South Fayette wins PIAA state championship
Lions knock off Archbishop Wood in title tilt
The South Fayette girls are believers. They thought they could knock off four-time defending state champion Archbishop Wood in the PIAA finals. And, they did.
Much to the amazement of many, South Fayette dethroned the Vikings, 45-37, in the Class 5A championship contest played March 29 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“We probably shocked a lot of people, but I don’t think we shocked ourselves,” South Fayette floor boss Bryan Bennett said. “We have a lot of talent, and we believe in ourselves.”
Nonetheless the win sent shockwaves throughout the state because the Vikings had won 24 PIAA games and nine titles, all since 2010. They were trying to become the first team to win five state championships in a row.
For South Fayette, it was the first state banner for the girls’ program and second in school history as the boys won a Class 2A crown in 2010. The Lady Lions were PIAA runners-up two years ago, having fallen to Archbishop Wood, 61-54.
“I’m just completely in shock. I just keep repeating, ‘We literally made history.’ It’s insane,” said Juliette Leroux, who was a freshman on that 2023 club.
Leroux played a key role in toppling the Vikings. She led the Lions in scoring and rebounding, pumping in 15 points and pulling down seven rebounds.
Leroux’s basket four seconds before halftime provided a huge confidence boost for the Lady Lions. The layup, off an assist from Cierra Rexrode, provided South Fayette a lead (23-22) it never relinquished.
Thanks to a dominant third quarter, the Lady Lions catapulted to victory. They reeled off the first nine points in the frame and opened up a 10-point advantage, 32-23, at the 4:39 mark. South Fayette outscored the Vikings, 13-2, in the quarter, limiting them to just two free throws.
In fact from the time Ryan Carter scored on a jumper with 3:58 left in the first half until Emily Knouse made a basket with 5:34 remaining in the game the South Fayette defense held Archbishop Wood to no field goals. The Vikings spiraled from maintaining a 22-17 advantage to a deficit that swelled to 14 during the span. When Ryan Oldaker buried a 3-point field goal the Lady Lions led, 39-25, with 6:50 to play.
Oldaker followed Leroux in scoring with 10 tallies. She also dished up two assists and grabbed a pair of rebounds. She was 4 of 6 from the field and 1 of 2 from the free throw line.
“Words cannot describe how excited I am,” said Oldaker regarding being a state champion.
Champion is a word synonymous with the name as Oldaker’s mother, Dori, won two state titles while playing at Blackhawk. As a head coach, she also guided her alma mater to a pair of PIAA banners. She also coached Mt. Lebanon to three PIAA crowns to go along with six WPIAL banners.
“Amazing,” said Oldaker of getting a state gold like her mother. “I want to follow in her footsteps. She’s a legend. I’m just excited to see what’s to come.”
Oldaker, like Leroux, is a junior on a team that finished 29-2 overall and as undefeated section champions and district runner-ups.
South Fayette was attempting to become the first team at the Class 5A level to win four WPIAL titles in a row. The Lady Lions, however, lost that bid when they surrendered a large lead and succumbed to Peters Township, 40-36, in the District 7 championship game back on March 1.
Noting how the Lions avenged that defeat with a 50-36 win against the Lady Indians in the state semifinals, Oldaker added that the state championship win over the Vikings was also about atonement.
“It made us so mad we lost. This was our revenge tour,” said Oldaker, who scored nine points in the 2023 loss to Archbishop Wood.
Haylie Lamonde was the other Lady Lion to compete in both the 2023 and 2025 state finals. A junior, she scored two points in 2023, but eight points in this year’s victory. She also dished up a team-high four assists and added three rebounds.
Rexrode finished with six points and six rebounds while Alexa Ankrum supplied two tallies. They are the lone seniors on the roster.
Sophomore point guard Lailah Wright contributed four points, three assists and five rebounds while freshman Ella Vierra came off the bench and finished with five rebounds as well.
Freshman Luci LaMendola and sophomore Kylie Rumberger also provided quality minutes of playing time for the Lady Lions, who shot 55.6 percent from the field in the state final.
“We have a lot of talent, and we believe in ourselves,” Bennett said. “They played extremely hard and truly believed in each other. No one got rattled after making a mistake. They just moved on to the next play.”
Bennett also noted that the Lady Lions have multiple players that will go on to play at the NCAA Division I or II level. So that neutralized Archbishop Wood’s hype of featuring major college talent.
For example, Carter is ranked among the Top 8 sophomores in the nation. She led the Vikings with 23 points and seven rebounds in 26:45 minutes of play. She missed much of the third quarter with a knee injury.
Additionally, Knouse is a St. Joseph’s recruit. She followed Carter with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Sophia McDonald and Regan Przepioski scored two points each to complete the scoring for the Vikings, who converted just 30.2 percent of their shots and made just two of 12 attempts from beyond the arc.
Archbishop Wood, like the Lady Lions are young, boasting just one senior on the roster. Hence, 2026 could shape up to be another battle between the two clubs.
According to Bennett, South Fayette’s spirit and camaraderie proves the difference.
“It’s a special group,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, I didn’t envision this. I thought we had a chance at a district title. I didn’t know about states. After losing to Peters, I didn’t know how we would respond. But we were so focused and disciplined.
“Our team chemistry is absolutely unbelievable, which has been a key to our success the last couple of years, but this group is something special,” Bennett said. “They’re so close to each other and they care just about the team. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
While he believes the future is bright because of the returning veterans as well as key support players such as Alisa Dufort, Kendall Welhorsky, Olivia Devlin, Caroline Satler, Kate Black, Emmersyn Barish, Alaina Clingan and Liz Porter, the Lady Lions must do their part to remain at the top.
“While we are losing two outstanding players from this year’s team, we return a number of talented, hard working kids,” Bennett said. “We will need to continue pushing ourselves to improve and maintain the focus that made this season so successful.”