Feb 24, 2018 5 min read

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IMPERIAL – When a No. 8 seed beats a No. 1 seed, it’s supposed to be an upset.

In those games, the No. 1 seed looks like the better team, but a game plan deficiency, poor shooting or foul trouble allows the lower seed to pull off the upset.

That’s not at all what happened at West Allegheny Saturday as Oakland Catholic, the No. 8 seed, looked like the better team, handily defeating top-seeded Trinity, 55-46, in the WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinal.

“All year, if you’ve watched (Class) 5A basketball, any team on any given night could win,” said Trinity head coach Bob Miles. “If you look at some of the battles some of the other teams in other sections had, you knew any one of those teams could go all the way to the finals. I think Class 5A is the deepest classification.”

Oakland Catholic (16-8) used its height to win the rebounding battle, score in the paint and prevent Trinity (20-4) from scoring easy baskets. Of the players who saw minutes in the game, the Eagles had the four tallest players, all of whom are 5-10 or taller.

“We lost the game on the boards. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. We allowed them second-chance opportunities, and that just kills you,” Miles said. “Rebounding is a matter of attitude, and we didn’t do a good job of rebounding. They had a height advantage over us, and I think that had something to do with it.”

Oakland Catholic, which earned a berth to the PIAA playoffs, will play Mars in the semifinals Wednesday. Trinity is left hoping for one of the last two berths to the state playoffs.

After Trinity’s win over Plum in the first round, in which the Hillers were trailing 19-11 late in the first half, Miles said if his team started any future game as poorly as it did against Plum, then the game is “going to be over.”

That’s exactly what happened Saturday as OC jumped out to a 10-0 lead six minutes into the game and a 14-4 lead after the first quarter.

“We struggled getting some shots in the first three or four minutes in the game, and that really put us back,” Miles said. “Then they came down and hit a couple threes and that propelled them.”

The second quarter wasn’t much better as the Hillers were struggling to find open looks and entered halftime trailing 23-11. Trinity’s offense is predicated on fast breaks and outlet passes, but Oakland Catholic’s length prevented the Hillers from scoring in transition.

While Trinity has played teams before that have a height advantage, the Hillers likely haven’t faced a team that has height and can shoot from three. The Eagles made six three-pointer, five of which came from Jayde Boyd, Cierra Christain and Sierra DeAngelo, all of whom are 5-10 or taller.

“We talk a lot about just being confident in our shot,” said Oakland Catholic head coach Shannon Kearney. “They get in the gym every single day, and they practice shooting all the time.”

DeAngelo, who led the Eagles with 15 points, hit a three-pointer to give the Eagles a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. A little later, Boyd, who made a trio of threes and scored 13 points, banked in a jumper from behind the arc to give OC a 17-point lead.

Kearney said Boyd, who runs the point for Oakland Catholic, is the “heart and soul” of the Eagles’ offense.

“Jayde’s playing really great right now,” Kearney said. “She’s doing what she needs to do to hold onto the basketball, and she’s stepping up and hitting big shots.”

Though the Hillers scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, which was as many as they scored in the first three quarters combined, they weren’t able to mount a comeback.

Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo led all scorers with 19 points, while Julie Chakos chipped in with 10 points.

While Trinity’s WPIAL season is over, the Hillers still have a chance to make the PIAA playoffs, which the Hillers ran through last year all the way to the championship game after losing in the WPIAL semifinals.

With six berths in the state tournament from the WPIAL, Trinity’s only shot to make the PIAA playoffs is by Oakland Catholic defeating fourth-seeded Mars (19-5) Wednesday night. If OC wins, the Hillers will receive either the fifth or sixth spot. But if the Eagles lose to Mars, then the Hillers will not make it back to the PIAA playoffs.

“We talked about that in the locker room. We need some help to get into the state tournament,” Miles said. “Oakland Catholic is playing really well. I think they can make a nice run, and that would help us.”