Chartiers Valley sinks Spring Grove, earns chance to defend state title

By: Phil Cmor
Tuesday, March 23, 2021 | 8:32 PM

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WINGATE – Sometimes, losing can be a good thing.

After going two years without tasting defeat, the Chartiers Valley girls’ basketball team dropped — gasp — three games this season. It might have made the Colts better, though.

“I think you take things for granted sometimes,” Colts junior forward Perri Page said. “Losing to Trinity that first time definitely opened our eyes. We knew we needed some changes.”

Understanding the value of that winning feeling came in handy Tuesday night. The Colts battled through a poor-shooting first half and still had the lead, then came alive in the third quarter to post a 50-33 victory over Spring Grove at Bald Eagle Area High School, securing a return trip to the PIAA Class 5A championship game after they won it all in 2019.

“It’s a big accomplishment for us, especially since last year we were two games away and we weren’t able to make it to the championship to go back-to-back (because of the covid shutdown),” Chartiers Valley all-state junior guard Aislin Malcolm said. “We’re defending champs, and we want to keep being that.”

The Colts (25-3) will play Cardinal O’Hara (14-4) in the finals on Saturday at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Chartiers Valley’s two Division I recruits — Page and Malcolm — came up big against Spring Grove. Page finished with 15 points, 16 rebounds and two blocked shots while helping hold Rockets standout freshman Laila Campbell, who had 33 points in the semifinals, to five points. Malcolm scored all 12 of her points in the third quarter, when the Colts matched their 22 first-half points and pulled ahead by as many as 18.

“They rise to the occasion,” Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell said. “Perri’s stepped up for us the last couple of games, and Aislin Malcolm struggled in the first half but stayed the course, came out and hit some big shots.”

Helene Cowan also scored 12 for the Colts, while Abby Vaites ended up with nine, and Hallie Cowan recorded four steals.

Ella Kale was the only Rocket to reach double figures, scoring 11.

“We have to do a lot more correct offensively if we want to beat a team like this,” Spring Grove coach Troy Sowers said. “They can put so much pressure on you when they get the lead, because they have five great ballhandlers and four girls that can knock down threes.”

Helene Cowan scored five in the pivotal third quarter. She said losing this season made her team appreciate winning more and learn how to deal with adversity.

“We didn’t let them affect us, but we did let them push us. I think those losses woke us up and showed us what we need to play like,” Cowan said.

Page had nine points, 13 rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal in the first half to propel the Colts to a 22-16 lead even though they were just 9 for 27 from the field.

“We needed to make sure every offensive opportunity that they had was a hard opportunity. We didn’t want them to get anything easy,” Page said. “Even though our shots weren’t falling, we still played through it. I think that’s why we got this win.”

Chartiers Valley appeared to be on the way to running away with it, coming up with four steals before Spring Grove even could attempt a shot and bolting to an 11-3 lead when Helene Cowan found Vaites for three late in the first quarter.

However, the Rockets (21-3) started to find the range themselves early in the second, mostly taking advantage of Chartiers Valley collapsing on Campbell attacks of the basket. When Leah Cale connected from the corner for Spring Grove’s third 3-pointer of the period, it was tied at 16.

Page, though, broke the tie almost immediately with a floater down the lane. Malcolm and Vaites then opened the third quarter with back-to-back treys, and the Colts led by double figures most of the rest of the way.

Tags: Chartiers Valley