PIAA basketball: Oakland Catholic girls down proud Slippery Rock in Class 4A second-round clash
WEXFORD — The result was the same, but the effort surely wasn’t.
For the second consecutive season, Slippery Rock girls basketball team was eliminated from the PIAA Class 4A tournament by WPIAL champion Oakland Catholic, this time by a 63-36 final score at North Allegheny High School.
Just over a calendar year ago, the Rockets were out-classed by an 80-29 count against the Eagles in a first-round state playoff game. Slippery Rock trailed by 31 at one point in the initial quarter of that matchup.
“I told them during the one timeout, I said, ‘I don’t know if we were competitive for one possession last year,’” Slippery Rock coach Jeff Steele said. “And tonight, we had stretches where we were competitive at both ends of the floor. I think we went on a 6-0 run there. I really thought that we weren’t that far off. ... We were prepared, we just didn’t execute.”
Down 26-5 in the second quarter this time around, after Oakland Catholic (23-2) drained three 3-pointers in just over a minute as part of a 16-0 surge, the Rockets didn’t lay down.
Senior guard Madison Romanovich made a layup, then drew a technical foul on the other side of the court.
Junior guard Brielle Jordan sank the second of her two free throws, then nailed a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 26-11 with 4:28 to go in the front half.
Slippery Rock (20-6) shot 5 for 12 in the first 16 minutes, but had 16 turnovers during the same span, leading to a 38-17 hole at halftime. The Eagles’ full-court pressure was a big reason why.
“I thought when we were patient, we were able to beat it,” Steele said. “And then we got a little impatient. We got too far apart, the passes were too long and when you throw long passes against them, someone’s gonna shoot past and get it.”
The running clock got rolling after University of Richmond commit Josie Fontana’s bucket with 3:39 to play in the third. Romanovich and Jordan combined for 11 points the rest of the way, and the former said afterward her team didn’t give up and “just played for each other.”
For the contest, Slippery Rock went 13 for 32 (40.6%) from the field. Romanovich poured in a team-high 17 points.
“This year, we definitely competed a lot more,” Romanovich said. “It was pretty competitive the whole entire time. They kept their starters in the whole time, basically.”
Central will face District 6 champ Penn Cambria, which beat Delone Catholic 38-32, in Saturday’s quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined.
The Rockets, District 10 runners-up, expect to be a contender for seasons to come.
“We had a pretty good stretch there for about eight years,” Steele said. “We dropped off for a couple years, but ... now we’re back. Now we have a feeder program, a new program that I’ve been running for six years. This sophomore group was my first group. And we’re gonna be competitive moving forward.
“It’s just a building block.”
OAKLAND CATHOLIC 63
Luci LaMendola 8 0-1 20, Josie Fontana 8 2-2 19, Madi Pullen 4 2-3 12, Zephaniah Troxler-Scott 3 0-0 7, Brooklyn Rozier 1 1-2 3, Addi Crummie 1 0-0 2, Savanna Daye 0 0-2 0. Totals: 25 5-10 63.
SLIPPERY ROCK 36
Madison Romanovich 7 3-4 17, Brielle Jordan 3 5-6 12, Isabel Drake 2 0-0 4, Vanessa Hinkle 1 0-0 2, Gia Kovacik 0 1-2 1, Ryleigh Cornelius 0 0-0 0, JoLin Lin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 9-12 36.
Oakland Catholic 15 23 16 9 — 63
Slippery Rock 5 12 8 11 — 36
3-point goals: Oakland Catholic 8 (LaMendola 4, Pullen 2, Fontana, Troxler-Scott); Slippery Rock 1 (Jordan)
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Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's student section encourages the Rockets in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's JoLin Lin (21) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Vanessa Hinkle (15) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's head coach Jeff Steele talks to his team in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) drives around Oakland Catholic's Savanna Daye (5) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's head coach Jeff Steele talks to his team in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Gia Kovacik (12) looks to inbound against Oakland Catholic in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Gia Kovacik (12) looks to rebound against Oakland Catholic's Josie Fontana (32) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's JoLin Lin (21) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) directs the offense against Oakland Catholic in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's head coach Jeff Steele reacts to a foul call in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's student section reacts to a foul call in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Gia Kovacik (12) looks to inbound against Oakland Catholic in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) calls out a play in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) shoots over Oakland Catholic's Josie Fontana (32) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Vanessa Hinkle (15) blocks the pass of Oakland Catholic's Josie Fontana (32) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's student section tries to cheer on the Rockets in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
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Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) looks to pass against Oakland Catholic's Savanna Daye (5) in a PIAA Class 4A girls basketball second-round game Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at North Allegheny High School. JJ LaBella/Special to the Butler Eagle
