Underdog Oakland Catholic kissed its chances for an upset good-bye when its top player -- senior guard Colleen Kiss -- was held to four points in last night's WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals against top-seeded Mt. Lebanon.
The unbeaten Blue Devils (25-0) rolled to a resounding 49-32 victory against the Eagles (17-8) at Chartiers Valley.
Mt. Lebanon coach Dori Oldaker believes an unblemished record is not a burden to carry through the playoffs.
"It's not pressure," she said. "We don't think about it because right now we think about getting a banner on our gym wall.
"So it doesn't matter what our loss total is. We're just thinking about that banner."
Mt. Lebanon ran out to a 16-5 lead early in the second quarter and was never seriously threatened.
Madison Cable and Lauren Arbogast shared top scoring honors for Mt. Lebanon with 11 points each. Kayla Walczak was the only Oakland Catholic player in double figures with 15.
Kiss, averaging 16 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half.
She scored her only field goal with 4:16 remaining in the game.
"To do what we did against Kiss is a tremendous job, but it's something you have to do as a whole team," Oldaker said.
Other Class AAAA
Fox Chapel 53, Gateway 28: The Foxes (20-4) claimed their third consecutive double-figure victory against their Section 2 rival Gators (15-11) in a semifinal game at North Allegheny.
Gateway trailed at halftime, 29-7, and did not score its first field goal until 1:42 was left in the first half. Heidi Goeller led Fox Chapel with 17 points.
Class AA
Sto-Rox 40, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 32: The Vikings (23-1) reached the WPIAL final for the first time since 1987 by outscoring the Chargers (18-8) in each of the first three quarters in a semifinal at Canon-McMillan. Kerry Connolly led Sto-Rox with 11 points. Connolly was 8 for 9 at the free-throw line.
"We were tentative offensively," Sto-Rox coach Carrie Palermo said. "We made mistakes that we don't normally make.
"We didn't know if [reaching the final] would happen, but we thought we could get there. Our early [non-section] games and tournaments really did us a lot of good."
Seton-LaSalle 48, South Fayette 44: The Rebels (21-4) rallied from a 15-point second-quarter deficit to defeat the Lions (20-6) in overtime at Baldwin.
The score was tied, 43-43, at the end of regulation. Seton-LaSalle came back from a 35-20 deficit.
Katie Gattuso led the Rebels with 24 points. Gattuso's basket on the first possession of overtime gave Seton-LaSalle a 45-43 lead.
Alexa DelGreco added 12 points for the Rebels.