PIAA Class 5A girls basketball final

South Fayette vs. Archbishop Wood

6 p.m. Saturday, Giant Center, Hershey

On the air: PCN; NFHS Network

PIAA titles: South Fayette 1 (2025); Archbishop Wood 9 (2024, ’23, ’22, ’21, ’17, ’16, ’12, ’11, ’10)

South Fayette (29-1)

Coach: Bryan Bennett

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Lailah Wright, 5-7, jr., G

3, Haylie Lamonde, 5-8, sr., G

14, Juliette Leroux, 5-11, sr., G/F

21, Ella Vierra, 5-9, so., G

24, Ryan Oldaker 5-11, sr., G

How they got here: WPIAL champion South Fayette beat Milton Hershey, 64-35; Penn-Trafford, 58-28; Baldwin, 67-46; and Peters Township, 67-24.

Notable: South Fayette is the defending PIAA Class 5A champion after defeating Archbishop Wood, 45-37, in last season’s title game. The Lions lost to Archbishop Wood, 61-54, in the 2023 state championship game. … South Fayette is led by a slew of Division I-bound players, including senior guards Ryan Oldaker (Marist), Juliette “Juju” Leroux (Florida Atlantic) and Haylie Lamonde (South Carolina Upstate). Oldaker and Leroux were all-state selections last season. Junior guard Lailah Wright and sophomore guard Ella Vierra also are drawing Division I interest. … Vierra had 19 points, Lamonde scored 14, and Oldaker tallied 13 in the semifinal win over Peters Township. … South Fayette has won five WPIAL titles since 2016, including three in a row from 2022-24. … Coach Bryan Bennett’s record is 164-48 in eight seasons at South Fayette.

Archbishop Wood (16-12)

Coach: Mike McDonald

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

4, Addison Payne, 5-11, so., G/F

15, Zoey Whalen, 5-10, so., G

20, Makayla Finnegan, 5-7, jr., G

24, Abbie Kelly, 5-11, so., G/F

34, Emma Yogis, 5-5, sr., G

How they got here: District 12 champion Archbishop Wood defeated Sun Valley, 76-30; North Pocono, 70-31; Bethlehem Catholic, 69-32; and Crestwood, 45-41.

Notable: Archbishop Wood is in the state finals for the sixth straight season and is chasing a 10th PIAA championship. … South Fayette ended Wood’s streak of four straight PIAA titles last season. … Junior guard Makayla Finnegan scored 15 points, and Zoey Whalen added 13 in the semifinals. … The Vikings won their first three PIAA playoff games by 46, 39 and 37 points. … Archbishop Wood is 68-7 all-time in the PIAA tournament.