Josie Fontana felt anxiety when her short jump shot sat on the rim with 54 seconds remaining in the game Tuesday night. The Oakland Catholic senior forward had seen too many of those shots fall short when the Eagles simulated the situation in practice.
In this instance, the ball fell through the cylinder and Fontana had an opportunity to flex and yell. Oakland Catholic followed up with two stops on defense to collect a 45-44 win over Blackhawk in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals Tuesday at Hampton High School.
“I was getting a little nervous,” said Fontana, who finished with 12 points. “We worked on a lot of last-minute shots last practice. I kept getting rebounds and getting jumpers, but none of them would fall yesterday. I was a little nervous that it was going to come out.”
The Eagles, who will play District 12 champion Neumann Goretti in the final, will be in the state final for the eighth time in school history and the first time since 2012. Oakland Catholic’s last PIAA title came in 2005.
Eagles coach Henry Schechter, who coached in a state championship game two years ago while he was in Virginia, is happy for the opportunity.
“We had a couple trips to a couple different one-day events and we had an awesome trip to Florida,” Schechter said. “I told them the other day, we have one more trip in us. It’s a chance for the kids to do something new and achieve something as a team. I’ve never won a state championship and have been to a couple of state finals.”
The Eagles (26-2) had to fight off plenty of nervous moments in a rematch of the WPIAL final. Blackhawk opened the game with a 9-1 run. The Cougars (25-2), who were playing without Mia Sheesley, who suffered a knee injury in the WPIAL playoffs, were ready for a fight.
“I told the girls that I loved the way they competed,” Cougars coach Greg Huston said. “They have nothing to be ashamed of with the way we played. We gave them everything we had and gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
Oakland Catholic’s defense flipped the tide. The Cougars didn’t make a field goal in the second quarter as the Eagles went on a 12-1 run to take a 20-17 lead into halftime.
“We take pride in people telling us we’ve been the No. 1 defense in the WPIAL,” Schechter said. “I don’t think we started real well. I’m not really sure why. I don’t think we were nervous. Blackhawk made shots, and they were more aggressive from the start.”
Luci LaMendola scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the first half for Oakland Catholic. Blackhawk never went away. The Cougars were down by nine points, 43-34, in the fourth quarter when they started their rally.
Aubrey Hupp and Grace Huston made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to slice the lead to three. Hupp, who finished with a game-high 24 points, eventually scored on a jumper with 1:05 remaining to give the Cougars their first lead of the second half, 44-43.
Huston also finished with 10 points for Blackhawk.
Following Fontana’s basket, Blackhawk had two possessions to try to get the lead back. Both ended with turnovers.
“We were trying to get Aubrey the ball, and they did a good job of taking it away,” Greg Huston said. “They did a nice job of taking the shots that we were looking for. If I could do it again, I would’ve used that last timeout before the last inbound play.”
Fontana, who also helped the Eagles’ volleyball team reach the PIAA final, is excited to get another chance to win a state championship.
“Playing on a big court at Hershey Park, that is everyone’s dream,” Fontana said. “There are only two teams left in 4A. We are grateful.”