Kaylee Charles has watched a lot of basketball over the past few weeks.
She watched McKeesport lose to Oakland Catholic in a game that could have given the Tigers a share of the Section 3 title.
She looked on when they lost to South Fayette in the WPIAL semifinals and when they rebounded with a victory against Oakland Catholic in the third-place consolation round and for a pair of state tournament wins.
“Watching my team play and seeing us play all through the WPIALs, I feel like if I was out there, we could have won,” Charles said. “But if we win states instead of WPIALs, that’s all that matters.”
On Saturday against Armstrong, the 5-foot-10 senior forward was finally where she wanted to be all along — on the floor competing with her teammates. And the River Hawks saw firsthand just how good the Tigers can be with her in the lineup.
Charles, who spent six weeks recovering from an injury to her left hand, came off the bench but was a force inside when she was on the court. She finished with six points and 11 rebounds and provided the spark McKeesport (24-4) needed to cruise to a 57-35 win against Armstrong (23-6) in the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinals at Norwin High School.
“It felt great. I wasn’t even tired,” Charles said. “I had the adrenaline and all this built-up energy.”
With Charles back, it allowed senior Rachael Manfredo to move out of the low post and roam both offensively and defensively. Given her normal freedom, the Edinboro recruit tore up the Armstrong defense with a game-high 22 points, 11 boards and two blocked shots.
“It feels great with Kaylee back in. You can really tell she’s back,” Manfredo said. “I didn’t mind filling in underneath with the bigs, but it feels good. It does feel better to be a little bit more relaxed after playing down there and having a little more freedom.”
Charles stepped onto the court with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter and McKeesport locked in a 6-6 tie with the WPIAL runners-up. River Hawks guard Emma Paul, who led the team with 15 points, drained a basket with 4:35 left to put the team ahead by two, and Sarai Weaver hit 1 of 2 from the line to give Armstrong a 9-6 lead.
That was also the last lead the River Hawks held in the game.
Brooke Evans, who finished with 10, hit a hoop for McKeesport to get the Tigers back to within one, then Manfredo went crazy. She scored the next 10 points, and Charles added her first basket since her return to cap a 14-0 run that put them ahead to stay, 18-9 at the end of the first quarter.
If the run wasn’t enough for the River Hawks to overcome, the hoop from Paul was the last shot from the field they made for 9:04 until Isabella Yancy hit a 3-pointer with 3:31 left in the half. By that time, McKeesport had built a 24-15 lead and had the game well in hand.
“We didn’t play well. We picked a bad day to play poorly,” Armstrong coach Jim Callipare said. “We missed a lot of layups and free throws, and I don’t know how many turnovers we had (17), but it was a lot.”
Even so, Armstrong kept it within reach throughout much of the game and had a golden opportunity to make a run when Manfredo hit the pine with 6:46 left in regulation with her fourth personal foul. The River Hawks only trailed 41-30, and there was time for a comeback, but Madison Cherepko hit her only basket of the game, a dagger of a 3-pointer from the left side, while Charles locked it down inside to keep the River Hawks from making a run.
With the win, McKeesport will make its second trip to the state semifinals in the last three years. The Tigers were the No. 3 team out of the WPIAL in 2022 and lost to Chartiers Valley 59-50 in the semifinals at Peters Township.
“These girls are physical and they play hard,” McKeesport coach Matt Miller said. “We scout really hard. We figure out what they’re trying to do, and it’s been working.”
Keith Barnes: kbarnes.pg@gmail.com and @kbarnes_pghsprt on X
First Published: March 16, 2024, 6:15 p.m.
