PIAA basketball tournament: Slippery Rock girls’ journey ends in first-round loss to Oakland Catholic
-
Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) dribbles around an Oakland Catholic defender in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Isabel Drake (11) defends against Oakland Catholic's Zephaniah Troxler-Scott (4) in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's CJ Sabo (3) battles for position with Oakland Catholic's London Creach (11) and Madison Pullen (21) after a free-throw attempt in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) looks to pass while double-teamed by Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Sophia Vinroe (33) chases a loose ball against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Vanessa Hinkle (14) passes the ball against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Belle Miller (21) runs during an inbound attempt against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Gia Kovacik (12) makes a free throw against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Belle Miller (21) heads to the bench towards the end of the game against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Isabel Drake (11) goes for a layup against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Vanessa Hinkle (14) attempts a steal against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's coach Jeff Steele watches his players take on Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Brielle Jordan (10) passes the ball against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
-
Slippery Rock's Madison Romanovich (24) looks up at the scoreboard as time winds down against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball tournament Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Oakland Catholic High School. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
PITTSBURGH — The cap on Slippery Rock’s season isn’t what the Rockets will be remembered by. Nor should it be.
Coach Jeff Steele’s team was out-classed in a 80-29 PIAA Class 4A first-round girls basketball tournament loss at Oakland Catholic on Saturday afternoon. Slippery Rock senior CJ Sabo believes there’s much more to her team’s story.
“I think we should be remembered as scrappy,” Sabo said. “I think that we never gave up. We were down by a lot, but we still said in our halftime talk, ‘We’re not giving up.’”
The Rockets (18-8) were down by 35 points halfway through. Slippery Rock fell behind 35-4 in the first quarter, a frame that included 16 turnovers and a 19-0 Eagles (24-3) run.
“Not a lot of teams in our district or our region are able to provide that type of ball pressure,” Steele said. “We knew with the on-ball pressure that we would have to be strong with the ball and limit the live-ball turnovers because the big burst of points they had were live-ball turnovers.
“I joked earlier in the week, ‘Hey, if you don’t know what to do with it, throw it to me. Because I’d rather it be a dead-ball situation and let us regroup.”
Madison Romanovich paced the Rockets with 11 points in the season-ending defeat. Sabo added nine for a Slippery Rock offense that was hurried and fractured throughout.
One contest doesn’t change their memories of what led up to it.
“Going into (my first season), I didn’t know what we had,” Steele said. “I know 10 or 12 games in, I kept asking my coaching friends and people around it saying, ‘I still don’t know how good we are.’ But, there were a couple of games where I found out we were pretty good.
“We had a lot of learning, I’ve said this. I got the job late, so we didn’t have a summer or really a fall to get them prepared. ... Going undefeated in the region is certainly something that this group can be proud of.”
The Rockets had gone 10-34 over the past two seasons. Losing was draining, Sabo said. Steele’s arrival changed things.
“It was the competitiveness that brought us (together), and the grit,” Sabo said. “I knew I could count on him for anything, so I think that when you trust your coach, you kind of trust everyone on the team.”
Sabo is a California (Pa.) women’s basketball commit. She leaves having played a big part in the program’s resurgence.
“I’m just going to remember how they bought in,” Steele said. “They trusted me from Day 1. ... CJ’s leadership, I didn’t pick a captain to start the year. I just wanted to see how it went. I thought CJ stepped into that role fabulously. With Romanovich, obviously she’s a big part of this.”
Steele added Belle Miller was an exemplary role player. Sabo deflected the praise back onto her coach.
“I definitely think that this year, Coach Jeff ... did everything for us,” Sabo said.
Oakland Catholic squares off with WPIAL Class 4A fourth-place finisher Elizabeth Forward in the second round Wednesday.
SLIPPERY ROCK 29
Madison Romanovich 3 5-8 11, CJ Sabo 3 1-2 9, Belle Miller 2 0-0 4, Vanessa Hinkle 1 0-2 2, Isabel Drake 1 0-0 2, Gia Kovacik 0 1-2 1. Totals: 10 7-14 29.
OAKLAND CATHOLIC 80
London Creach 8 2-2 20, Madi Pullen 6 0-0 15, Josie Fontana 6 0-0 12, Zephaniah Troxler-Scott 5 0-0 11, Alayla Bivins 3 2-2 9, Makayla Canty 3 0-0 6, Addi Crummie 1 0-0 3, Savanna Daye 1 0-0 2, Charley Stanley 0 2-2 2. Totals: 33 6-8 80.
3-point goals: Oakland Catholic 8 (Pullen 3, Creach 2, Bivins, Troxler-Scott, Crummie); Slippery Rock 2 (Sabo 2).
Slippery Rock 4 13 3 9 — 29
Oakland Catholic 35 17 14 14 — 80
