Vincentian is Wise in Winning Third Straight WPIAL Crown

By: Bruce Markey
Saturday, March 1, 2014 | 3:57 PM

In a rematch of last year’s WPIAL A Championship game, the Vincentian Academy Royals defeated the Serra Catholic Eagles by the score of 66-46.  Royals’ sensational junior Brenna Wise scored 25 points, 15 of which came in the pivotal 3^rd quarter when Vincentian Academy effectively pulled away from the Eagles.  Wise added 13 rebounds and 7 blocks to her dominating performace.

In a closely contested first half, Vincentian Academy used a 14-6 run late in the 2^nd quarter to give the Royals a 34-27 halftime lead.  The Royals shot 46% (13-28) from the field in the first half but drained six of the 11 3-pointers that they took.  Conversely, Serra Catholic shot only 33% (9-27) from the floor and only 27% from beyond the arc.  Seven Royals scored in the first half, led by Wise with 10 and Maia Joiner with 9 points.

The second half started well for Serra Catholic as they scored the first 5 points, cutting the Vincentian Academy lead to 34-32.  But, after a Ron Moncrief timeout to talk to his players, the Royals exploded and went on to score the next thirteen points in what would end up being a 25-5 run.  That stretch of Royals’ dominance allowed them to open up a 59-39 bulge after three quarters of basketball.

The Eagles were led by junior Katie Sieg who scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.  Both Danielle Dindak, behind three 3-pointers, and Megan Sieg scored 9 points apiece for Serra Catholic but it wasn’t enough.  Serra Catholic finished the game shooting only 30% from the field.  Serra Catholic has only lost seven games total in the past 4 seasons and four of those seven loses have come against Vincentian Academy.

In addition to Wise’s 25 points, the Royals got 11 points from both Torrieonna Cash and Maia Joiner while Kayla Key chipped in with seven.  The Royals ended up shooting 45% from the field as a team and made 8/10 free throws. With the gold medal, Vincentian Academy (22-3) heads into the PIAA Class A playoffs as the top-seeded team in the state.  Serra Catholic (23-3) has also advanced to play in the state playoffs as well which will begin next weekend.

                                                                     1          2          3          4          FINAL

SERRA CATHOLIC EAGLES                 13        14        12        7          46

VINCENTIAN ACADEMY ROYALS        18        16        25        7          66

Tags: Vincentian Academy