PIAA Class 5A girls championship breakdown: Chartiers Valley vs. Archbishop Carroll

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, March 23, 2019 | 1:47 PM

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PIAA Class 5A girls championship

Chartiers Valley vs. Archbishop Carroll

6 p.m., Saturday at Giant Center, Hershey

TV: PCN

Radio: WJPA-FM/TribLive HSSN

Chartiers Valley (29-0)

Coach: Tim McConnell

No., Name, Pos., Ht., Yr.

4, Megan McConnell, G, 5-7, Jr.

12, Mackenzie Wagner, G, 5-10, Sr.

23, Alexandra Ferrella, G, 5-6, Sr.

24, Aislin Malcolm, G, 5-10, Fr.

55, Gabby Legister, C, 6-2, Sr.

Archbishop Carroll (25-5)

Coach: Renie Shields

No., Name, Pos., Ht., Yr.

14, Mary DiSimone, G, 5-7, Sr.

21, Karli Dougherty, G, 5-7, So.

24, Grace O’Neill, G, 5-4, Fr.

22, Erin Sweeney, G/F, 5-10, Jr.

44, Harlem Jennings, G, 5-8, Sr.

How they got here: District 12 champion Archbishop Carroll defeated Spring Grove, 56-34, Gettysburg, 42-31, Archbishop Wood, 63-48, and Southern Lehigh, 39-32. WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley defeated General McLane, 59-24, Slippery Rock, 54-35, Oakland Catholic, 46-43, and Thomas Jefferson, 50-44.

Notable: Chartiers Valley is trying to become only the fifth WPIAL girls basketball team to win a state title with an undefeated record. Peters Township became the fourth on Friday by winning the Class 6A title with a 30-0 record. Colts coach Tim McConnell twice led Chartiers Valley’s boys team to the state finals. The boys were state runners-up in 1998 and 2010. The girls are in the finals for the first time. Wagner is the team’s leading scorer (15.7 ppg) and rebounder (5.8 rpg). Malcolm averages 11.8 points and McConnell averages 11.1 points and 4.4 assists. Malcolm, a freshman, already has a scholarship offer from Pitt. Archbishop Carroll is making its fourth appearance in the state finals including consecutive matchups with Mt. Lebanon in 2011-12. Carroll won twice, in 2012 over Mt. Lebanon, and in 2009 over Lampeter-Strasburg. Sweeney led Carroll with 14 points in the semifinals and O’Neill had 11. DeSimone scored a team-high 16 points in the quarterfinals with four 3-pointers.

Preview story: Chartiers Valley girls in search of perfection Saturday in PIAA title game

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