The South Fayette girls basketball team has ripped through the postseason, winning six games by at least 15 points. But now South Fayette gets a gigantic challenge against a new program that is a perennial power.
How could a new team be a perennial power, you may ask? Well, here’s the scoop: South Fayette plays Cathedral Prep of Erie in a PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal Saturday at Sharon that is one of the top matchups in the state. This is the first year of Cathedral Prep’s girls basketball program, but many of the Ramblers players are experienced in big state playoff games.
The reason is that Cathedral Prep’s sophomores, juniors and seniors come from Villa Maria Academy in Erie. Villa Maria was an all-girls school that had one of the best programs in the state the past couple decades, but the school closed in 2022 and students went to Cathedral Prep. This is the first year that Cathedral Prep, which used to be an all-boys school, accepted female students.
Villa Maria made it to the PIAA Class 4A semifinals last season and lost in the 2021 title game. Since 2000, Villa won three state championships and made it to a title game five other times.
This year’s Cathedral Prep team is 23-1, while South Fayette, a two-time WPIAL champ, is 26-2.
“It’s definitely one of the best teams we’ve played, if not the best,” South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett said. “They’re talented at every position and they’re probably the biggest team we’ve played. They have size and also skill on the perimeter. It’s definitely going to be a test.”
Cathedral Prep features 5-foot-11 junior guard-forward Jayden McBride, who has close to 10 Division I scholarship offers, including ones from West Virginia and Marquette. McBride averages 16 points per game and comes from a family of basketball stars. Her two older sisters played at Villa Maria and one of them is Kayla McBride, who played on four Final Four teams at Notre Dame and has played nine years in the WNBA. She has been a WNBA All-Star four times. Another sister, Karlee, played for the Indiana Hoosiers.
“If you put a smaller guard on her, she’s going to take her inside,” Bennett said of Jayden McBride. “She’ll take a bigger defender and pull her outside. We’re going to have to come up with a game plan and figure out how to defend her.”
While Cathedral Prep obviously is a strong team, South Fayette can take solace in the fact that a few other WPIAL teams have played right with Cathedral Prep and one WPIAL squad handed Cathedral Prep its only loss. That was North Catholic, which defeated Cathedral Prep 59-57. Blackhawk lost to Cathedral Prep by only 40-36.
“I think our players are excited to play, regardless of who it is,” Bennett said. “All year long, regardless of who we faced, they have had the same mindset. They’re just focused on the next opponent.”
USC makes a ‘point’
It’s not like Upper St. Clair had to reinvent itself a few weeks ago, but the Panthers had to certainly make some adjustments after starting point guard Samantha Prunzik suffered a broken arm in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals. Upper St. Clair was the No. 1 seed but lost in the championship to North Allegheny 71-45.
But Upper St. Clair bounced back with two double-digit wins in the PIAA playoffs. Freshman Ryan Prunzik, sister of Samantha, and junior Kate Moore have taken over at point guard.
“They have stepped up and done their best,” Upper St. Clair coach Pete Serio said. “I said before the championship game that if we could’ve just had one game to get used to playing [without Prunzik], we would’ve been better off. But no excuses here. We didn’t get it done. Someone has to step up. They were put in a difficult situation. But there has absolutely been a ton of improvement the past few games. They’re getting used to their role and understanding their role.
“Kids nowadays are pretty resilient. The first day back in the gym [after the championship], there wasn’t high energy. But as the days went on, they started to get their bounce back.”
Now, Upper St. Clair has to face an undefeated Cedar Cliff team (28-0) Friday at Altoona.
Two for four
When Oakland Catholic plays McKeesport in a Class 5A quarterfinal Saturday at Peters Township, it’s going to be a case of “haven’t I seen you before?”
This will be the fourth meeting this season between the two. The first three have been relatively close, but Oakland Catholic won all three by scores of 59-54, 60-54 and 58-51 in the WPIAL semifinals.
Tops in the country
Shady Side Academy and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart are WPIAL teams that have made it to the Class 3A quarterfinals. If either reaches the title game, there’s a chance they could go up against one of the top five seniors in the country.
Dunmore is 24-3 and is in the quarterfinals in the eastern region. Dunmore features 6-foot-3 Ciera Toomey, a University of North Carolina recruit who is ranked the No. 4 player in the country by ESPN.
But Toomey isn’t at full strength. She suffered a torn ACL just before the PIAA playoffs last year. She has been playing for about the past 10 games, although she has been playing less than half the game.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1975 and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published: March 16, 2023, 7:40 p.m.
