CRANBERRY TWP — Sam Breen doesn't like to lose.

At anything.

Whether it is basketball or a puzzle game on her phone, the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic senior forward wants to win.

“Her competitive spirit is amazing,” said North Catholic girls basketball coach Molly Rottmann. “She hates losing. She can be doing a drill or playing a game on her phone, she hates losing.”

It's that fire that led Breen to a stellar senior season and career for the Trojanettes.

She finished the 2016-17 campaign averaging 23.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

Breen closed out her career with 2,443 points and was recently named Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

It's little wonder then that Breen also earned the 2016-17 Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, beating out Moniteau's Kristina DeMatteis, Karns City's Emily Hegedus and A-C Valley's Ellie Thompson.

Breen won the award last year.

Rottmann and Breen have formed a tight bond over her career.

“We are pretty close, in all honesty probably closer than I've been to any player,” said Rottmann, who played at North Catholic and had her career scoring mark broken by Breen and has been the coach of the Trojanettes for 19 years. “She really is a special kid.”

Breen will play her college basketball at the University of Dayton next year.

Her mind, though, is still on the bitter way North Catholic's season ended in a 57-41 loss March 18 to Villa Maria Academy.

Breen spent large chunks of the game on the bench in foul trouble.

When asked if there was one thing in her career that she would do differently if she could, she answered swiftly.

“Definitely not foul (March 18),” Breen said.

But Breen and North Catholic enjoyed a lot of success in her four years.

Last year, the Trojanettes won a PIAA Class A championship.

This season, moving up to 4A after the state switched from four classes to six, North Catholic cruised to a WPIAL championship before their state run was cut short by Villa in the quarterfinals.

“My fondest memory is definitely the state championship last year,” Breen said. “I think the fact that we overcame the loss in the WPIAL final to bounce back and win the state title showed what we were made of.”

Also showing what Breen was made of was the fact the day after the loss to Villa she was at the gym, working out and shooting.

“I think a lot of my teammates will do the same thing,” Breen said. “Maybe not the day after, but tomorrow. That says a lot about them.”

Breen has a message for the players who are returning next season.

“Don't complain about practice,” she said, laughing. “You may want to complain about practice, but you'll miss it when it's over. I would do anything to practice with my teammates again. I would get up at 5 a.m. to practice if I could.”

Breen also swallowed the lump in her throat to watch the film of the loss.

It was a necessary torture for Breen — she wanted to see what she could have done better or differently to make sure that doesn't happen again.

After all, she hates to lose.

“The first thing Coach Rottmann said was, 'You're going to torture yourself and watch the film, aren't you?'” Breen said. “I like to see what I did wrong. That's how I am.

“I have a lot of fun playing,” she added, “but it's more fun when you win.”