CRANBERRY TWP — Molly Rottmann has achieved something few have.

She’s won a PIAA basketball championship as both a player and as a coach at the same school.

Rottmann and her Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic girls basketball team put the finishing touches on a state title this past weekend with a 56-33 win over Lourdes Regional at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Rottmann, then Molly Larkin, won a state title as a player at North Catholic in 1988.

“It’s really unbelievable,” Rottmann said. “It feels good because I wanted to do it for (former North Catholic coach) Don Barth. We won one with him as my coach and he called me before the game Saturday.”

The Trojanettes went 28-3 this season and grabbed that elusive state title. North Catholic’s last title came in 1995.

For her efforts, Rottmann was named 2015-16 Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.

Mars coach Dana Petruska was also considered.

Rottmann said she sensed something special about this team before the season started.

Those thoughts were confirmed early in the season at the Erie McDowell Tournament in late December.

The Trojanettes took on McDowell and New York state power Cardinal O’Hara and won both games.

“We played two very tough teams away from home and did some really good things,” Rottmann said. “I was like, ‘Oh, we have a really good team.’”

North Catholic also quickly rebounded after a tough 68-54 loss to arch nemesis Vincentian Academy in the WPIAL Class A final to roll off five straight state playoff wins for a PIAA Class A championship.

Rottmann said no team captures a state title without a fair share of good fortune, too.

“It takes a dose of luck,” Rottmann said. “We definitely had talent, but we had very few injuries and we had great team chemistry. The kids really cared about each other. In fact they were texting me Saturday night and Sunday (after the state title win) asking if they could practice on Monday. I texted them that I kind of felt sad it was over. Don’t get me wrong — I’m on cloud nine — but I felt sad because I don’t get to spend more time in the gym with them.”

Junior forward Sam Breen, who averaged 26.6 points per game this season and was also named the 2015-16 Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Player of the year, said Rottmann is an easy coach to play for.

Even when she’s yelling at her to not reach in and pick up silly fouls.

“There’s really not much to say other than I really couldn’t imagine playing for anyone else and our team wouldn’t have made it anywhere without her.

“She just really knows what she’s talking about and what it means to win championships and how hard you have to work to win one,” Breen added. “Our whole team has such a good relationship with her, which makes our whole team closer.”

Rottmann is 360-124 in her 18 years as the North Catholic coach.

To Rottmann, though, Barth is the standard to which all coaches are measured.

Barth won 11 WPIAL titles and seven state championships in his coaching career at North Catholic.

When Rottmann was fresh out of the University of Delaware, she was offered the North Catholic girls basketball job, but turned it down.

“I didn’t want to go there and mess it up; I couldn’t follow (Barth),” Rottmann said.

She became a head coach anyway at Montour when she was elevated from assistant to head coach after an unexpected resignation.

Rottmann spent two years there before serving as an assistant at North Hills for two years.

After that apprenticeship, the North Catholic job opened again and she was ready for it.

She’s had a very stable staff for 18 years. Her father, Bill Larkin, has been with her for all 18 years.

Kate Lewandowski, Ron Shanahan and Joanne Onyshko have all been with her for at least a decade.

“Honestly, the biggest thing I’ve learned is you have good people around you, people you can trust and who are committed and have the same goals.”