City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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HERSHEY — Cardinal O’Hara found its purpose and it led to a state title.

After losing to rival Archbishop Carroll in the PCL semifinals, the Lions sulked and spent about a week mired in their own misery. However, there was still something to play for if they could get over it, get themselves together and get back to work.

A new Cardinal O’Hara emerged from that time off, a determined team led by a group of seniors who really wanted to win their last game. The same could be said for Spring-Ford, the Rams’ seniors likewise rallying their team after a gutting loss in the District 1 championship and playing with a new life in the state bracket.

Friday night, O’Hara’s defense stymied the Rams, the Lions downing Spring-Ford 42-26 to win the PIAA Class 6A title, the program’s third in four years.

“We’ve been playing with a different heart ever since we lost in the (PCL) semifinal, we knew it was our last chance to prove to everybody that we’re O’Hara,” Lions senior Carly Coleman said. “We came up with this saying, ‘do everything with a purpose.’

“We’ve been rebounding with a purpose, we passed with a purpose, we did everything with a purpose tonight.”

The Cardinal O'Hara girls basketball team poses together after winning the PIAA Class 6A championship on Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

The Giant Center in Hershey is about as welcoming to shooters and high-octane offense as a black hole is to emitting light. Suffice to say, neither Cardinal O’Hara or Spring-Ford looked much like their usual selves on offense although in the Rams’ case, it was especially rough.

Spring-Ford shot just 8-of-37 on Friday and 2–of-17 from three, a crippling number for a team that had been taking opponents apart through four rounds of states. O’Hara’s defense was a significant factor, but when layups were rimming out and open threes weren’t falling, it was also a sign that Friday wasn’t going to be Spring-Ford’s night.

“We’re just very proud of the girls, I thought we were ready for this game, shots didn’t fall and we understand that,” Rams coach Mickey McDaniel said. “We never got into a rhythm, part of that can be attributed to Cardinal O’Hara as well but it was one of those nights where we didn’t make shots which is something we’d been doing very well down the stretch here.”

O’Hara didn’t have a whole lot of offense in the first half either. Well, outside of Molly Rullo, O’Hara didn’t have a whole lot of offense in the first half either. 

The junior forward, who won her second state title in three years as a starter, notched 11 of her 13 points in the first half. She had a game-high eight rebounds while her sister Megan was right behind with seven, the Rullos combining for almost half of the Lions’ 33-18 advantage on the glass.

“The first quarter started slow for us, but knowing what I do well is cutting to the basket and trying to get easy layups, moving without the ball, I just tried to do that,” Molly Rullo said. “It’s a way to get something when plays aren’t going our way and see if it builds momentum.

“Rebounds get extra possessions and keep the other team from scoring, our dad always taught us to be tough and if you aren’t scoring, you can benefit by doing that.”

Cardinal O'Hara's, from left, Greta Miller, Carly Coleman and Megan Rullo pose celebrate O'Hara's win. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

The Lions led 18-11 at halftime and 22-13 when Coleman hit Joanie Quinn for a layup with 5:58 to go in the third. Then, O’Hara stopped scoring, the Rams using five points by Mac Pettinelli to cut the lead to four over the next three minutes.

Having struggled all night, it seemed like a break was finally coming for the Rams.

“They’ll never quit and that’s evident in where we are this season,” McDaniel said. “You didn’t win a league championship, you didn’t win a district championship, you could just pack it in if you wanted. These kids didn’t do that and we played some of our best basketball here in the state tournament.

“We all felt really good when we made that run.”

Quinn slashed through the lane for a layup on the next possession. Off a Spring-Ford miss, Coleman was off on a three only for senior Greta Miller to pull in the contested offensive rebound.

The senior wasn’t done as O’Hara re-set and Coleman found her in the corner. Miller let the three, her first and only shot of the game, fly.

“I didn’t know how to feel, it was the first shot I put up, I was thinking ‘I don’t know how this one’s going to go,’” Miller, the clipped-down net around her neck, said. “It went in. Especially for me, it was like ‘let’s go.’ It was a confidence booster, it felt so good to hit that three, it really did.”

Miller got what she wanted, a win and a state title in her final game. The guard actually started two years ago when O’Hara won its second straight state title but Miller said this one felt much different because she was a leader on the team this time around.

Aside from her three, Miller also provided valuable defense on Spring-Ford’s Aaliyah Solliday, helping keep the explosive scorer to just two points on 0-of-7 shooting. Not surprisingly, Lions coach Chrissie Doogan called that matchup a deciding factor of the night.

“You don’t have to take her off the floor, she doesn’t get tired, she can defend any size guard and I thought Solliday was the x-factor for them coming into this game,” Doogan said. “We put Greta on her and she did a nice job.”

O’Hara concluded its 8-2 run to end the third with an and-one drive by Quinn, putting the Rams in a 30-20 hole. After a rough first half, Quinn came on strong with 14 of her game-high 16 points after halftime, the La Salle recruit finding her purpose with a finishing gear to get her final win.

Quinn conceded it was tough to play against two of her close friends in Spring-Ford’s Pettinelli and Anna Azzara. The O’Hara senior even stopped Azzara for a long hug and told the Rams standout “I’m so proud of you” when the teams crossed paths in the hallway, knowing her elation was their pain. 

“We realized that in order for us to play the best we could, it had to come from the starters, it has to be us doing as much as we can,” Quinn said. “Me and Carly sat together the first two years and now we’re out there playing and doing the things we watched our teammates do. We were on that banner, but this, we were on the court so it means a little bit more.”

Doogan won her third title in her fifth season as the O’Hara head coach. Having her daughter Maggie be a part of the first two can’t be replicated but Doogan said this group was special too because it was her first senior class she saw all the way through from eighth graders to their last game.

Miller said she was “stoked” to have her basketball career end this way, the guard off to Penn State to study nursing and she shouted out the team’s fourth senior Sophia Stellabotte as well. 

Coleman called it “history made” and was proud of  the way the Lions found their purpose in the final act of the season.

Quinn summed up pretty simply.

“I love these people,” Quinn said. “To do it with them, the love I have for them can’t be described.”

By Quarter

CARDINAL O’HARA 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 || 42

SPRING-FORD 6 | 5 | 9 | 6 || 26

Scoring

CO: Joanie Quinn 16, Molly Rullo 13, Megan Rullo 4, Greta Miller 4, Brigidanne Donohue 3, Carly Coleman 2

SF: Anna Azzara 12, Mac Pettinelli 8, Kareena Preuss 4, Aaliyah Solliday 2