Mar 17, 2017 4 min read

It’s a long road to winning a PIAA basketball title.

Trinity High School’s girls basketball team is finding that out in the PIAA 5A playoffs.

The well-traveled Hillers make a 168-mile trek to Chambersburg to play Radnor Archbishop Carroll today at 4 p.m.

That’s a nearly 340-mile round trip that will eat up about six hours of drive time. The trip is so long the PIAA rescheduled the game time from its original 2 p.m. start. Trinity made a 340-mile round trip to Wingate for a first-round game against Bellefonte.

“There is not much you can do about it,” Trinity head coach Bob Miles said. “We’re pleased we’re still playing so I can’t complain about it. We were the No. 3 team coming out of the WPIAL and we’ve traveled the most.”

The reason for this especially long trip, rare for a West Region quarterfinal game is because of the overflow of Class 5A teams in the eastern part of the state. Some were placed in the West part of the bracket.

Trinity is one of four local teams chasing the dream but with a shorter drive. The South Fayette girls team, also in Class 5A, plays Oakland Catholic (7-2, 24-4) at North Allegheny, 3:30 p.m.

Washington’s boys team has a Class AAA matchup against Lincoln Park Charter (7-2, 23-5) at noon at Baldwin. And Monessen, the WPIAL Class A champion, plays Saltsburg (6-1, 26-1) at Norwin with a 2:30 p.m. tip.

Radnor Archbishop Carroll, located just outside Philadelphia, also has a long ride, a 2 ½-hour drive of around 150 miles.

“We have a pretty good fan base and it just keeps many of them from coming to watch us play,” Miles said. “We’ll have a walk through at 10 (this morning), get on the bus at 10:30, stop at Breezewood to get something to eat and plan on getting there between 2:30 and 3.”

Another problem for Miles is gathering information on Radnor Archbishop Carroll. The Hillers didn’t get much help from District 12 opponents – the teams don’t trade game tapes – so Miles and his staff had to do a little digging.

“It was difficult finding anything about them,” Miles said. “Everybody is on Hudl so we found a game and watched that.”

Radnor Archbishop Carroll is coming off a 48-45 victory over Harrisburg. Guard Maggie Pina led Archbishop Carroll with 12 points and Molly Rose and Theresa Kearney each had 10.

“They’re an athletic team,” Miles said. “They like to push the ball, play man-to-man defense. And they are not afraid to shoot the three.”

Trinity had one of its most impressive wins this season, a 50-36 rout of Chartiers Valley Thursday. Sierra Kotchman led the Hillers with 16 points, three under her season average. Rachel Lemons had a strong game with 13 points as the Hillers won their 18th game in the last 20 to move to 24.3.

“We spent a lot of energy in that game,” Miles said. “This is an interesting group of kids because they find ways to win basketball. They are very resilient.”

Monessen also is on a winning streak, five in a row and 10 of the last 11. Salztburg is coming off a 47-point rout of Johnsonburg with the help of a school-record 16 three-pointers.

In one of the more intriguing matchups, Washington and Lincoln Park are coming off near identical wins. The Prexies dominated Erie First Christian, 59-46, and Lincoln Park downed Greenville, 58-46. Lincoln Park is a small but quick team that runs the court. A healthy Matt Popeck makes the Prexies capable of beating any team.

Oakland Catholic has been playing with a purpose after a stunning loss to Chartiers Valley in the WPIAL finals. Oakland Catholic was held to three field goals in the second half.