After winning section title, Oakland Catholic girls set sights on postseason success

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 6, 2019 | 8:39 PM

First-year Oakland Catholic coach Brianne O’Rourke knows what it takes to win championships at the WPIAL level.

When the former WPIAL standout and Penn State player took over for her alma mater this season, she preached to her new players the first step toward achieving their ultimate goals was to start by winning a section championship.

Oakland Catholic accomplished just that Monday night after they defeated Section 3-5A foe Penn Hills, 48-43, to win the section crown.

“It was a good accomplishment for the girls,” O’Rourke said. “It was our first goal of the season, so you enjoy that right now and look forward to what’s to come in the playoffs.”

In Monday’s win, Oakland Catholic was led by Sierra DeAngelo’s 21 points and a 12-point performance from Claire Pilewski.

Rochster recruit Alexis Sestric leads Oakland Catholic in scoring this season, averaging 18 points. DeAngelo, a Fairleigh Dickinson recruit, averaged a double-double throughout the season at 14 points and 10 rebounds per game.

“The players look to them to guide them offensively on the court and in general,” O’Rourke said. “Alexis just has such an ability to score the basketball in a wealth of ways and works extremely hard.

“Sierra, she brings a low-block presence but can also step outside and shoot. She’s all over the boards for us, and it’s hard for teams to keep her away from the rebounds.”

Senior Jayde Boyd, another Fairleigh Dickinson recruit, has been O’Rourke’s court general this season. A natural point guard, O’Rourke said Boyd has been her voice on the court and plays with tenacity on the defensive side yet still produces offensively.

Pilewski and Margaret Terry are two players O’Rourke said may not show up on the stat sheet, but they play an invaluable role in contributing to the team’s success.

“I think coming in to this season, we knew we had a veteran team,” O’Rourke said. “In their past two seasons they went pretty far and made the WPIAL championship but haven’t won it yet.

“Coming in, I wanted to get our team back to where they were and also surpass that and reach the ultimate goal as a team.”

O’Rourke said for the next week, Oakland Catholic will focus on improving its game while also getting some younger players valuable playing time. She said it is hard to prepare for the specifics of the postseason without seeing a bracket.

The WPIAL pairings meeting takes place Tuesday.

“We’ll take this next week and use it to our advantage and get refocused,” O’Rourke said. “We’re definitely looking forward to the playoffs to start and accomplish another one of our goals we set out to achieve.”

Brian Graham is a freelance writer.

Tags: Oakland Catholic