Game-changing senior class gets ready for last run in state playoffs for St. Joseph

By: Jonathan Bombulie
Monday, March 4, 2024 | 4:32 PM

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If St. Joseph administrators wanted to have an early graduation practice, it could have been scheduled for Saturday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center.

The students who filled Section 115, wearing red, rooting on their girls basketball team, almost certainly would have provided a quorum for a school that, in the latest PIAA enrollment numbers, checks in as the ninth-smallest playing basketball in the WPIAL.

In fact, nearly one-quarter of the graduating class of about 30 students could have been found in uniform on the court.

St. Joseph’s has put together a remarkable season, going 21-4 and reaching the WPIAL championship game before losing 50-43 in overtime to top-seeded Union on Saturday, thanks in large part to a seven-player senior class.

Guard Julie Spinelli is the engine that drives the offense, and she scored a team-high 19 points in the WPIAL finals. Center Anna Kreinbrook is a presence in the paint, and she grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds. Forwards Emma Swierczewski and Maggie Bernat are also integral parts of the starting lineup.

The four have been playing together since the first grade.

Kalyda O’Connor played important minutes off the bench against Union, Montana Geibel also saw action and Amelia Wygonik was in a reserve role.

The group’s beginnings were humble. The Spartans went 6-15 their freshman year — the strange, covid-altered 2020-21 campaign marked by empty gyms and players wearing surgical masks on the court.

As sophomores, they went 10-15 but orchestrated an unforgettable upset of three-time defending WPIAL champion Rochester, the top seed, in the WPIAL quarterfinals.

By the time they were juniors, they were a Class A force, going 20-7, but their season ended in the WPIAL semifinals.

Senior year was the culmination of it all.

“I think we’ve come a very long way,” Swierczewski said. “Ever since freshman year, everyone knew that we were special. I think we knew that we were special and that we could do something really great. We were just so happy to finally make it to where we were.”

Swierczewski added that she hopes she and her fellow seniors can be role models for the next generation of St. Joseph players. But before that happens, there’s some other business to attend to.

The Spartans will begin the PIAA playoffs at home at 1 p.m. Saturday in a most unusual matchup: St. Joseph vs. St. Joseph’s.

Their first-round opponent is St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy from Boalsburg, the third seed from District 6.

It wouldn’t surprise coach Geoff Dutelle if that game is the start of another memorable playoff run.

“I actually think they might be tighter after this loss than we were going in,” he said.

There’s nothing the Spartans would like more than another crack at Union in the state semifinals.

St. Joseph held the lead throughout much of the WPIAL championship game, but ultimately, the Scotties’ zone defense held the Spartans off the scoreboard in the most critical moments of the fourth quarter.

“I think we played the exact kind of game we needed. We just couldn’t hit shots when we needed to,” Dutelle said. “They play zone properly. We play a lot of teams that play zone, and they don’t play it the right way. It’s easy to play it the wrong way. It’s really difficult to play zone correctly. They play it correctly.

“We knew something would open up. We just had to be patient. I think we got really, really good looks, things that we can live with. And if the game comes down to hitting shots, they’re the No. 1 team in the state. Sometimes you hit ’em, and sometimes you don’t. There’s no surprise. They’re the two-time defending champions. We just hope we get another shot at them.”

Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.

Tags: St. Joseph