PIAA Class 6A girls basketball championship breakdown: North Allegheny vs. Spring-Ford

By: Bill Hartlep
Thursday, March 25, 2021 | 10:42 PM

Purchase Photo Options

PIAA Class 6A girls basketball championship

North Allegheny vs. Spring-Ford

5 p.m. Friday at Giant Center, Hershey

On the air: PCN-TV; TribHSSN.TribLive.com (audio)

How they got here: WPIAL champion North Allegheny beat District 10 champion McDowell, 60-30, in the quarterfinals and District 3 champion Cumberland Valley, 67-23, in the semifinals. District 1 champion Spring-Ford had a bye in the quarterfinals and defeated District 11 champion Nazareth, 46-43, in the semifinals.

Starting lineups

North Allegheny (26-1)

Coach: Spencer Stefko

No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.

3, Jasmine Timmerson, G, 5-7, So.

4, Kellie McConnell, G, 5-3, Fr.

20, Emma Fischer, G, 5-8, Jr.

25, Paige Morningstar, G/F, 6-1, Sr.

32, Lizzy Groetsch, G, 5-11, Sr.

Spring-Ford (24-0)

Coach: Mickey McDaniel

No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.

2, Abbey Boyer, G, 5-3, Sr.

3, Lucy Olsen, G, 5-9, Sr.

4, Anna Azzara, G, 5-5 Fr.

11, Emily Tiffan, G, 5-9, Sr.

32, Hailey Hudak, F, 5-10, Sr.

Title-game history: Spring-Ford has won one state title (2013). North Allegheny lost to Boyertown in the 2017 title game and is looking for its first championship. The Tigers reached the semifinals in 2014, ’16 and ’18.

Notable: North Allegheny reached the WPIAL championship game for the sixth straight season and won its fourth title in that span (2017, ’18, ’20, ’21). Senior guard Lizzy Groetsch, a Penn recruit and 1,000-point scorer for her career, had 24 points against Cumberland Valley. The 2020 first-team all-state selection averages 16 points per game, while sophomore guard Jasmine Timmerson and senior guard Paige Morningstar, a Louisville volleyball recruit, each average 11. Junior guard Emma Fischer adds in 8 ppg, and freshman guard Kellie McConnell averages 5. Coach Spencer Stefko is 155-15 in six seasons at NA and 343-78 in his career. The Tigers’ lone loss came against Class 5A No. 1 Trinity on Feb. 20, which snapped a 30-game winning streak. … Spring-Ford is led by senior guards Lucy Olsen, who averages 19.6 points, and Emily Tiffan, who averages 11.1. Olsen, a Villanova recruit who set the school’s career scoring record in January and has nearly 1,700 points, scored 33 and tied a school single-game record in the District 1 championship game victory over Plymouth Whitemarsh. The senior class has a record of 109-19 over the past four years.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny