Girls Basketball: PIAA state champions earn Team of the Year honors for Bucks County area
They have twice as many underclassmen as upperclassmen. They play in the toughest league in the state. And they had the third-hardest schedule in the state.
How did the Archbishop Wood Vikings respond?
Only by going undefeated in the Philadelphia Catholic League, winning the league championship, and then winning their fourth straight PIAA state championship.
For those reasons, the Vikings were named the Courier/Intell Girls Basketball Team of the Year.
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The Vikings lost eight seniors from last year’s championship team, but they didn’t skip a beat, plugging sophomore Sophia Topkas into the starting lineup. Other players stepped up as well. Senior Alexa Windish, who was a reserve last year, also joined the starting lineup. Lauren Greer, the team’s top defender, showed she can also deliver on offense when given the chance.
The Vikings went 26-5 during the season, playing the top teams in the state, such as Westtown, and nationally ranked teams, such as McDonogh (MD). Those five losses occurred during a three-week span in January, and according to head coach Mike McDonald, were essential in preparing the team for the playoffs.
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“That’s why we schedule those games,” McDonald said. “We had a bit of a rough patch playing against great competition, and that allowed us to make adjustments before going into the Catholic League playoffs.”
The Vikings, who lost last year’s PCL championship game 50-47 on a buzzer-beater, were determined to win the chip this year, and they downed Archbishop Carroll 54-52 in double overtime, with senior Ava Renninger scoring eight of the team’s nine points in OT.
After winning the District 12 Class 5A title, the Vikings tackled the PIAA Class 5A tournament, where they outscored opponents 222-130 through the semifinals.
In the state championship game, the Vikings faced their biggest challenge of the season, as they found themselves down 8-0 to Cathedral Prep in the first quarter. Behind a strong team effort, the Vikings came back to win 37-27, with junior Emily Knouse scoring a game-high 12 points.
The Vikings became the first team to win four straight titles since Allentown Catholic in 2004, and the first team to win nine titles overall.
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During the regular season, players sacrificed individual stats for the sake of the team. Renninger and Knouse each averaged 12 points per game, as they were often on the bench by halftime due to the Vikings having a huge lead. Those games allowed the team to rotate as many as 10 players per game, giving promising freshmen such as Makayla Finnegan and Sophia McDonald valuable varsity experience.
Those individual stats could be much higher on another team. But the Vikings’ players know they are playing for something bigger. And they’re all in.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Girls basketball: PIAA champion Archbishop Wood is Team of the Year
