Trib HSSN Girls Basketball Team of the Week for week ending Feb. 21, 2021

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, February 21, 2021 | 9:30 PM

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For most of this season, the Oakland Catholic basketball team has been trying to stay above water.

A four-game losing streak in late January dropped the Eagles under .500.

However, February has been a bit brighter for Oakland Catholic, which improved to 9-8 thanks to a couple of big wins last week.

“Honestly, our kids have been battling all season long and haven’t given up,” Oakland Catholic coach Brianne O’Rourke-Kelly said. “They stayed the course and have been working hard in practice and have been staying in the gym to put in work, and it is paying off.

“When you are losing, you always try new things, and that we did. We started to have our players hold each other accountable for what they were individually bringing to the team, and I think it created a fun and competitive atmosphere.”

Entering the week at 7-8, Oakland Catholic pulled off a stunner Wednesday when it knocked off defending WPIAL Class 5A champion Chartiers Valley, 52-40.

“It was a great team win for us against Char Valley,” O’Rourke-Kelly said. “The key to the win was the confidence of our players. Our girls bought in and were prepared. We’ve had a pretty competitive schedule this season, so it prepared us to play teams like CV. We said before the game, ‘It’s our time to make some noise and get a win against a top-ranked team.’

“Char Valley has been at the top for so long, and it showed what kind of team we are and what kind of team we can be.”

Sophomore Halena Hill led the Eagles with 21 points against Chartiers Valley, and junior Jordyn Ingelido chipped in with 10 points.

Athletes on all levels have a tendency to let down following a big, emotional win. However, Oakland Catholic took care of business the next night with another section victory at Moon.

“Getting a win the following day at Moon was huge,” O’Rourke-Kelly said. “Coming off of a hard-fought battle against CV the night before really had our players fatigued, but they persevered at Moon and played good team basketball. We also had some big contributions from players that typically don’t get a lot of minutes, which was much needed.”

Sophomore Alexa Washington led the way against Moon with 12 points.

Don’t be deceived by the 9-8 record. Oakland Catholic is 5-1 in Section 1-5A after splitting with Chartiers Valley, plus the team’s nonsection schedule is littered with WPIAL ranked teams such as North Allegheny, Mt. Lebanon twice, Trinity, North Catholic and Winchester Thurston.

“The schedule we have played this season absolutely prepared us for the playoffs,” O’Rourke-Kelly said. “We played the best of 4A, 5A and 6A, so to me there is no other way to prepare for the playoffs other than playing the best. Our girls learned from it, got better, and are motivated going into the playoffs.

O’Rourke-Kelly was asked what has been the toughest part of coaching during a pandemic.

“As any coach will say, the next game is always the most important on your schedule, and this year there was always a question mark whether that game would come or not. We had our fair share of game cancellations and games postponed, but we never took any gameday for granted. We also had very little time outside of practice and game time to spend as a team, and that is always so important for creating team chemistry.”

With a couple of nonsection games this week against Penn Hills and Penn-Trafford, O’Rourke-Kelly feels her Eagles are for a deep run into the Class 5A postseason.

“I am confident and very excited for our players to head into the playoffs. (Class) 5A is very competitive, and I am looking forward to our girls being a part of it and preparing to make a deep run.”

2021 Trib HSSN Girls Basketball Team of the Week

Week 5 – Norwin Knights

Week 4 – Upper St. Clair Panthers

Week 3 – Armstrong River Hawks

Week 2 – Mohawk Warriors

Week 1 – Burgettstown Blue Devils

Tags: Oakland Catholic