(32-1) Marian Catholic 40  (21-9) Mt. Alvernia 34

In a very physical contest, the Fillies of Marian Catholic led for almost the entire game and pulled off the 6 point state title victory.  Both teams played aggressively on defense, and hustled to the floor for what seemed to be every loose ball opportunity.  Marian put their stamp on the game in the first quarter, holding the Lions to 3 points in that frame (10-3).  The Filllies added to their lead by the end of the half, making it a 22-10 game, mainly thanks to 15 points from their version of the twin towers - 6'4" senior forward Rachel Connely (7 in first half) and 6' senior forward Libby Shober (8 in the first half).  

With the refs really letting both teams go, Mt. Alvernia seemed unable to get into any kind of flow in the first half, and went into the locker room at halftime looking visibly frustrated.  

That frustration led to a better effort in the third quarter, where they outscored the Fillies 13-10 and crept back into the spirit of the game.  The Lions also caused a scare in the fourth quarter, but every time they made a push, Connely pushed back (scoring 12 in the second half to finish with 19).  Connely's 19 points and Shober's final tally of 10 was the difference, as Mt. Alvernia just didn't have the size to match up with these two. 

While Marian Catholic is a small school, it took a giant effort to handle the bumps and bruises of the state championship game.  Thanks to their own giants Connely and Shober, and their persistent determination, they were up to the task.


(25-4) Jeannette 76  (23-6) Strawberry Mansion 72 (OT)

In a highly competitive contest, Jeannette pulled away from Strawberry Mansion in the overtime period to claim the AA state title. The spotlight was of course on the nation's top football recruit, 2-sport star Terrelle Pryor, but the key in this game was the outside shooting and the inside performance of the other Jayhawks.  Strawberry Mansion actually did a good job defending Pryor; although he finished the game with 23 points, he only shot 7-17 from the floor and worked hard for every basket he made.  But perhaps the Knight's defensive energy was too focused on Pryor, as Jeannette's Shaw Sunder (21 points) knocked down three important threes in the game and Jordan Hall (16 points) and Moziah Harris (10 points) drove to the basket a few keys times to contribute big for their team.  

Mansion did not seem rattled by the hype around the Jeannette team, and on several occasions looked like they could pull the game out.  Dwayne Davis played very well throughout the game, scoring 28 points, including a critical layup with nearly 2 minutes left that trimmed Jeannette's lead to 57-56.  Jeannette mustered a 60-58 lead with 31.4 seconds left when Terrelle Pryor was fouled and sent to the free throw line.  He missed both free throws, and this allowed Mansion one more chance to tie, which they did on a short shot just outside the box by Darren Lawrence with 20 seconds to go.  Pryor could not hit the last shot of the game to win it for Jeannette, and the game went to overtime.

While the entire game was back and forth with 7 lead changes, the overtime was all Jeannette.  They pulled out to a 66-60 lead and never looked back, as Mansion just couldn't contend with the balanced offensive output from Jeannette.

This ends a terrific high school career for Terrelle Pryor, and a terrific year for him as well.  After leading the Jeannette football team to the state title 3 months ago, he and the Jayhawks bring home another championship trophy, this time of the basketball variety.  Now it's on to the next step for him, which is college football, where his school choice is still up in the air.  But the next step for the basketball team he leaves behind - finding out what it will take to replace him and successfully defend the state title. 


(30-3) Mount St. Joseph 53  (30-3) Mercyhurst Prep 43

The Mount St. Joseph Magic remembered the sting of losing in the District 1-AAA championship game 3 weeks ago, and didn’t want to feel the pain of another championship loss.  Thanks to a great, energetic pace led by senior guard Laura Johnson (16 points), the Magic made sure that didn’t happen, as they captured the AAA state title.

The Mount used a balanced offensive effort in the first half, aided by great shooting (11-22), to get out to a 27-21 halftime lead.  Their defensive effort was sufficient, holding Mercyhurst to 37% shooting in the half (10-27).  Mercyhurst Prep stayed in the ballgame mainly due to 6’ forward Kirsten Olowinski, who had 10 first half points (and finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds).

