Chartiers Valley girls quietly tie longest winning streak in state basketball history

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, January 16, 2021 | 12:57 AM

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There were a couple of high fives when the clock reached zeroes Friday night but nothing more than usual as Chartiers Valley wrapped up a 53-point section win over Moon.

There was no indication the Colts had just tied a state record. No idea they’d just won their 62nd consecutive game.

And they’re good with that.

“No comment about the record,” coach Tim McConnell said.

Colts junior Aislin Malcolm scored a game-high 24 points and four teammates joined her in double figures in a record-tying 79-26 victory at Moon. Chartiers Valley tied the longest winning streak in PIAA girls basketball history set by Lancaster Catholic in 2017-19.

Just don’t expect them to talk about it.

“Honestly, I know we all say it, but it’s actually so true,” Malcolm said. “We don’t talk about it. I can’t even remember the last time he said something about a streak. We never say a word about it.”

Chartiers Valley can break the record Monday night. The Colts (5-0, 3-0) host South Fayette (3-0, 1-0) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be scarce. Only home fans are allowed at Chartiers Valley games and every player receives just four tickets.

“If it happens, it happens,” McConnell said. “Not one time have they heard it come out of my mouth. We’ll talk about it sometime in the future. But right now, it’s nothing that’s on our minds.”

This is McConnell’s third season as the school’s girls basketball coach and he hasn’t lost a game.

The Colts 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 last March when covid-19 concerns halted the state playoffs.

The Colts were two wins away from Hershey. That disappointment is something they will talk about.

“We talked about it before this game,” Malcolm said. “It makes us so much hungrier that we didn’t get to go to the state championship or win those two games to make it there. That’s why we want to make it there this year.”

Chartiers Valley sprinted to a 19-0 lead Friday against Moon and led 48-11 at half. CV then won the third quarter 11-0.

Perri Page had 14 points, Hallie Cowan and Marian Turnbull scored 12 apiece, and Helene Cowan added 10. All four are juniors.

The clock ran continuously after halftime with the mercy rule in effect, but McConnell isn’t one to sit back, relax and watch the time tick away. Once, with his team ahead by 30, he loudly pointed out how one of his players didn’t hustle for a rebound.

“It’s nothing against Moon, I’m not trying to run it up, but I tell our girls I’m coaching for the future,” McConnell said. “Because if they get lazy now and don’t do it, they’ll think it’s OK the next game to not go after loose balls or not box out. … So when you don’t do something, I let you know about it.”

That message isn’t lost on his players.

“They get it,” he said. “That’s why it’s fun to coach. They understand it.”

Chartiers Valley has two Division I recruits. Malcolm, a 5-foot-10 junior, committed to Pitt in December. Perri Page, a 5-11 junior, committed Jan. 1 to Columbia.

Malcolm entered Friday averaging a team-best 15.5 points with Page (14.3) and Turnbull (12.3) also in double figures.

The Colts have outscored their first five opponents 227-73, and Friday’s wasn’t their first running clock. Still, they haven’t allowed themselves to get caught looking ahead at making state history.

“I think it’s because we just focus one thing at a time,” Malcolm said. “We focus on section champs and then WPIAL and then state. We just go game by game.

“Once you keep winning a game and winning a game, then the streak comes up. But we don’t even think about the streak.”

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, Moon