At full strength, Oakland Catholic rolls past North Catholic into Class 4A finals
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Monday, February 24, 2025 | 8:59 PM
Oakland Catholic’s London Creach scores past North Catholic’s Sam Weir and Brady Wehner during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Josie Fontana blocks the shot of North Catholic’s Sarah Loughry during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
North Catholic’s Sarah Loughry defends on Oakland Catholic’s London Creach during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Savanna Daye fights for a rebound with North Catholic’s Lauren Reitz during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Josie Fontana hangs North Catholic’s Sarah Loughry with a fake during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Madi Pullen defends on North Catholic’s Sam Weir during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Alayla Bivins fights for a loose ball with North Catholic’s Harmony Jones (4) and Sarah Loughry during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s Josie Fontana scores over North Catholic’s Sarah Loughry during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
North Catholic’s Harmony Jones grabs a rebound from Oakland Catholic’s Savanna Daye during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic’s London Creach scores over North Catholic’s Sam Weir during the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals Monday at Fox Chapel.
Oakland Catholic junior forward Josie Fontana plans to soak up the experience at Petersen Events Center this weekend. Fontana made a two-minute cameo her freshman season during the Eagles’ loss to South Fayette.
Second-seeded Oakland Catholic earned a trip to the WPIAL Class 4A title game by smothering North Catholic, 57-29, Monday night at Fox Chapel. The Eagles opened the game with a 12-0 run and never let the Trojanettes threaten.
“I remember my freshman year I got in for two minutes. It wasn’t my best game,” said Fontana, who finished with a game-high 16 points. “I want to go out there and have a lot of fun with my teammates.”
Oakland Catholic (22-3) will play top-seeded Blackhawk for the championship.
The Eagles split with North Catholic in the regular season in section play.
Oakland Catholic coach Henry Schechter said he felt like the team had more left after each game.
“There are always things we can work on,” Schechter said. “It’s going to be hard to be perfect. We played pretty darn good tonight. We are trending up right now.”
The Eagles played without star guard London Creach throughout much of the season as she recovered from injury. Creach’s return helped spark Oakland Catholic on both sides of the ball.
Creach, who finished with 15 points, opened up the scoring with a layup and scored eight of the Eagles’ first 10 points.
“(London) returning gave them a whole other dimension,” Trojanettes coach Molly Rottmann said. “She’s someone you can’t help off of as much. It’s a great time of year for her to be back and playing well. I don’t think that was the game-changer. We just beat ourselves up from the first quarter not attacking the press.”
The Eagles put the Trojanettes (21-3) on their heels with full-court defense. That resulted in a number of early turnovers that put North Catholic behind quickly.
Sarah Loughry stopped the Eagles’ run about 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the first quarter with a layup. North Catholic got the lead down to 16-7 by the end of the first quarter.
“That’s been our signature all year,” Schechter said. “We can play at multiple levels. We’ve really improved, and I think we are comfortable with that. It’s a risk-reward.”
Oakland Catholic kept the defensive pressure up in the second quarter. The Trojanettes cut the lead to 24-16 at halftime thanks to three 3-pointers, including two from Sam Weir. Weir led North Catholic with nine points.
However, the Trojanettes couldn’t keep the momentum up after the half. Oakland Catholic’s preparation and execution on defense made it tough for North Catholic to attack the hoop.
“We practiced their offense for three days,” Creach said. “We knew what they were going to run. We watched them play the quarterfinals and knew what we had to do.”
Alayla Bivins also finished with 12 points for Oakland Catholic.
Tags: North Catholic, Oakland Catholic
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