Madison Cable - By Paul Burdick
By Chris Rossetti
STATE COLLEGE – Madison Cable scored 30 points to lead Mt. Lebanon to its second straight PIAA Class AAAA girls’ championship with a 70-43 win over Archbishop Ryan of the Philadelphia Catholic League.
“Mt. Lebanon, what an awesome community,” Blue Devils head coach Doris Oldaker said. “It’s about bringing home the gold for Mt. Lebanon. I’ll never forget the feeling when we came out and lost (in the title game) three years ago. I never want to feel that way again.”
Cable made sure that wasn’t an option this year scoring 20 of her 30 points in the first half while shooting 13 of 19 for the game and adding nine rebounds, six steals, five assists and two blocked shots.
“She’s been playing unbelievable,” Oldaker said. “She’s been playing like she knows how to play. She loves the game, and she plays like she loves the game.”
The outcome cemented Mt. Lebanon’s place among the top teams in the nation. The Blue Devils (29-2) came into the game ranked No. 9 in the country by MaxPreps.com with their only two loses coming to the top two teams in the nation – No. 1 St. Mary’s (Calif.) and No. 2 Brea Olinda (Calif.). Mt. Lebanon was considered the running away favorite to repeat as the champion from day one of the season.
“It’s awesome,” Cable said. “This is amazing. I’m so excited. To repeat is pretty cool. It’s the first time in school history we have won two in a row.”
Mt. Lebanon, in fact, became just the fourth team and third school to defend a Class AAAA girls’ championship and the first since Downingtown did it in 1998.
“Maybe when I retire someday I’ll reflect on it,” Oldaker said. “It’s about the girls, not me.”
Archbishop Ryan stayed close for the better half of the first half and trailed by just four, 22-18, with 2:32 left in the half.
But Mt. Lebanon went on an 8-2 run to end the half with a 30-20 lead and then started the second half with a 7-0 run on its way to a 54-30 lead at the end of three.
“I think the run (at the end of the first half) was huge,” Oldaker said. “I think we needed that spark of energy. We weren’t playing with a lot of energy in the first half. Coming out in the second half, I thought we played with a lot more energy.”
Mt. Lebanon forced 26 Archbishop Ryan (22-8) turnovers leading to 24 points.
“That was huge,” Oldaker said. “We saw them on film and didn’t think they could handle a lot of pressure.”
The Blue Devils also dominated inside outscoring Archbishop Ryan 50-12 in the paint.
Lauren Arbogast added 12 points and eight rebounds while shooting 5 of 8 from the field for Mt. Lebanon, which hit 50.9 percent (29 of 57) for the game.
Jess Koci led the Ragdolls with 14 points and 12 rebounds with Lauren Smith chipping in 13 points.
NOTES – The 27-point margin of victory was the largest in a Class AAAA girls’ title game since 1998 when Downingtown beat Altoona by 27 as well, 63-36 … The other repeat champions were Downingtown in 1991 and 1992 and Altoona in 1995 and 1996.