HERSHEY, Pa. – Chartiers Valley girls coach Tim McConnell was outside his team’s locker room at Giant Center, talking about winning a state championship, but also remembering back to the PIAA title his two sisters won 35 years ago in the same town of Hershey.
But the McConnell family championship collection could grow this week with another big title.
Tom McConnell (Tim’s brother) is the coach of the IUP women’s team that has made the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II tournament. IUP, the No. 3 seed for the Elite Eight, plays Azusa Pacific Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
“And I’ll be there,” Tim McConnell said.
Tim McConnell’s Chartiers Valley team finished off a perfect season (30-0) with a victory in the PIAA Class 5A title game Saturday night. Sisters Suzie and Kathy, who won a title with Seton LaSalle in 1984 at Hersheypark Arena, were in the stands to watch along with another sister, Maureen. Tom was not able to come to the title game. But a few hours after the game Saturday, the McConnell family and a large Chartiers Valley contingent had taken over the lobby of a hotel with a victory celebration.
Tim McConnell’s daughter, Megan, was the junior point guard for Chartiers Valley. Her brother, T.J., is a point guard for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, but could not come to the game because the Sixers were playing in Atlanta. Matty McConnell, brother of T.J. and Megan, drove to Hershey Saturday for the game, sat on the team bench and received a gold medal. He drove back to Pittsburgh immediately after the game because he plays for Robert Morris, which played host to Presbyterian in a CIT game Sunday afternoon.
“I wasn’t missing this,” Matty said.
Tim McConnell said, “It was so special having Matty here. That’s what the McConnell family does. We care for each other and support each other. Our team will get on a bus at 7:30 or 8 [Sunday] morning so we can get back for Matty’s game. Our girls are going to have to suck it up, get up early and there will be no sleeping in, so I can get up and be at Matty’s game.
“Having my mom and dad here with by sisters just means the world. I remember coming here, watching Suzie and Kathy play and win a state title. For them to be in the stands and to watch this is really special to me.”
Tim McConnell lost in two other PIAA championship games as Chartiers Valley’s boys coach, once with T.J. as the team’s star point guard. Tim McConnell is believed to be the only coach in PIAA history to take a boys team and a girls team to title games.
Pitt and freshmen
Pitt’s women’s team had offered a scholarship to Chartiers Valley freshman guard Aislin Malcolm a few weeks ago. Now Pitt has offered another WPIAL freshman from a state championship team.
Peters Township’s Journey Thompson tweeted Saturday that she has been offered a scholarship by Pitt and coach Lance White. Thompson is a 6-foot-1 freshman forward who had 16 points in Peters Township’s 62-49 victory Friday against Garnet Valley in the PIAA Class 5A final.
Championship attendance
PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said he was pleased with attendance for the title games this year. The 12 games (boys and girls) over three days drew a total crowd of 22,693. That’s almost 3,000 better than last year’s attendance of 19,922, but it should be pointed out that last year’s title games were postponed a few days because of snow and played Monday through Wednesday.
This was the third year of six classifications in Pennsylvania and attendance in 2017 was 26,061. But that total was helped immensely by the Class 6A final between Reading and Pine-Richland, which drew a packed house of 9,531 because seemingly the whole town of Reading came to the game.
Attendance for the basketball championships has dropped considerably over the past decade. In 2016, the final year of four classifications, attendance was 17,088. From 2004-06, crowds at Giant Center for four classifications were between 33,000 and 34,000.
Four for WPIAL
The WPIAL came home with four championships. Moon and Lincoln Park won boys titles while Peters Township and Chartiers Valley won girls championships. This was the first time since 2014 that two WPIAL boys teams won titles.
Peters Township and Chartiers Valley became only the fourth and fifth girls teams from the WPIAL to win state titles with perfect records. Thirteen WPIAL boys teams have accomplished the feat. The only other time the WPIAL had two perfect teams in the same year was 1983 when the Sto-Rox boys and Mount Alvernia girls were perfect.
This and that
*You can bet not many players have won PIAA titles at two different schools. But Isaiah Smith and Andre Wilder did it, winning as freshmen with Sewickley Academy in 2017, and Lincoln Park this year. Smith was a top reserve and scored four points in the 2017 titl game. Wilder was on the team, but didn’t play. Wilder transferred to Lincoln Park after his freshman year and Smith after his sophomore year.
*Some fuel to the debate of separate tournaments for public and Catholic/private/charter schools: FIve of the six PIAA boys champions were either Catholic or charter schools.
*West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and assistant Ron Everhart were in attendance Saturday night to watch star recruit Oscar Tshiebwe play for Kennedy Catholic in the 6A title game against Pennridge. It was a terrific game, with Kennedy Catholic winning in double overtime, 64-62. Tshiebwe, a 6-9 senior, didn’t get many shots, hitting only 6 of 10. But he still had a major impact and saved the game three different times with a blocked shot. He finished with 16 points, 21 rebounds and 5 steals. Tshiebwe blocked shots late in regulation, in the first overtime and the second overtime to seal the win.
*The best championship performance since Billy Owens?
That’s what has to be asked after Chance Westry’s game in the Class 3A final Saturday against Lincoln Park. Westry, a 6-3 point guard for Trinity, had 40 points, 9 rebounds, 7 steals, 4 assists and 3 blocks in a 73-72 loss. And get this: Westry is only a freshman. Westry already has a scholarship offer from Penn State.
Owens, by the way, had 53 points and 12 rebounds for Carlisle in a 1988 Class 4A title-game victory against Central Catholic. Owens made 19 of 22 shots and 14 of 16 free throws. Westry made 13 of 23 shots (4 of 6 on 3-pointers) and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: March 25, 2019, 3:42 a.m.