Archbishop Wood girls’ state title streak snapped despite courageous effort from Ryan Carter

HERSHEY — Trying to balance herself on crutches, with an ice bag wrapped around her left knee, and tears streaming down her face, Ryan Carter kept repeating: “I didn’t want to let my team down, I didn’t want to let my team down, I didn’t want to let my team down …”

No one would doubt that after seeing the sterling Archbishop Wood 6-foot sophomore guard, among the top players in the country in her age bracket, playing on one leg while dropping 23 points of the Vikings’ 37 in their 45-37 loss to South Fayette in the PIAA Class 5A state championship on Saturday at the Giant Center.

The loss snapped the Vikings’ streak of four straight state championships, two at Class 4A (2021 and 2022) and two at Class 5A (2023 and 2024).

“This was really hard,” Carter said. “When I got hurt, I wanted to stay in the game, I needed to stay in the game for the seniors. I didn’t want to let my team down. That was big to me. I’m in some pain. I was playing in pain [throughout most of the second half]. I wasn’t about to quit. When we lost in the [Catholic League playoffs], I wanted to win this for the seniors. I wanted to play through it.”

With 5 minutes, 11 seconds left in the third quarter, and Wood trailing, 30-22, Carter had 14 of the Vikings’ 22 points at that point. Wood got within eight points once more, 39-31, on a Carter layup.

That was it.

St. Joe’s-bound Emily Knouse, Wood’s all-time girls’ leading three-point shooter, finished with 10 points, and a pile of great memories, having won three state championships, a Catholic League title, and four straight trips to the state finals.

“It stinks to end it this way, and I know eventually it will sink in all the good things we did here,” Knouse said. “It is an amazing accomplishment to get here. Ryan kept playing, and that just shows the kind of drive she has, and it shows she cares a lot about us, too. It was hard seeing hurt like that. We all made sure we helped her, and she gave it everything on the court.”

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After Carter made a jumper with 3:58 left in the first half, giving Wood a 22-17 lead, the Vikings’ largest advantage, South Fayette (29-2) responded with a 15-0 run to take control of the game. Wood failed to score a basket for 14:24 and scored two points in the third quarter on free throws.

“We gave up too many layups, and the mistake on my part was I thought we could ball pressure, we never really got in a position where we were doing that,” said Wood coach Mike McDonald. “When we got hard traps, they were able to throw the escape pass. It just wasn’t our day today. I thought we played hard. We couldn’t put it in the basket. Not my best day, not our team’s best day, and they’re a really good team. We needed a better day today.”

West Catholic overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to beat District 7 champion South Allegheny, 60-51, for the Burrs’ second PIAA Class 3A state championship in school history.

The Burrs, who entered the state tournament with a 10-13 record, were led by sophomore Jayvon Byrd’s team-high 20 points, with sophomore Eric Scott, the younger brother of Neumann Goretti’s Amya Scott, adding 14 off the bench.

The Burrs were down, 19-5, with 7:26 left in the first half, after South Allegheny’s Drew Cook downed a jumper (his 12th point of the half). West Catholic responded with an 8-0 run to get within single digits, and took its first lead on a Rahmir Speaks’ corner three-pointer with 4:47 left in the third quarter, giving the Burrs a 33-31 lead.

West Catholic (16-13) never trailed again.

“We knew we had to get them out of their sets,” said Burrs coach Miguel Bocachica. “We knew they ran a lot of sets, and if they were going to score, they were going to have to work around us. We denied [Cook and Cameron Epps, South Allegheny’s top scorers], and once we did that, they began to wear down. Winning this says something about the Catholic League. That prepares us for everything. This is a young team that needed time to develop. This second one is a beautiful thing.”

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Of the nine West Catholic players who saw time in the game, six were sophomores, two were seniors, with one junior.

“With what we have back, a lot comes back, and we can do this again,” Bocachica said.

Amya Scott’s steal-and-score with 18 seconds left proved to be the difference in Neumann Goretti girls securing its first PIAA Class 4A championship and sixth state title overall, with a 48-45 victory over Lansdale Catholic.

Scott, who’s committed to Delaware State, finished with a team-high 17 points, eight steals, and five assists. She was supported by Reginna Baker’s 11 and Fordham-bound Catholic League MVP Carryn Easley’s 10, which included two big, fourth-quarter three-pointers.

With less than 20 seconds remaining, and the teams tied at 45, Scott intercepted a pass and scored on a layup, followed by Baker intercepting the following inbounds pass and being fouled. After Baker made one of two free throws, putting the Saints up, 48-45, Lansdale Catholic had a chance to tie it, but Sanyiah Littlejohn’s three-point attempt fell short, giving Neumann Goretti (26-4) the victory.

With 4:25 to play, Lansdale Catholic (23-6) held a 43-39 lead. Then Easley hit a pair of three-pointers to put the Saints ahead, 45-43, with 3:35 left.

Littlejohn, a George Mason pledge, scored a game-high 21 points, including her 1,000th career point on a free throw in the fourth quarter. Grace McDonough, Lansdale Catholic’s 6-foot-2 center who’s committed to James Madison, finished with 13.

Neumann Goretti coach Andrea Peterson has now won six state titles in 11 years; the previous five came in Class 3A.

“I never doubted, even when we down, I never doubted,” said Easley, a four-year starter. “We’ve come through in tight situations all year and we all trust each other. The hard part is that this is over. This is very emotional, because it’s my last game. I knew I was going to cry, and I’m not a crier. This hurts. I don’t want to take this jersey off.”