2025 PIAA Class 3A girls basketball championship breakdown: Shady Side Academy vs. Loyalsock Township

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | 11:26 PM

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PIAA Class 3A girls basketball final

Shady Side Academy vs. Loyalsock

6 p.m. Thursday, Giant Center, Hershey

On the air: NFHS Network livestream

PIAA championships: Shady Side Academy 0; Loyalsock Township 0

Shady Side Academy (28-1)

Coach: Jonna Burke

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Yr., Pos.

1, Laila Banner, 5-8, fr., G

4, Makiyah Mitchell, 5-8, sr., G

5, Cameron Capel, 5-7, sr., G

21, Leah Buford, 5-10, so., F

23, Karis Thomas, 5-7, jr., G

How they got here: Shady Side Academy defeated Cranberry Area, 51-23, in the first round; Northwestern, 46-44, in the second round; Camp Hill Trinity, 46-43, in the quarterfinals; and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 43-29, in the semifinals.

Notable: The Shady Side Academy girls are making their first appearance in the state basketball finals. … The Bulldogs can become the first WPIAL team to win the Class 3A girls title since the sport expanded to six classifications in 2017. The most recent WPIAL girls team to win in 3A was Blackhawk in 2015. … Shady Side Academy’s offense averages 60.1 points per game and its defense allows 32.2. … Thomas is an 18-point scorer. She accounted for 21 of her team’s 43 points in the state semifinals. … The Bulldogs finished as the WPIAL runners-up. They’ve bounced back from a five-point loss to Greensburg Central Catholic in the WPIAL finals, where there were the No. 1 seed and previously undefeated. … Burke is 88-20 in four seasons as Shady Side Academy’s coach. A former basketball player at Pitt, Burke previously coached at Butler and Bethel Park, where she had a combined record of 483-196.

Loyalsock Township (29-2)

Coach: Curtis Jacobson

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Yr., Pos.

2, Julie Ellis, 5-8, sr., F

10, Jillian Kennedy, 5-5, jr., G

11, Lacey Kriebel, 5-10, sr., G

22, Jaekairah Harden, 5-4, jr., G

30, Alaina Dadzie, 6-1, jr., F

How they got here: Loyalsock Township defeated Biglerville, 53-20, in the first round; West Catholic, 54-35, in the second round; Notre Dame Green Pond, 65-59, in the quarterfinals; and Dunmore, 60-36, in the semifinals.

Notable: District 4 champion Loyalsock Township reached the state finals for the first time. The Lancers lost in last year’s semifinals to eventual champion Lancaster Catholic. … The team’s offense averages 54.2 points per game and its defense allows 29.5. … Its two losses this season were by a combined three points (44-42 to Crestwood and 40-39 to Central Columbia). … Dadzie is a 17-point scorer and Kriebel averages 11 points per game, followed by Ellis (7.2), Harden (6.7) and Kennedy (5.5). … In a state semifinal win over Dunmore, Kriebel scored 24 points, and Dadzie had 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. … Jacobson’s record is 198-51 in nine seasons as coach.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Shady Side Academy