Archbishop Wood Beats Trinity to Repeat as PIAA Girls Champs

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 25, 2017 | 10:21 PM

Archbishop Wood’s slow down offense and tenacious defense added up to a 34-26 win over Trinity in the PIAA Class 5-A Girls Championship game Saturday night. 

The Vikings regularly held the ball outside the three-point line for upwards of 45 seconds while Trinity sat in a 2-3 zone inside the arch. 

The District 12 champions hit three treys in the game’s first 4 minutes to lead 9-0 but scored only one more field goal before halftime. 

The Hillers struggle to take care of the ball and get good looks at basket, but stayed within reach, trailing 14-7 at the half. 

Abbey O’Connor’s field goal in the opening 20 seconds of the third was Trinity’s last points from the floor until Sierra Kotchman buried a trey in the game’s final minute. 

But the Vikings couldn’t score from the floor either.  Mia Andrews came off the bench to hit two three-pointers, the second putting Wood in front 17-9 early in the third quarter. 

The teams traded free throw makes over the last 4 minutes of the quarter with Trinity pulling to within four.  DeRubbo’s back-to-back makes at the stripe opened the fourth, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 19-17, and Trinity forced several turnovers and missed shots, but could not covert. 

Bridget Arcidiacono’s layup and a quick trey from Cassie Sebold restored Wood’s lead to 7 points, and the Hillers’ hopes faded.  When Sebold hit two free throws and Shannon May scored on a lay up, pushing the lead to 11, the Giant Center crowd knew it was just a matter of time.

DeRubbo led all scorers with 13 points, 11-of-12 at the foul line and one field goal.  Sebold paced the Vikings with 12 points. 

The championship is the fifth for Archbishop Wood (24-7), all since 2010. 

Kotchman finished with seven points for Trinity (26-4), and ends her career with 1,706 points, most by any basketball player ever at Trinity.  The Hillers were making their first-ever appearance in the state championship game.

Archbishop Wood Vikings : 9-5-5-15=34
Trinity Hillers : 4-3-8-11=26