Be yourself.
That was South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett’s message to his team at halftime Saturday in a rematch against a Peters Township team that had ended the Lions’ three-year reign as WPIAL champs three weeks earlier.
“We have talented basketball kids,” Bennett said. “I know [Peters Township is] talented, but I’ll take our talent versus their talent any day. I just told them, ‘Go out and play basketball. Treat it like you would have treated a travel basketball game in middle school.’”
The Lions listened, so after being themselves, they now are a win away from being PIAA champions for the first time.
South Fayette used some outstanding defense and a dominant second half to avenge an earlier loss to Peters Township and advance to the PIAA Class 5A final for the second time in three years courtesy of a 50-36 win in a semifinal at Canon-McMillan.
The Lions (28-2) will take on Philadelphia Catholic League power Archbishop Wood (22-7) in the final at 6 p.m. March 29 at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Archbishop Wood is the four-time defending champion, with one of those wins coming against South Fayette in the 2023 final.
While the Lions will be the underdog in that game, they avenged one championship loss Saturday, so it might not be wise to pick against them doing it again. Peters Township (26-4) defeated South Fayette, 40-36, Feb. 28 at Petersen Events Center, so this Lions squad understandably was fired up to get a second shot at the Indians.
“I feel like it was our intensity,” South Fayette’s Ryan Oldaker said when asked Saturday what the difference was. “We came out so strong. We just wanted to beat them. That WPIAL championship, we didn’t play our game. We just played like ourselves.”
After leading by two points at the half, South Fayette used a 7-0 run to begin the third quarter to increase its lead to 31-22. Peters Township answered with an 8-1 spurt to cut the deficit to 32-30, but South Fayette, led by an active defense, closed the quarter with an 8-0 run that included 4 points from Juju Leroux — her first of the game — to take a 40-30 lead to the fourth.
“We just had to keep pushing on the defensive side,” Leroux said. “Just getting those steals and hopefully getting in their heads, too.”
It was more of the same in the fourth, as Peters Township could pull no closer than 9 points the rest of the game. The Indians made just one field goal and scored 6 points in the fourth, and in the second half scored only 14 points total.
Lailah Wright (14 points) and Oldaker (13) each scored in double figures for South Fayette, while Leroux added 7 and Haylie Lamonde and Ella Vierra 6 apiece.
Juju Leroux and Ryan Oldaker were freshmen when South Fayette reached the PIAA Class 5A final in 2023. Now juniors, the standouts helped the Lions beat WPIAL champion Peters Township, 50-36, today to earn a return trip to Hershey.
— Brad Everett (@BREAL412) March 22, 2025pic.twitter.com/TB1Ppppxiz
South Fayette used its defense to create offense in this game, and that defense was outstanding throughout. The Lions forced 21 turnovers and limited Peters Township to its second-fewest points of the season. Leroux and Vierra shined after being given the assignment of guarding Indians star Natalie Wetzel, who finished with just 9 points, 10 below her season average. Freshman Taylor McCullough also scored 9 for the Indians.
“It starts with Lailah. She provides such great ball pressure, but all the kids got in the passing lanes tonight,” Bennett said. “I thought Juju and Ella did such a great job on Wetzel. They were physical with her. We didn’t want to leave her. She’s such a talented kid. It was just a great team effort.”
Added Oldaker, “We work on defense so much. Even in the offseason, it’s defense, defense, defense. Defense wins championships, even though we didn’t play great in the WPIAL [championship]. But hopefully this defense wins us states.”
Bennett admitted that after losing two starters and “having so many unknowns” coming into the season, even he didn’t believe the Lions would have the success that they’ve had. And now here they are, one win away from a first state title.
“It’s such a close group,” he said. “I’m just excited to share one more week with them and hopefully do something special.”
Class 4A semifinal
• Lansdale Catholic (23-5) used some suffocating defense to eliminate North Catholic, 54-16, at Chambersburg. North Catholic (25-5), the WPIAL’s third-place finisher, was limited to 6 or fewer points in every quarter, and scored only 5 total in the second half. Sanyiah Littlejohn, a senior point guard and George Mason recruit, led Lansdale Catholic with 24 points. The Crusaders beat WPIAL champion Oakland Catholic, 63-29, in the quarterfinals and will play for the title for the third time in four seasons. Freshman Sam Weir paced North Catholic with 10 points. The Trojanettes were aiming to reach the final for the first time since 2019. Their eight titles are three more than any other WPIAL school.
Scoreboard
PIAA Class 5A semifinals
Archbishop Wood 68, Crestwood 29
South Fayette 50, Peters Township 36
PIAA Class 4A semifinals
Lansdale Catholic 54, North Catholic 16
Neumann-Goretti 71, Audenried Charter 52
PIAA Class 1A semifinals
Bishop Guilfoyle 49, Bishop Carroll 42
Linville Hill 60, Lourdes Regional 45
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.