Shady Side Academy admittedly was devastated after seeing its perfect season come to a pause after a loss in the WPIAL Class 3A championship.
“It was crushing. It really was,” coach Jonna Burke said.
A repeat WPIAL championship was not in the cards for Shady Side Academy, but after a win Friday in Altoona, the Bulldogs now are two wins away from a first PIAA title.
Karis Thomas scored a game-high 17 points and Shady Side Academy was outstanding defensively down the stretch as it used a fourth-quarter rally to advance to the PIAA semifinals for the first time after a 46-43 win against District 3 champion Camp Hill Trinity in a quarterfinal at Altoona High School.
“All the years I’ve been doing this, 30 years, and this is actually my first time ever getting this far,” said Burke, who has more than 500 career wins. “It’s special, and more special that it’s happening with this group. This group, they’re like a family. They love each other. They play for each other.”
After trailing, 37-36, at the end of three quarters, Shady Side Academy (27-1), which lost in the quarterfinals the previous two seasons, found itself down, 43-42, after a putback by Trinity’s Allissa Masci with 4:11 left. But that turned out to be the final time that Trinity (21-6) — a team that pumped in 81 and 75 points in the first two rounds — would score. Makiyah Mitchell’s layup with 3:53 left gave Shady Side Academy a 44-43 lead.
After a slew of turnovers from both teams, the Bulldogs gained possession with 56 seconds left and quickly got the ball to Thomas, their standout point guard who dribbled around and took more than a half-minute off the clock before being fouled three times, the third of which put the Bulldogs in the bonus and sent Thomas to the line with 20 seconds left. Thomas sank two free throws to extend the Shady Side Academy lead to 46-43. The Bulldogs then closely defended the 3-point line on Trinity’s final possession, which saw Emma Kostelac-Lauer throw up a wild shot that was off the mark with just under a second left. The Bulldogs inbounded and the buzzer sounded.
“It feels really good,” said Thomas, who scored the winning layup in the final seconds of the team’s second-round win. “I look at these players like my sisters. We’re all family. We play for each other and just have fun out there.”
Leah Buford added 9 points and Laila Banner 8 for Shady Side Academy, which shot 46% from the field (19 of 41).
But it was defense that was the difference for the Bulldogs in this game, as they limited Trinity to 32% shooting (16 of 49). Trinity was just 2 of 10 from the field in the fourth quarter when it was held to 6 points. The Bulldogs are predominantly a man-to-man team, but Burke took a gamble and switched to a 3-2 zone in the second quarter after Trinity scored 16 points in the first. They remained in that zone until going back to man-to-man on Trinity’s final possession.
“We switched it to the zone, and luckily it worked,” Burke said. “It could have just easily not worked, but it worked today.”
Bella Dupes led Trinity with 11 points, and Ashley Berkheimer and KK Stair each added 10.
Shady Side Academy will meet Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Friday in the semifinals.
Other Class 3A
• WPIAL third-place finisher Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (25-4) led by 12 points after three quarters and held on to advance to the semifinals for the second time in three years after a 47-43 win against District 6 champion Central Cambria (19-9) at Norwin. Claudia Ierullo scored a team-best 19 points for OLSH, which next will try to reach the final for the first time.
“It feels great,” Ierullo said. “This team has definitely proven people wrong. At the beginning of the season we were doubted, but we made it to the Final Four, so I’m really excited.”
OLSH led, 27-21, at the half and held a 39-27 lead after three quarters before Central Cambria trimmed that advantage to four with 20 seconds left. Lola Garner and Leah Parker added 13 points apiece for the Chargers, who defeated WPIAL champion Greensburg Central Catholic in the second round after losing to the Centurions by 23 in the district semifinals.
“Our semifinal game, that wasn’t us, and we just had to flush it and move on,” Ierullo said. “We beat the WPIAL champion, and that really gave us the momentum to come in and get it done today.
Keira Link led Central Cambria with 19 points.
Class 6A
• Meredith Huzjak scored 17 points and WPIAL champion Upper St. Clair (22-6) advanced to its first semifinal since 2007 courtesy of a 51-35 win over District 1 fifth-place finisher Haverford (23-6) at McConnellsburg. Upper St. Clair led, 30-17, at the half. Rylee Kalocay added 14 points for the Panthers, who have won 10 of their past 11 games. The Panthers held Haverford to 10 or fewer points in each quarter. Natalie Wright and Megan Kelly scored 10 points each to lead Haverford. Upper St. Clair will play District 1 runner-up Garnet Valley (27-2) in the semifinals. Garnet Valley beat defending champion Cardinal O’Hara, 49-43, in two overtimes in another quarterfinal.
Scoreboard
PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals
Upper St. Clair 51, Haverford 35
PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 47, Central Cambria 43
Shady Side Academy 46, Camp Hill Trinity 43
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.