OLSH holds off Central Cambria to set up all-WPIAL Class 3A semifinal vs. Shady Side Academy

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, March 14, 2025 | 10:39 PM

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For Don Eckerle, winning never gets old. And he’s done a lot of it over the years — 417 times now, to be exact.

But if it were always easy, perhaps the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart girls basketball coach would just get bored and call it quits.

When it was suggested Friday night at Norwin High School following OLSH’s 47-43 victory over Central Cambria in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals that Eckerle was starting to sweat in the final minute while his Chargers were fighting off the Red Devils’ frantic comeback attempt, he didn’t hesitate to respond.

“Absolutely. It put me through more than what I needed to be put through,” he said.

OLSH (25-4) nearly let a 14-point, second-half lead slip away.

But another win is yet another win for Eckerle and OLSH.

Claudia Ierullo scored 17 points and Leah Parker and Lola Garner added 13 apiece to lead the Chargers, who advance to an all-WPIAL semifinal against Class 3A runner-up Shady Side Academy on Friday.

The Bulldogs defeated District 3 champion Trinity in the quarterfinals by a nearly identical score of 46-43.

When OLSH went up 41-27 for its second 14-point lead of the game, Central Cambria (19-9) got a hot hand, igniting a furious 16-6 run in the final 3 minutes.

Central Cambria’s Keira Link scored nine of her game-high 19 points and Ierullo missed four consecutive free throws for OLSH during the Red Devils’ spree.

“We missed some free throws, which I just screamed at them about inside (the locker room),” Eckerle said. “But we knew they didn’t have any timeouts left, and when there was just 3 seconds left (on Ierullo’s final two misses), we just ran the clock out.”

Central Cambria coach Brittany Bracken consoled her girls — some visibly upset and sobbing — while reflecting on the abrupt ending to a season that carried her team to the state quarterfinals for the second time in seven years.

“Obviously, we didn’t have the start that we wanted tonight, but we didn’t quit,” Bracken said. “I’m proud of my girls for playing ‘til the final buzzer sounded. It’s a credit to how hard they worked all year and the heart that they have for the game.”

Central Cambria won the District 6 championship by beating previously undefeated River Valley in overtime.

The Red Devils then eliminated WPIAL opponent Keystone Oaks from the PIAA playoffs in the first round and defeated District 9 champion Karns City in the second round by an average of 20.5 points.

The girls played a great game and executed the game plan, which was to put pressure on the guards and eliminate 3-point shooting,” Eckerle said. “We know they’re a great 3-point shooting team. We thought we had to take something away, and that’s what we tried to take away.”

The plan worked well as OLSH built a 17-6 lead and settled for a 17-10 advantage after the first quarter.

Central Cambria got within 24-21 in the final minute of the second quarter on a 3-point shot by Katie George, who added 10 points for the Red Devils. But OLSH got it back on Parker’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

“Wow, Leah’s shot at the end of the quarter,” Eckerle recalled. “I wasn’t happy with the two possessions before that because we had a lead and kind of gave it away. But Leah’s shot really gave us momentum going into the half.”

OLSH, which reached the PIAA semifinals in 2023, advanced to the 2025 quarterfinals by upsetting WPIAL champion Greensburg Central Catholic, 36-34, on Tuesday in the second round behind Ierullo’s 25 points.

OLSH lost twice previously to GCC this season, including 41-18 in the WPIAL semifinals.

The week of down time before the next round of the PIAA playoffs is an expanded period because 10,500-seat Giant Center in Hershey is not available for the originally scheduled date of the state championship games.

When reminded of the change, Eckerle again was emphatic.

“I absolutely like it,” he said. “(Shady Side Academy) is a great team with great players. I’m glad we’ve got a week to prepare for them.”

OLSH advanced, despite playing without junior point guard Sara Daeschner, who tore an ACL in the Chargers’ two-point victory over GCC on Tuesday.

Senior Libby Gallick was inserted into the starting lineup in her place, and Eckerle was delighted with the results.

“We had a short period here. Sara does so much for this team,” he said. “We had to make sure that even the right person was taking the ball out of bounds. I know that sounds like a simple thing, but it’s really not a simple thing. We entrusted Libby, and she did a great job doing that.”

Tags: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart