Allderdice girls top Obama Academy, defend City League title

By: William Whalen
Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 7:08 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

Watching a 21-point first-half lead evaporate over the course of 12 minutes of basketball, Allderdice girls basketball coach Ellen Guillard looked calm, cool and collected on the outside, but she was a nervous wreck on the inside.

Guillard watched her team play on its heels for most of the second half as Obama Academy went on an incredible second-half rally that fell just short as Allderdice escaped with a 67-58 win to claim back-to-back City League championships Saturday afternoon at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center.

“I was kind of nervous because sometimes when we’re up big, we lose our edge,” said Guillard, who is in her third season as the Dragons’ coach. “We like to be in places where we’re not comfortable and being up 20 (points) at halftime is not somewhere we’ve often been this year.”

Allderdice (17-7) moves into the PIAA Class 6A bracket and will open up play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Erie (11-11) at Carrick. Obama Academy (15-8) will move on to Monday’s PIAA Class 5A sub-regional game against Hollidaysburg (12-10) at 6 p.m. at Penn State Altoona.

“It might have been just the jitters,” said Obama Academy coach Monique McCoy about her team’s slow start. “Game-day, first-half jitters, we got the kinks out; I just wish that we would’ve got the kinks out earlier rather than later.”

The Dragons closed the third quarter clutching to a 53-40 lead before Obama Academy finally woke up from its mid-day slumber. Eagles freshman Samaree Perkins started the rally with a putback off the glass. Senior Talia Mitchell added a layup and junior Javonna Perkins added a short jumper to get the Eagles offense rolling. Obama Academy started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run that was kept alive mainly by Allderdice turnovers.

“Keep your hands up, keep the intensity up and we got them playing rattled to the point where they are doing something they aren’t used to doing,” McCoy said.

Brooklyn Jones added a 3-pointer from the left elbow to stop the run, but it was clear the Eagles weren’t finished. Jones finished with 15 points. Jones came back on the floor and added another layup and Samaree Perkins converted on a steal and layup to draw the score to 56-52. Perkins finished with a game-high 24 points.

“I think what happened was that we came out, missed a lot of shots and didn’t rebound the way we did in the first half,” said Jones, who finished with 15 points. “We made a lot of mental mistakes, and they were exploiting the post down low, taking a lot of inside shots, and making them.”

Shots that weren’t falling in the first half suddenly found their way through the hoop. Hairston came back with another layup off of a steal to bring the score to 57-54.

Free-throw shooting down the stretch helped the Dragons. After junior Sophia North’s short jumper, junior Emma Waite provided the Dragons’ remaining points from the free-throw line. Waite went 6 of 9 down the stretch and finished with a team-high 20 points. North finished with 19.

“I realized I should stop shooting 3s and go to the basket,” Waite said. “For some reason, we always struggle coming out in the third quarter. Sometimes, we play like we’re really young still and freshmen.”

Things couldn’t have started off any better for Allderdice. The Dragons went on two first-quarter runs of six points to pull away early. The second quarter is when Allderdice did most of its damage, going on runs of six and eight points. Allderdice went into the locker room with a seemingly insurmountable lead at 41-23.

Obama Academy’s Machia Hairston finished with 13 points, and Mitchell and Javonna Perkins chipped in with 10 each.

“It’s amazing,” Guillard said of winning the championship. “I told them all along that the second one is even harder. It’s a testament of their hard work.”

Tags: Allderdice, Obama Academy