63! Chartiers Valley girls break state basketball win streak record

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, January 18, 2021 | 9:10 PM

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Silver balloons hung in Chartiers Valley’s locker room after Monday’s girls basketball game, with some spelling out “yay!” and others “63.”

Those balloons were the only hint the team had just made history.

Chartiers Valley extended its unmatched winning streak to 63 games with a 91-39 victory over Gateway, breaking the state record for consecutive wins by a girls basketball team. The Colts now have one more win than Lancaster Catholic in 2017-19, but the milestone wasn’t met with any celebration.

With the balloons hanging above their heads, CV coach Tim McConnell reminded his players that Tuesday’s practice starts at 3:15 p.m. and they’ll play Penn Hills on Wednesday. Nobody said anything close to “yay” and certainly there was no talk about 63 wins, not from McConnell nor his players.

They’re saving their celebrations for championships. Instead of silver balloons, they want gold medals.

“The streak isn’t important to me,” McConnell said. “I never got into coaching for personal streaks or personal wins or team streaks. I didn’t even know this streak existed until late last year. … I don’t need it to be a distraction. I want our team to stay focused on what our goals are.

“We’re still upset about last year, getting shut down two games before the state (championship),” he added. “If you give me my choice, a streak or win a WPIAL and win a state, I’m taking win the WPIAL and the state every day of the week.”

McConnell didn’t know about the balloons beforehand. Those were the work of the basketball boosters. But his players seem to have embraced his philosophy that the streak really isn’t important. They recognize that 63 wins is a lot, but insist the streak hasn’t been on their minds.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for our team, but we’re not really focused on that right now,” said junior Aislin Malcolm, a Pitt recruit who scored a game-high 22 points. “Now we’re focused on the next game: Penn Hills.”

Malcolm is one of five juniors starting for McConnell. The others are Columbia recruit Perri Page, twin sisters Hallie and Helene Cowan, and Marian Turnbull, who’s the only first-year starter in the lineup.

Against Gateway, Page added 15 points, Hallie Cowan had 13 and Turnbull had 11.

Those players in the 2022 graduating class have yet to lose a varsity game. In fact, their personal winning streak is longer than 63, since they also went undefeated as eighth graders, Malcolm said.

“My class, we’ve been together since what third grade?” she said. “We’re all super close. It’s just so much fun to all be so talented and just have fun all playing.”

Freshman Ella Cupka added 13 points off the bench.

Chartiers Valley (6-0) didn’t allow time for much suspense in Monday’s game. The record-setting win seemed assured in the first few minutes. The Colts sprinted to a 28-4 lead in the first quarter and led by 35 points at half.

The second-half clock ran continuously under the mercy rule.

“They’re undefeated for a reason and they’re young,” Gateway coach Curtis Williams said. “They can shoot it. They can handle it. They execute. Their basketball IQ is really off the charts. It’s going to be awhile before somebody beats them.”

This streak was three years in the making.

Chartiers Valley finished 30-0 in 2018-19, winning WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A titles. They went 27-0 last winter and repeated as WPIAL champions, but their PIAA hopes were dashed when covid-19 concerns halted the state playoffs. That left the Colts needing six wins to break Lancaster Catholic’s record.

Now, no girls team in Pennsylvania has won more games in a row than them.

“It sounds nice,” McConnell said, “but I’ll tell you when it will hit me, when this team is put into the hall of fame as one of the best teams in 15 or 20 years from now, when we get together and reminisce about what we did. I think it will be meaningful then.”

The longest winning streak for a boys team is widely recognized as 68 games by West Philadelphia in 1976-78.

Chartiers Valley was scheduled to play section foe South Fayette on Monday but the Lions canceled around 2 p.m. over covid-19 concerns. With nobody to play, McConnell and Chartiers Valley athletic director Mike Gavlik started making calls, trying to find an opponent on short notice.

Gateway (0-4) accepted the challenge after its game with Franklin Regional was canceled.

“You want to get better, so you play the best,” said Williams, who has only one senior on his roster. “It was an opportunity to play. That’s the biggest thing. We’re here to play.”

Voluntarily facing Chartiers Valley is a challenge others around the WPIAL have understandably avoided. CV has outscored its first six opponents 458-182.

McConnell won six WPIAL titles and more than 500 games in 25 seasons as Chartiers Valley’s boys coach. He’s now rewriting his legacy as a girls coach with two more WPIAL championships and a state title. But unlike those trophies, this streak won’t stand forever, he said.

Before Lancaster Catholic won 62 in a row, York Catholic won 61 straight from 2006-08.

“Streaks are made to be broken,” McConnell said. “There’s a special team that’s going to come around in the next 10 to 15 years that’s going to break this streak and they’re going to forget about Chartiers Valley. They don’t forget about state championships. They don’t forget about WPIAL championships.”

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: Chartiers Valley, Gateway