Holy Cross Academy girls varsity basketball team preps for season
Last March, the girls varsity basketball team from Holy Cross Academy in Ross won the Catholic Girls Pittsburgh Diocesan basketball championship for the first time in school history. The team was comprised of 13 players and the competition amongst the girls in practice was always tough. The girls fought hard for playing time during the season.
This year, seven of the girls return as eighth graders and are joined by three incoming seventh graders. There are high expectations on this team to repeat as section champions and return to the championship game. When this team played at the JV level in 2020-21, they made it to the finals of the Diocesan Championship, but lost in overtime to the newly formed Ava Maria Academy.
“That loss still stings,” said head coach Matt Marchione. “But this group of eighth graders has played together since they were in third grade and are excited to defend our title. Our seventh graders give us additional height, help with rebounding and depth to our forward position, which we need with the loss of our outgoing eighth graders.”
Even though the season doesn’t start until the winter, the girls work hard all summer on the fundamentals, especially their shooting skills. They participate in Pine Richland Youth Center’s summer league and play teams from surrounding public schools, in addition to a few of the Catholic schools they play during the season. The summer league games give them opportunities to play against man-to-man defense and work on creating plays on offense.
In addition to conditioning and open gym time, the girls use the summer and fall to get in shape for the long season ahead. Many girls will run cross country in the fall, in addition to playing on the school volleyball team.
“Winning the championship was so exciting last season,” said eighth grader Keira Duffy. “We are all working hard so we can try to repeat this year.”
The Holy Cross Academy varsity girls team is coached by Matt Marchione and assisted by Sheila Duffy and Lauri Miller.
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