When Upper St. Clair meets District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley at 6 pm. Friday for the PIAA Class 6A championship at Giant Center in Hershey, longtime Panthers coach Pete Serio might need to pinch himself to make sure he’s not stuck in a flashback.
Friday’s game will mark a full-circle moment for Serio and his wife, assistant coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. Although Serio has never been to the state title game as a head coach, he has made one prior trip to Chocolate Town as an assistant under McConnell-Serio, when the pair helped bring Oakland Catholic its first state title together all the way back in 1993.
“Oh, how the roles have changed,” McConnell-Serio said.
For better or worse, Serio has spent much of his career in the shadow of McConnell-Serio, a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame who excelled as both a player and coach in high school, college and the WNBA. McConnell-Serio won four WPIAL titles and three state titles in 14 years as a coach at Oakland Catholic, was named WNBA Coach of the Year with the Minnesota Lynx in 2004, then spent six years at Duquesne and five at Pitt until giving up her head coaching career to join her husband’s staff as an assistant in 2019.
“This is the only time I’m the head coach, by the way,” Serio said. “She’s the head coach at home, so it’s nice to be the head coach for once.”
After several years of close calls and near-misses — including three WPIAL runner-up finishes in a four-year span from 2020-23 — Upper St. Clair finally broke through and captured the WPIAL Class 6A title with a 45-40 win over defending champion Norwin. The Panthers have since carried their winning ways over into the PIAA tournament, rattling off four victories in a row to reach the state championship game for the first time since 1999 and only the second time in school history.
Who could have scripted it any better?
“You might think it’s a Hallmark movie,” Serio said. “I wouldn’t have believed it [32 years ago]. This is awesome. Just in terms of Suzie and I, what a special time it’s been. Just doing this together — I’m very lucky. I’m very blessed.”
Although Upper St. Clair’s state playoff run may seem like the stuff movies are made of, the blood, sweat and tears the Panthers have poured out onto the hardwood over the course of the season are very real — and Serio repeatedly emphasized that this journey is about the players, not himself or his family.
“It’s not about me,” Serio said. “I’m just enjoying watching the kids have fun and the smiles on their faces. Just the joy of their hard work being rewarded. That’s the truth. I don’t care about me. There’s a lot of people who can do what I do.”
Kent State recruit and former PUP first-team all-star Rylee Kalocay receives the vast majority of the headlines for Upper St. Clair (23-6), and with good reason. The 5-9 senior guard finished among the top-three scoring leaders in the WPIAL during the regular season for the second year in a row, and she has elevated her game to a new level during the Panthers’ spirited playoff run.
Taking it one step further, Serio even admitted to seeing some similarities between Kalocay and McConnell-Serio — widely regarded as the greatest point guard in WPIAL history.
“Their competitive nature is pretty close. They expect and demand the best,” Serio said. “I’ve said this her whole career — nobody steps up in a bigger moment, nobody does it better than Rylee. … I’ve seen it since she was a freshman. When the game is on the line, when it matters the most, she is just one of those kids.”
But while Kalocay draws most of the attention, the rest of Upper St. Clair’s unsung heroes have each taken turns stepping into the spotlight in recent games. Senior guard Meredith Huzjak scored a team-leading 17 points in a 51-35 PIAA quarterfinal win against District 1 fifth-place finisher Haverford, then it was senior forward Liv Terlecki who tallied a team-high 19 points for the Panthers in last week’s 53-49 upset win over District 1 runner-up Garnet Valley in the state semifinals.
“Last week, it was Meredith [Huzjak]. Normally, it’s Rylee [Kalocay],” Serio said. “It’s just so nice to see a different kid [step up].”
Now, Upper St. Clair will encounter its toughest test of all in the form of Perkiomen Valley (27-3), a team that defeated the Panthers on their home court back on Dec. 14, 63-57.
“There are no surprises now,” Serio said. “We know what to expect. We know who they are. I think that should take the guesswork out of it.”
Upper St. Clair will take the court for Friday’s rematch as a sizable underdog in the eyes of many, with 6-2 guard Grace Galbavy and 6-3 forward Quinn Boettinger teaming up to form one of the top tandems in the country for the Vikings. Both tied for the team lead with an average of 15.6 points per game, Galbavy is a Wake Forest recruit while Boettinger is committed to Navy. Senior guard Bella Bacani also averages double figures at 11.5 ppg.
“This team has everything you need,” Serio said. “I’m pretty sure we know what’s going to happen in this game. They’re going to go inside to [Boettinger], or they’re going to let [Galbavy] go to work. … It’s a tough task, but hey, we’re going to Hershey. I have faith in us.
“I’ll take my team. I’ll take them against anybody.”
With one more win on Friday night, the Panthers can cement their legacies forever on the biggest stage of them all. No matter what happens, though, they have already put together a season that will go down as one of the best in school history while making enough memories to last a lifetime.
“I’ve had a lot of my best experiences as a coach these last three weeks,” Serio said. “I’m looking forward to it, and I’m going to soak it all in, every minute.”
Class 5A
After avenging a heart-wrenching WPIAL championship defeat with an emphatic 50-36 win against Peters Township in last week’s Western Region final, South Fayette has a full week to prepare for the PIAA Class 5A championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday — but the Lions don’t have any time to bask in the glow of their victory over the Indians.
