City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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COATESVILLE — All offseason long, Carly Wakefield watched tape of Carly Coleman.

It wasn’t because the O’Hara sophomore had the same name as the ‘24 Lions graduate, who started for O’Hara’s PIAA state title team a year ago. That’s just a coincidence. Instead, it’s because Wakefield has the ability to do for O’Hara exactly what Coleman did: namely, impact the game in all sorts of ways.

“Ever since she left, I’ve just been watching film of her,” Wakefield said of Coleman. “Because me and (O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan) had a conversation at the end of the season, and she was like, ‘I want you to be the next Carly Coleman. But make it your name.’”

Wakefield has work to do to match the level of Coleman, who earned Atlantic East Rookie of the Year honors after a standout first season at Immaculata. But the 5-foot-10 O’Hara sophomore is making progress, which showed during an impressive first-half stretch of O’Hara’s 46-32 win over Dallastown in the second round of the 2025 PIAA Class 6A Tournament on Tuesday evening at Coatesville. 

When O’Hara starter Natalie DiBlasi picked up two early fouls, Wakefield came in and immediately made an impact. There was a hard cut to the bucket for a layup, a blocked shot, a transition pass, a steal, more transition. O’Hara went up 27-10 by halftime on the District 3 champion Wildcats (28-3), and Wakefield was a major reason why. 

It was certainly a Coleman-esque stretch, something Wakefield's been doing with greater frequency as the season's gone on.

“My mindset has really just been like playing with energy, being the spark off the bench,” Wakefield said. “Getting the starters up whenever they’re down and whenever I go in, I just bring that energy that they need.”

O’Hara senior Molly Rullo took over in the second half, finishing with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds in a typical performance for the Drexel commit. Wakefield finished with four points, five rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist, almost all of that coming in the latter part of the first quarter and into the second. 

Hoops runs in Wakefield’s family; she said her father, Carlton Wakefield, played at Shippensburg, while older sister Dominique Williams played at Upper Darby and then at Manor College and D-II Claflin University (S.C.). Carly Wakefield came to O’Hara, one of the Catholic League’s traditional powerhouses, as part of a strong ‘27 class last fall but spent most of the year on the bench with her classmates as a veteran Lions squad won the state title. 

With three starters graduating -- including Coleman, who's averaging 10.4 ppg and 8.8 rpg at IU with more than a block and steal per game -- and a fourth going down to injury, Wakefield moved up into the rotation, serving as O’Hara’s top or second reserve most of the season. The biggest thing the athletic wing needed to learn, according to her coach, was how hard to play every possession. 

“Sometimes she can go into coast mode and I don’t think she realizes she’s a big strong kid, who can go get rebounds,” Doogan said. “I ask her all the time, just go get an offensive rebound here and there, keep the ball alive. [We’re] not asking her to score 10-12 points a game this year, but just asking her to go make plays and play with some energy.”

As the year went on, it’s clicked more and more for Wakefield, who’s gone from something of a project to much more of a helpful piece over the last few months. Going up in practice every day against Rullo, a 5-foot-11 wing and the definition of a grinder, didn’t hurt. 

Molly Rullo (20) finished with a game-high 26 points for O'Hara. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“I know she’s been wanting to improve,” Rullo said. “She comes to me, what can I do for the team? She practices really hard against me, she makes me better, I make her better. I expect nothing less from her.”

Rullo and a staunch O’Hara made sure that Dallastown never made a run at things. Going up against another physical Division I commit in 6-1 wing Praise Matthews (St. Francis), Rullo consistently got the better of the matchup, drawing contact over and over again while constantly frustrating Matthews on the other end of the court, holding her to three points.

Matthews fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, departing to a standing ovation from the Dallastown fans, as Rullo went to the line 10 different times, going 17-of-18 from the stripe.

“I love the physicality in (the matchup),” Rullo said. “I don’t really see a ton of bigger players, so she’s a really good player, respect to her game, she gave me a fight [...] she took away a lot of my cuts that I usually get and she made me counter a lot of things tonight. 

“I’ve just been practicing my foul shots. You practice every day because they win at the end of games, so just being able to kill people from the line is my mindset.”

O’Hara’s other senior in the starting lineup, Brigid MacGillivray, hit two 3-pointers for six points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Brigidanne Donohue added four points and four assists. 

Junior guard Sophia Scovitch led Dallastown with 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to prevent a blowout. Senior guard Alonna Dowell added six points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. 

It’ll be an all-Delco derby on Friday in the state quarterfinals. O’Hara will take on Garnet Valley, which disposed of Altoona Area 54-38 to improve to 28-2 on the season. The Jaguars and Lions haven’t faced off in several years, but there’s plenty of familiarity between the two programs due to proximity and travel ball; they’re two of four Delaware County girls teams in the 6A quarterfinals along with Haverford High and Archbishop Carroll.

“It’s always a rivalry when you’re playing a Delco team,” Rullo said. “We’re excited, [there] probably [will be] a big crowd, lots of people. We just want to keep winning and advancing.”

By Quarter
O’Hara: 10  |  17  |   6   |  13  ||  46
D’town:  2   |   8   |   6   |  16  ||  32

Shooting
O’Hara: 12-30 FG (4-15 3PT), 18-20 FT
D’town: 13-39 FG (3-9 3PT), 3-8 FT

Scoring
O’Hara: Molly Rullo 26, Brigid Macgillivray 6, Leah Hudak 6, Brigidanne Donohue 4, Carly Wakefield 4

D’town: Sophia Scovitch 13, Harper Poff 8, Alonna Dowell 6, Praise Matthews 3, Ava Jamison 2