Tuesday PIAA girls basketball rundown: OLSH takes out WPIAL Class 3A champ Greensburg Central Catholic; Shady Side Academy eliminates unbeaten District 10 champ Northwestern

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart coach Don Eckerle always knew senior guard Claudia Ierullo was capable of filling up the stat sheet, if only she chose to be more selfish.

“She shares the ball,” said Eckerle, who joined the 400-win club earlier this season. “I’ve told her, ‘If you’re going to score 25 points, do it in a game we need 25 points in.'”

The Chargers (24-4) needed all 25 and then some on Tuesday night.

Taking on WPIAL Class 3A champion Greensburg Central Catholic in a rematch of a one-sided WPIAL semifinal defeat on Feb. 22, OLSH knocked off the Centurions (22-6) with a nail-biting 36-34 win at Peters Township thanks to Ierullo’s game-high 25 points. Then, after missing a free throw in the final 10 seconds, the Slippery Rock recruit intercepted a pass moments later to seal the Chargers’ win in the second round of the PIAA tournament.

“She’s got great instincts,” Eckerle said. “The steal was absolutely the biggest play. But her bank-in [3-pointer] at the end of the third quarter helped as well. We went into the fourth quarter and basically turned it over to Claudia and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you the ball as much as we can and see what happens.’

“I think anyone who has played against her realizes she is definitely a talent, but tonight definitely put her in the spotlight.”

The last time the two teams met in the WPIAL semifinals — also played at Peters Township — Greensburg Central cruised to a 41-18 victory. The Centurions also won the regular-season matchup between the teams by a score of 40-30 in a neutral-site clash on Dec. 30, handing OLSH two of its four losses this season.

But it was the Chargers who got the last laugh on Tuesday, sending Greensburg Central home and avenging the two previous defeats with an inspired defensive performance. Richmond recruit Erica Gribble tallied a team-high 19 points for the Centurions.

“We had used that [triangle-and-two] in the past on them. That was nothing new to them,” Eckerle said. “The last time we played them at the same place, same venue. The result was quite different [tonight].”

This isn’t the first time OLSH has avenged multiple losses in the same season against the WPIAL champion in the state tournament under Eckerle. Two years ago, the Chargers eliminated WPIAL champion Avonworth — also in the second round of the PIAA Class 3A tournament — after losing three times to the Antelopes earlier that season.

“It’s been brought up to me a couple times this week,” Eckerle said about the similarities to his team’s 2023 PIAA playoff run. “Again, you have to believe you can do this. I give our kids a lot of credit. We put a couple things in with only two days of practice. The kids bought into it and said, ‘OK, this is what we’ve got to do.'”

Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Gribble scored a team-high 19 points in a 36-34 defeat against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the second round of the PIAA Class 3A tournament on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at Peters Township High School’s AHN Arena. (Emily Matthews/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Other Class 3A

• Junior point guard Karis Thomas turned in another terrific performance with a team-high 21 points for Shady Side Academy (26-1), including the game-winning bucket with seven seconds left to lift the Bulldogs to a dramatic 46-44 win against previously unbeaten District 10 champion Northwestern (25-1) at Union. Shady Side trailed, 42-36, entering the final quarter, but the Bulldogs clamped down on defense and allowed only two points in the entire fourth quarter to escape with the comeback victory.

Class 6A

• WPIAL champion Upper St. Clair advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 46-32 win in its rubber match against section-rival Canon-McMillan at Peters Township’s AHN Arena. Kent State recruit Rylee Kalocay led all scorers with 20 points for the Panthers (21-6) to go with 10 from Meredith Huzjak. Faye Saunders finished with a team-high 14 points in the defeat for the Big Macs (16-10).

Class 2A

• WPIAL runner-up Neshannock (24-4) saw its season come to an end against two-time defending state champion Kennedy Catholic, 50-36, at Union. Payton Newman led the Lancers with 19 points to go with 11 from Sophia Bonner, while Madison Pfleger scored a team-high 19 points for Kennedy Catholic (20-5) along with 12 from Layke Fields.

• DaShae Cochran scored a team-high 12 points for Winchester Thurston (23-5) in a season-ending 66-39 loss against District 6 champion Bishop McCort at Norwin. Cami Beppler and Emma Preuss scored 17 points apiece to lead the way for the Crushers (24-4).