Not with the premier girls basketball dynasty in the state awaiting them in the grand finale.
Philadelphia Catholic League powerhouse Archbishop Wood (22-7) has won four consecutive state titles, including two in a row in Class 5A after moving up from Class 4A. The Vikings secured the first of their back-to-back PIAA Class 5A crowns with a 61-54 win against South Fayette in the 2023 state title game — an encounter Lions coach Bryan Bennett and the remaining players from that year’s team surely haven’t forgotten.
“Before we take the court, I’m going to tell the kids to make sure to embrace this and make it a memorable experience,” Bennett said. “When we went up there the first time, I don’t know if we did that. It was so exciting, it was like a blur.”
With Archishop Wood aiming for its 10th state title in its illustrious history and South Fayette seeking its first, Saturday’s showdown has all the makings of a rematch for the ages — but this isn’t your typical David vs. Goliath story.
As if the bar wasn’t already set high enough, the Vikings have been especially dominant during their 2025 state tournament run, winning their first four PIAA playoff games by an average margin of 34.5 ppg. For comparison, South Fayette has been incredibly dominant in its own right, with its four PIAA playoff wins coming by an average of 24 ppg. On the season, the Lions (28-2) have won 27 games by double-digit points, including 23 wins by 20 points or more.
That being said, Bennett has no misconceptions about where his team stands in the eyes of the public going into Saturday night.
“I’m sure on paper everyone is going to look at us as the underdog,” Bennett said. “We’re driving up there with the expectation to win and compete our best. We’re not just going to let them have it.”
Most key players from the initial matchup between the teams have since graduated, including former PUP Player of the Year Maddie Webber and several other South Fayette standouts. Junior guard Ryan Oldaker is the only player who saw significant minutes for the Lions in the 2023 title game, while St. Joseph’s recruit Emily Knouse is the only remaining starter for Archbishop Wood.
A senior guard, Knouse is a returning first-team all-state selection for the Vikings, while sophomore point guard Ryan Carter is ranked among the top-10 prospects in the country in the 2027 class.
“[Carter] is a super talented kid,” Bennett said. “They have a lot of shooters out on the floor that force you to space out and give her a lot of driving lanes. We’ll have to find a way to limit their opportunities.”
With a terrific trio of juniors in Haylie Lamonde (12 ppg), Juju Leroux (12.1 ppg) and Oldaker (12.4 ppg) along with a breakout sophomore point guard in Lailah Wright (9.5 ppg), the Lions look like a team with all the potential to be even better next year. But why wait for next year with a chance to go down in history right in front of you?
“We’re excited for the opportunity,” Bennett said. “I’m sure when the ball goes up in the air, our kids will be ready to compete.”
Class 3A
In her 30-year coaching career across three separate stints at Butler, Bethel Park and Shady Side Academy, Jonna Burke has seen just about everything.
Dating back to her fourth year coaching at Butler in 1998-99, Burke’s teams have made 27 consecutive postseason appearances, including 13 trips to the WPIAL semifinals and seven WPIAL championship appearances. One of only three active WPIAL coaches in the 500-win club along with Neshannock’s Luann Grybowski and North Catholic’s Molly Rottmann, Burke has won a pair of WPIAL titles — one at Bethel Park in 2013 and another with the Bulldogs last year.
But she has never coached in the biggest game of them all — until now.
When Shady Side takes the floor for the PIAA Class 3A championship game against District 4 champion Loyalsock Township (29-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday, the Bulldogs (28-1) will be making their long-awaited state finals debut — and Burke will be doing the same.
“Usually what I’m doing right now is, I’m glued to March Madness and all of that,” Burke said. “It’s always been a dream to get to the state championship game. I think for anybody who plays or coaches, it’s just the pinnacle. To finally have it happen with this group of special kids, it’s just awesome.”
Coming off a 31-point outburst in a 65-46 win against Imhotep Charter in the PIAA semifinals, 6-1 junior forward Alaina Dadzie is a force on the inside for Loyalsock, while senior guard Lacey Kriebel is a Lock Haven recruit who can also take over a game at any time for the Lancers. Like Shady Side, Loyalsock is also making its first state championship appearance.
Despite losing 6-2 junior forward Cassie Sauer to a season-ending injury in a 55-20 win against Riverside in the WPIAL quarterfinals, the Bulldogs still advanced to their second consecutive WPIAL championship game before falling to Greensburg Central Catholic in a battle of reigning champions, 56-51. But Shady Side bounced back with four consecutive wins in the PIAA tournament to set up a showdown with the Lancers on Thursday for all the marbles.
“As the year went on, the kids kind of gave me belief,” Burke said. “Then the big blow with [Sauer] — when that happened, we were all shook up about that. … The supporting players have all stepped up their games just a little bit.”
Throughout the team’s state playoff run, junior point guard Karis Thomas has risen to the occasion time and time again, putting the Bulldogs on her back while solidifying her status as one of the top players in the area. Only time will tell if she has one more career-defining performance in store — but it wouldn’t be wise to bet against it.
“I think if I have Karis Thomas on my team, I have a shot,” Burke said. “Good kids make coaches look better.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
