Thursday, February 20, 2025, 4:05AM |  17°
MENU
Advertisement
Blackhawk players celebrate after defeating Archbishop Wood, 46-40, in the PIAA Class AAA championship Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.
7
MORE

Blackhawk girls win second PIAA title in row

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

Blackhawk girls win second PIAA title in row

HERSHEY, Pa. — Standing at about 5 feet 5 — and that’s being generous — Blackhawk’s Chassidy Omogrosso was the smallest player on Giant Center’s court Saturday night.

Meanwhile, teammate Courtney Vannoy, who is 6-2, was on the opposite end of the spectrum, looking down at everybody.

Omogrosso and Vannoy teamed up to help Blackhawk win its second PIAA title in a row.

Advertisement

And, really, that was the tall and short of it.

Vincentian players celebrate after defeating Old Forge 86-38 in the PIAA Class A Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.
Mike White
Wise leads Vincentian to 86-38 win over Old Forge for PIAA girls Class A championship

Omogrosso and Vannoy combined to score all but six of Blackhawk’s points and all of its field goals in leading the Cougars to a 46-40 win against Archbishop Wood in the PIAA Class AAA championship.

It was the fourth PIAA title for Blackhawk (28-3), which also beat Archbishop Wood a year ago in the final. Archbishop Wood, from the Philadelphia Catholic League, finished 26-5.

Omogrosso and Vannoy are Blackhawk’s Division I-bound seniors, and both played like it. Omogrosso, a Duquesne recruit, scored 23 points and was 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. Vannoy, a Loyola, Md., commitment, added 17 points, finishing 8 of 11 from the field.

Advertisement

“We just know that we have to be leaders on the floor and with that everybody else will follow,” said Omogrosso, the WPIAL scoring leader who finished her career with 2,686 points. “And it was our last game, so we wanted to leave everything out on the court.”

Blackhawk coach Steve Lodovico afterward praised both players.

“You know what you’re going to get out of Chassidy. Everybody in the state of Pennsylvania knows she’s going to get 20-plus [points],” Lodovico said. “And Courtney Vannoy [Saturday night] was the difference-maker in the game. We saw a mismatch with her on a freshman who was a big girl, but Courtney strength-wise and scoring-wise and experience-wise got the job done.”

Blackhawk, which also won the WPIAL championship, never trailed in the second half, but the Cougars were pushed to the brink. Archbishop Wood pulled to 39-38 with 3:54 left and had a chance to tie or go ahead when Aubree Brown was fouled while shooting with 2:01 remaining. But Brown, a Drexel recruit, missed both free throws. Vannoy then scored on a three-point play to extend Blackhawk’s lead to 42-38 with 52 seconds left.

Aliquippa's Stephon McGinnis walks off the court after his team lost to Conwell-Egan 51-62 in the PIAA Class AA Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.
Mike White
Comeback falls short as Aliquippa loses to Conwell-Egan in PIAA Class AA championship

Archbishop Wood made it 42-40 on Bailey Greenberg’s layup with 34 seconds left, but Bridgette Shaffer made four free throws in the final 21 seconds to put the game away.

“It’s definitely bittersweet just because it’s my senior year, but this is all I wanted to do with it being my last year,” Omogrosso said.

Free-throw shooting was a big factor in the game. Blackhawk was 17 of 17 from the line, while Archbishop Wood was just 4 of 12. Blackhawk’s pinpoint accuracy from the line helped offset its struggles from the field. The Cougars made only 14 of 42 attempts (33 percent) and were 1 of 14 from 3-point range.

Brown scored a team-high 16 points for Archbishop Wood, but was held scoreless in the second half. Greenberg added 10 points.

Blackhawk struggled early, falling behind, 14-4, late in the first quarter. But that’s when Omogrosso and Vannoy came alive, combining to score 20 of Blackhawk’s next 22 points. Omogrosso had 14 of those points, including a layup just before the buzzer that gave the Cougars a 26-25 halftime lead.

“You can't have her having 16 points in the first half when you come in knowing that is the main person you have to stop,” Archbishop Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “We did do a better job on her the second half, but [Vannoy] started to [hurt] us. She's a good strong player and finishes around the rim.”

And Blackhawk finished as the PIAA champion once again.

First Published: March 21, 2015, 11:57 p.m.
Updated: March 22, 2015, 6:25 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Penguins hall of fame broadcaster Mike Lange works the play-by-play during the Alumni game at Heinz Field on Dec. 31, 2010.
1
sports
Mike Lange, longtime Penguins broadcaster, dies at 76
Police investigate the scene of a shooting on Smithfield Street in Downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
2
news
Police: One injured in shooting in Downtown Pittsburgh
Allegheny Hospital Network's first baby of 2025, Luka Gold Cunningham, was born at 12:45 a.m. New Year's Day at AHN Wexford Hospital. He wouldn't have made the top baby names for 2024 but, for 2025, who knows?
3
news
AHN reveals its top baby names of 2024
The now-closed Sharon Regional Medical Center, which was a focus during the Wednesday state Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing for the Department of Health.
4
news
Pa. Health secretary says Sharon hospital can't reopen until safety concerns addressed
Attorney Larry Lebowitz helps Saraswati Adhikari and Nir Pokhrel as Krishna Pokhrel works with another attorney to fill out paperwork to become United States citizens during a volunteer event organized by Jewish Family and Community Services Immigration Legal Services and the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019, at the Whitehall Public Library in Whitehall.
5
news
Federal order halts all funding for legal services for unaccompanied minors
Blackhawk players celebrate after defeating Archbishop Wood, 46-40, in the PIAA Class AAA championship Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Blackhawk players celebrate after defeating Archbishop in the PIAA AAA Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Blackhawk Chassidy Omogrosso, left, and Courtney Vannoy pressure Archbishop Katie May in the second half of the PIAA AAA Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Blackhawk Courtney Vannoy goes up for a basket and draws a foul from Archbishop Aubree Brown in the second half Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Blackhawk's Chassidy Omogrosso goes up for a basket against Archbishop's in the first half of the PIAA AAA Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Blackhawk's Chassidy Omogrosso goes up for a basket as Archbishop's Katie May defends in the second half Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Left to right: Blackhawk Danielle Levato, Courtney Vannoy, Chassidy Omogrosso, and Bridgette Shaffer celebrate after defeating Archbishop 46-40 in the PIAA AAA Championship Game at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story