The Mount extended their lead to 9 at 32-23 with 4:50 to go in the third quarter, and looked poised to run away with the game.  Mercyhurst Prep came raging back, thanks to 5 straight points by Olowinski.  However, the Magic pulled out to a 38-31 lead by the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter became quite the physical affair, and the Magic were able to withstand the pressure to hold on for the victory.  Key to the Magic’s success was not only Johnson (who hit multiple free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the game), but also senior forward Sarah McGorry (12 points, 10 rebounds) and junior forward Elle Hagedorn (12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals).

The Magic celebrated with their mounds of fans in attendance after the game, most of whom saw their team lose that district championship weeks ago.  And that may have made this victory even sweeter, as the Magic may have been down, but as they showed in Saturday’s game, they were not out.

Before the game, everyone said it was supposed to be a great, close contest.  During the game, those in attendance may have thought that it was going to finish as a blowout.  After the game, everyone who saw it agreed that it was a spectacular way to end the state championship weekend.  Despite an incredible comeback effort by the Norristown Eagles, the Chester Clippers hung on and reigned supreme in the AAAA state final.

Chester looked like a much sharper team in the first three quarters than they had in their recent postseason games.  They implemented a full court press early, and this worked in rattling Norristown, especially in regards to their field goal shooting (6-33 in the first half).  The defense led to great offense for the Clippers, who moved as fast as they’ve looked all postseason with the ball.  Senior guard Karon Burton led the charge with 12 points in the half (24 total along with 7 assists), and Nasir Robinson added 8 points and 7 rebounds (14 points total and 15 rebounds).  After opening up the game with a 17-2 lead, Chester went into halftime up 35-20.

The Clippers expanded their lead to 53-33 with 3:11 left in the third.  This is where Norristown began to make their push.  The charge was led by junior guard Khalif Wyatt,  who scored 21 points in the second half (28 total), and senior center Maurice Briggs, who scored 12 in the half (and finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds).  Norristown continued to creep back into the game, getting it to 71-64 with 3 minutes left in the fourth.  The Norristown fans got wilder as the comeback continued, and Chester fans could feel the air being let out of their balloon.  This may have been especially true when Wyatt made a three off the backboard to cut Chester’s lead to 75-73 with 1:15 left.  Norristown junior forward James Ramsey (10 points) connected on a three point play to trim Chester's lead to 77-76 with 27.5 seconds to go.  Burton was able to right the ship back to Chester’s favor by making two free throws to make it 79-76.  Norristown senior forward Vonte Shippen then got fouled and connected with 1 of 2 free throws for the Eagles, but this was followed Chester senior guard Kevin Green-Germany hitting two free throws for the Clippers on the other end.  This made it 81-77, and time ran out on Norristown’s comeback hopes.

Chester rebounds from last year’s championship loss to Schenley and continue their historic varsity basketball run.  All throughout the postseason, the Clippers maintained the notion that anything less than a state championship would be a disappointment.  Although Norristown put up a big obstacle to that goal, the Clippers survived and were able to hoist the trophy that marked that accomplishment.

MW's Analysis:  Another great day of high school basketball to close out the season.  This day was even better than the first. The Marian Catholic/Mount Alvernia game was so physical that I compared it to a football game several times to my media peers.  The ladies hit the floor a lot of times.  The referees seemed to just let them play, but at times I was concerned someone was going to get hurt.  Luckily, everyone seemed okay after the game was over.  

There was not as much hype surrounding Terrelle Pryor as I thought there would be.  I was expecting a paparazzi-like circus around him, but it wasn’t too bad at all.  This was my first time seeing him in person, and he is built like a house!  He didn’t have the best of games, shooting only 7-17 from the floor and 9-19 from the free throw line.  He still finished with 23 points, and showed terrific athleticism throughout the game.  The free throws in particular came up short many times, and I think that this may be a sign that the guy just flat out needs a break – from sports, the media, and everything.  He has to be mentally drained at this point.  Once he makes his college decision for football (which he suggested will be next week), that should be a big weight off of his shoulders.

I also have to commend Strawberry Mansion for playing terrific in the game against Jeannette, and I think that this game was the best one of the weekend.

It was really cool to see Mount St. Joseph celebrate after the game with their fans and I have to commend the students on traveling well.  They were at the Palestra in bundles when Varsity 365 covered the Magic against Villa Maria in the District 1-AAA championship.  They were at the Palestra when we covered the rematch which the Magic won, and they were definitely at Penn State Saturday, loud as ever.  Laura Johnson is a terrific player and great floor general.  I really enjoyed watching the Mount these past few weeks.