2, 3, 8 points. It didn't matter to me as long as we won at the end of the day."