2022 WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball championship breakdown: OLSH vs. Neshannock

By: Bill Hartlep
Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 7:40 PM

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WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball championship

No. 1 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart vs. No. 2 Neshannock

3 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center

On the air: Video livestream: TribHSSN.TribLive.com

WPIAL titles: OLSH 1 (2019); Neshannock 2 (2019, 2021)

OLSH (21-4)

Coach: Don Eckerle

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

5, Kyleigh Nagy, 5-7, jr., G

21, Mia Grisafi, 5-5, jr., G

31, Kaleigh Costantino, 5-7, sr, G

32, Emily Schuck, 5-9, sr., G/F

33, Katie Hoff, 5-10, sr., F

Notable: The Chargers started the season 4-4 but have won 16 straight games since falling to Neshannock, 60-34, on Jan. 3. … OLSH and Neshannock shared the Section 1 title with 11-1 records and split their season series. … OLSH reached the finals after rolling past No. 16 Frazier, 53-13, in the first round and No. 9 Apollo-Ridge, 70-28, in the quarterfinals and edging No. 5 Seton LaSalle, 50-45, in the semifinals. … The Chargers are led by junior guard Kyleigh Nagy and senior guard/forward Emily Schuck. Nagy had 24 points in the semifinals. The team returned a veteran nucleus of seven seniors and eight juniors after finishing 13-6 and reaching the WPIAL quarterfinals in 2021. … The Chargers won the 2019 title in Class 2A, the same year Neshannock won in Class 3A. … Coach Don Eckerle has more than 300 wins in 18 seasons at OLSH.

Neshannock (23-2)

Coach: Luann Grybowski

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Neleh Nogay, 5-6, sr., G

11, Addilae Watts, 5-7, sr., G

20, Aaralyn Nogay, 5-6, jr., G

24, Megan Pallerino, 5-11, jr., F

34, Mairan Haggerty, 6-1, jr., G/F

Notable: The defending WPIAL champion Lancers have cruised through the playoff bracket with wins over No. 15 Ellis School, 65-18; No. 10 Shenango, 35-17; and No. 3 Serra Catholic, 41-23. … They are led by veteran coach Luann Grybowski, who became the third WPIAL coach to surpass 700 career victories earlier this season, joining North Catholic’s Don Barth and Mt. Alvernia’s De Porucznik. She has coached Neshannock the past 13 seasons and led the team to WPIAL titles in 2019 and 2021. … On the court, Neshannock is led by junior guard/forward Mairan Haggerty (18.8 ppg) as well as junior forward Megan Pallerino and senior guard Neleh Nogay, a Fordham softball commit. In the semifinals, Haggerty and Aaralyn Nogay had 11 points, and Pallerino scored 10. … Neshannock has won eight straight games.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Neshannock, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart