Madison Romanovich carries Slippery Rock girls basketball to first District 10 final since 2022
MEADVILLE — Madison Romanovich added another chapter to the story of her outstanding 2025-26 season.
The senior guard for Slippery Rock girls basketball dropped 25 points to lead the Rockets to a 46-38 victory over top-seeded Fairview in Wednesday’s District 10 Class 4A semifinal at Meadville High School.
“This one is not going to let us lose,” Slippery Rock coach Jeff Steele said, gesturing toward Romanovich as the pair stood outside the Rockets’ locker room following the win. “She’s the best player in our region, and I’d say the second-best player in all of District 10.”
The No. 4 Rockets (19-4) will face No. 2 and defending champion Harbor Creek, which defeated Corry in the other semifinal 37-33, in the title game Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
Romanovich’s output Wednesday was two points better than her average for the season.
“Scoring is great, but if other players are making shots for us, I’m happy for them,” she said. “I just want to win.”
Fairview entered the game having won seven straight games, but Steele was confident.
“I felt better about this game than I did facing Oil City (a 38-36 quarterfinal win),” he said. “I believed if we could score in the mid-40s tonight, we’d have a good shot.”
The Rockets never trailed, and the Tigers struggled to find consistency on offense.
Trailing 34-26 after three quarters, Fairview received a conventional three-point play from Gabriella Pizzo early in the fourth. She added a drive for two that cut Slippery Rock’s edge to 39-38 with 3:26 remaining, but Vanessa Hinkle answered with a pair of free throws for the Rockets.
They held the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way.
“We recently started to really focus on playing strong halfcourt defense,” Steele said. “We’re not scoring as much but are getting much better at playing defense. Gia (Kovacik), Vanessa and Jolin (Lin) did great tonight on that end of the floor.”
Romanovich netted four of her eight field goals in the third period, including one late in the quarter when she used a spin move to get around a Fairview player in the paint, lost her balance but still got the shot to fall.
“We were focused all week, and led almost the entire game tonight,” she said. “We weren’t going to let up.”
Hinkle added 10 points for Slippery Rock.
Paige Garrity paced the Tigers with 15, including a 3-pointer in the third that gave her 1,000 points for her career. Pizzo scored 13 points in defeat.
Slippery Rock’s trip to the district final will be its first since 2022 when the Rockets fell to Warren. The Rockets have already secured a PIAA tournament berth.
Fairview (19-5) had its streak of making the championship game snapped at three.
SLIPPERY ROCK 46
Brielle Jordan 0 3-4 3, Gia Kovacik 2 2-2 6, Vanessa Hinkle 4 2-4 10, Madison Romanovich 8 9-16 25, Isabel Drake 1 0-0 2, Jolin Lin 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 16-28 46.
FAIRVIEW 38
Grace Gennuso 2 0-0 4, Paige Garrity 6 0-2 15, Janayia Lockett 2 0-1 4, Gabriella Pizzo 5 2-3 13, Tessa Trudnowski 1 0-0 2, Maya Michel 0 0-0 0, Sophia Trudnowski 0 0-0 0, Siobahn Lewis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 2-6 38.
Slippery Rock 10 11 13 12 — 46
Fairview 4 14 8 12 — 38
3-point goals: Fairview 4 (Garrity 3, Pizzo).
Saturday: Slippery Rock vs. Harbor Creek, District 10 Class 4A Championship Game, TBD
