Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon have played too many big games against one another to count, but none bigger than their clash Friday night at Petersen Events Center.
The two storied programs and heated rivals went toe-to-toe to crown the 2022 WPIAL Class 6A champion, and No. 1-seeded Mt. Lebanon (23-1) fashioned a 55-44 victory to capture its fourth WPIAL title. Blue Devils coach Dori Oldaker now has six WPIAL titles in her career — two at Blackhawk and four at Mt. Lebanon.
When she received her gold medal around her neck, someone asked Oldaker how many titles she had won, and she didn’t know the answer — only that this one felt the sweetest right now.
“We need to cherish this and savor this,” Oldaker said. “It was 10 years ago the last time we were here. It’s so hard to get here.”
As always, senior guard Ashleigh Connor was the engine that made the Blue Devils go. One of the top scorers in the WPIAL during the regular season at an average of 21.6 points per game, Connor led all players with 23 points — including 16 in the second half — and senior guard Brooke Collins added 12 for Mt. Lebanon.
“This entire season, Coach [Oldaker] has been screaming at me to shoot,” Collins said with a laugh. “If I’m going to do it at one point, why not me today?”
Although winning a WPIAL championship is a special feeling no matter the circumstances, Connor and her teammates conceded that it feels a little bit sweeter to do so against their biggest rival.
“It definitely makes it sweeter. We knew we had them,” Connor said. “It’s very intense. They’re a good team.”
Sophomore guard Mia Brown scored 12 points to pace the No. 3-seeded Panthers (20-5), and freshman Rylee Kalocay finished with 11 in the loss. Sophomore forward Kate Robbins had 6 points to go with 13 rebounds.
“Those are our three horses,” said Upper St. Clair coach Pete Serio. “We had talked about overcoming the adversity of the pressure and not letting that get to you. … We just needed to handle it a little bit better.”
The Blue Devils won the first meeting between the teams at Upper St. Clair Jan. 17, 44-37, then the Panthers won the rematch at Mt. Lebanon Feb. 10, 58-53. Both squads appeared to be evenly matched once again in the rubber match, but the Blue Devils came up with more key plays down the stretch — and Connor was spectacular in the second half.
“In the first quarter, my shots weren’t falling or anything, but I just know I have to keep going and keep shooting,” Connor said. “In the second half they started falling, and we got a lot of energy and motivation.”
Mt. Lebanon could not have gotten off to a slower start, as it took more than half the first quarter before the Blue Devils got on the board on a 3-pointer by Collins. Connor didn’t score her first points until early in the second quarter, but once she got going, the rest of her teammates followed. After falling behind, 13-5, Mt. Lebanon put together a 9-0 run to take a 14-13 lead.
“I had a good feeling in the second half we were going to knock some shots down,” Oldaker said. “I just felt like our defensive pressure was hopefully going to get to them.”
The Blue Devils led at halftime, 18-15, then back-to-back baskets by Connor stretched their lead to 33-26 late in the third quarter. Upper St. Clair kept hanging around, but every time the Panthers made a run, Mt. Lebanon answered back.
With the Blue Devils leading, 46-40, and time winding down in the fourth quarter, Connor made two free throws followed by a floater to give Mt. Lebanon a 10-point lead with 1:17 remaining. The rest, as they say, is history.
“We’re going to enjoy this, and then we’ll prepare for hopefully a state title run as well,” Oldaker said. “And we’ll probably see USC again before it’s all said and done.”
Steve Rotstein: srotstein@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SteveRotstein.
First Published: March 5, 2022, 1:34 a.m.
Updated: March 5, 2022, 3:14 a.m.
