On what was a chilly February day, some of the ground around UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse was still covered in snow from a recent storm Sunday afternoon.
But to see the “White out” you actually needed to be indoors.
Allderdice sophomore Bailey White knocked down seven 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 34 points to lead the Dragons to a 62-39 mercy-rule win against two-time defending champion Obama Academy in the City League girls championship game.
It’s the first title since 2020 for Allderdice (14-9), which avenged losses to Obama (12-9) in title games each of the past two seasons. The win came nearly a year to the day that Obama thumped Allderdice, 75-29, in mercy-rule fashion to capture the championship.
“The ability to stay healthy and get through and make it here every year, we don’t take it for granted,” Allderdice coach Ellen Guillard said. “It’s nicer being on this side of things, but I’m grateful for the life lessons of getting beat by 50 last year has taught us.”
This was the rubber match between teams that split the City League regular-season title with 9-1 records. Allderdice had beaten Obama, 76-43, on Jan. 9 before Obama returned the favor by earning a 54-46 win on Jan. 30.
White, a 5-foot-5 sophomore guard, poured in 30 points in that first matchup, and she was outstanding again Sunday despite spending some early time on the bench after picking up a pair of fouls. White, the City League’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, finished 13 of 23 from the field, including 7 of 10 from 3-point range. She also added eight steals.
“Bailey is just a hard-core player,” Obama coach Monique McCoy said of White, whose father, Carey, is the longtime Brashear boys basketball coach. “She works very hard. Once she gets into a rhythm, it’s over. She got into a rhythm, found her hot spot and went off.”
Only it took a while for White to find that hot spot. Allderdice struggled mightily shooting the ball early on. The Dragons were 2 of 16 from the field in the first quarter and had just four field goals midway through the second quarter as they fell behind, 17-8.
That’s when White decided to do something about her team’s plight. White, who had only four points at the time, drilled a 3-pointer with 2:59 remaining in the second quarter to ignite a 10-0 Allderdice run that White capped with a second triple with 1:47 left that gave the Dragons their first lead, 18-17. Obama briefly took back the lead, 19-18, but White’s layup followed by a 3-pointer from freshman teammate Peyton Lynch gave the Dragons a 23-19 halftime advantage.
“I think we saw some signs of fatigue on their end, so we were trying to capitalize on it,” Guillard said. “I just kept saying, ‘Keep pushing, keep going.’ The momentum, for us, when we get some steals, we can get a good rebound, outlet and go, and make a couple of shots in a row. That fuels us like no other. And we keep getting more confident going down the stretch.”
More confident and more dominant. Allderdice scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to extend its advantage to 33-19 and its run to 25-2. Obama didn’t score its first points of the third quarter until Gi’Onna Simmons’ bucket with 4:04 left. Allderdice went on to outscore Obama, 25-4, in the quarter, with White (15) and Lynch (9) accounting for all but one of the Dragons’ points. Lynch, who was a manager on last year’s team, finished with 14 points.
“She was doing great, giving me assists, giving her assists. We were working together out there,” White said. “It felt great, and we needed that. We needed to both score. We needed to work together as a team for us to win this game.”
White made 1-of-2 free throws with 4:40 remaining in the game that upped the Allderdice advantage to 55-25, invoking the mercy rule. She then followed that up by draining her seventh and final 3-pointer of the game, giving the Dragons their largest lead at 33 points.
Lynch wasn’t the only Allderdice freshman making a big impact. Seena Teshome was excellent defensively guarding Obama Academy standout Taylor Phillips, the team’s leading scorer who scored 20 points in last year’s championship. Allderdice played a box-and-one on Phillips, something McCoy said no team had done until Westinghouse did it in last Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Teshome guarded Phillips closely, limiting her to 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
Simmons finished with a team-best 17 points for Obama, which was 16 of 56 from the field (28%) and committed 33 turnovers.
Allderdice was 24 of 66 from the field (36%), including 14 of 28 (50%) in the second half.
“It came down to defense, and the basketball gods just weren’t on our side on a Sunday,” McCoy said. “What can I say? We just couldn’t shoot the ball. Turnovers killed us. And the box-and-one did help to keep Taylor Phillips kind of out of the game. So, with those things being had, that’s what happens. Allderdice wins.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.