Mohawk basketball seniors find ‘closure’ despite PIAA championship loss
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Thursday, March 25, 2021 | 7:33 PM
Mohawk’s Paige Julian scores past West Catholic’s Destiney McPhaul during the PIAA Class 3A state championship game on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Mohawk’s Nadia Lape drives past West Catholic’s Layla Reid during the PIAA Class 3A state championship game on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
West Catholic’s Ciani Montgomery scores between Mohawk’s Jordan Radzymynski and Paige Julian during the PIAA Class 3A state championship game on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Mohawk head coach Mike O’Lare hugs Nadia Lape next to Paige Julian in the final seconds of the PIAA Class 3A state championship game against West Catholic on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Mohawk’s Paige Julian accepts the runner-up trophy with Abigail Schoaff and Hannah McDanel after the PIAA Class 3A state championship game against West Catholic on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Mohawk’s Abigail Shoaff battles West Catholic’s Ciani Montgomery for a loose ball during the PIAA Class 3A state championship game on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Mohawk’s Hannah McDanel drives past West Catholic’s Daizy Wilson during the PIAA Class 3A state championship game on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at Giant Center in Hershey.
HERSHEY — The PIAA eliminated its on-court medal ceremonies this winter, so Mohawk basketball coach Mike O’Lare awarded them in the team’s makeshift locker room.
The two-time WPIAL champions lost to Philadelphia’s West Catholic, 67-56, in the PIAA Class 3A final Thursday night, but O’Lare made certain his players left Giant Center with medals around their necks.
“It was so important to get closure for these seniors,” O’Lare said, “to be able to walk off the court with under a minute to go, on their own terms. Maybe not the way they liked, but at least we got to do it.”
Mohawk successfully limited Virginia Tech recruit Destiney McPhaul to 16 points, yet teammate Ciani Montgomery scored a game-high 34 as West Catholic celebrated its first PIAA title Thursday. McPhaul started surprisingly slow and made only six of her 17 shots, but Montgomery went 14 for 18 with two 3s.
“They’ve got all good players over there, and you can’t stop all of them,” O’Lare said. “We didn’t really target McPhaul. We know she’s good, but we felt like you can’t just key on one kid over there because somebody else is going to get you.”
Mohawk spent much the game reeling in West Catholic, only to see the Burrs pull away again. The Warriors were back within four points with about 3 minutes left before Montgomery scored seven in a row with two layups, a jumper and a foul shot in less than a minute.
Quickly, West Catholic’s lead was 60-49.
“The game is all about runs,” Mohawk senior Paige Julian said. “We knew they were going to go on runs and we were going to go on runs. We just didn’t hit that run that we needed at the end.”
Julian scored a team-high 23 points, Nadia Lape had 16 and Hannah McDaniel added 14. All three are seniors.
Mohawk erased a seven-point deficit in the second quarter to force a 23-23 tie. They trailed by 11 points in the third quarter and by nine early in the fourth before narrowing the gap each time.
“We just couldn’t get over the top of them,” O’Lare said. “They’re just dang good. We thought we were getting close and they’d make a play. And it wasn’t necessarily that our defense broke down, they’ve just got some kids and those kids made some plays, just like ours did. But they just made a few more.”
West Catholic (11-4), the Class 2A runner-up in 2018, was the state finals for the second time in four years.
Mohawk (19-5) was in the state finals for the first time. A year ago, the Warriors were two wins from Hershey when the PIAA canceled the state tournament in the quarterfinals.
“Last year it was just shut down,” O’Lare said. “You didn’t have closure.”
Mohawk sprinted to a 6-0 lead and led 12-11 later in the first quarter. The Warriors attempted only four 3-pointers in the first quarter and focused instead on driving layups since West Catholic’s defense was stretched.
Trailing 21-13 in the second quarter, Julian sparked a 10-2 run. Julian scored 17 points in the first half. Her layup with about 4 minutes until half created a 23-23 tie.
Montgomery responded with a floater to retake the lead.
“A lot of people like to act like we’re a one-headed monster with Destiney,” West Catholic coach Beulah Osueke said. “Destiney is an amazing player, but we also have other teammates that … stepped up to take pressure off her.”
Mohawk trailed 29-26 at half and 46-40 after three.
West Catholic adjusted to Mohawk’s drives, defended the middle more and forced the Warriors to shoot more from outside. Mohawk finished 7 for 20 from beyond the arc.
“I’m extremely proud of my team,” Julian said. “We’ve overcame so much, from our season getting canceled last year to making it to Hershey.”
Listen to an archived broadcast of the PIAA Class 3A girls basketball championship on Trib HSSN.
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.
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