03/23/25 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Bishop Guilfoyle's Morgan Ruggery is fouled by Bishop Carroll's Maddie Lieb.

A year ago, with many of the same players on the roster, Bishop Carroll Catholic’s girls basketball team lost its final two games of the year to finish one win short of the PIAA playoffs and finished with a losing record for the fourth year in a row.

Saturday at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse, sophomore Ava Pablic sent the Bishop Carroll faithful into a frenzy when she made her second straight 3-pointer to give the Lady Huskies a 33-31 lead over Bishop Guilfoyle Academy with 2:19 to play in the third quarter of a PIAA Class 1A semifinal game.

The Lady Marauders, who are the defending PIAA champions, composed themselves and outscored Carroll, 16-9, in the fourth quarter to come away with a 49-42 win — but BC did more than prove it belonged on the stage.

“I’m really proud of us,” Pablic said. “I thought we came out here and played really hard. I think it’s a huge accomplishment to even get this far. We haven’t been this far in a long time. I’m proud of us. We came out and played our butts off.”

Bishop Carroll played in a PIAA semifinal game for the first time since 2018 and had a winning record for the first time since 2020. It finished 21-8 and won the most games any Carroll team had since that 2017-2018 team.

“I thought our girls did a great job today,” Bishop Carroll coach John Strittmatter said. “I think we surprised Guilfoyle a little bit. I don’t think they thought it was going to be this way. I’d like to give them credit and congratulate them. I hope they can pull it out Friday. I’d also like to thank my assistant coaches Nick Smith and Pat Long for all their work for me this year.

“I told our ladies in the locker room, they have nothing to be ashamed about. I read off all the accomplishments they achieved this year that they did not do last year. To me, they are winners in my book. I told them not to hang their head, because they played really well.”

Those achievements include a pair of wins over Saint Joseph’s Academy and a win over Williamsburg, two other District 6 teams that made it to the PIAA quarterfinals.

“This is not the end of a chapter, it’s the beginning,” Strittmatter said. “We’ll take all our accomplishments that we did this year and build on them for next year. It starts in the summer. I told them, ‘let’s work hard, fix the little things that we all need to get better at, and we’ll be here next year.'”

Bishop Carroll’s top four scorers were all underclassmen and three of them — Adelyn Myers, Emily Lucko and Pablic — all shined during the postseason.

Myers finished with a game-high 15 points in Saturday’s loss, and Lucko scored a career-high 23 points in Carroll’s PIAA quarterfinal win over Williamsburg last week.

“We have a young group of girls,” Pablic said. “I think next year, we’ll be even better. We’ll work throughout the summer, and it will get us ready for states next year.”

The Lady Huskies lose just two seniors, Maddie Lieb and Caroline Golden.

“They have been fantastic and have done anything I have asked them to do,” Strittmatter said. “They are unselfish players. One starts, the other one doesn’t, and neither is mad. They are a joy to coach, and I wish they were both coming back.”

Lieb scored four points Saturday, including a jump shot during a third quarter that Bishop Carroll outscored BG, 10-5.

“I love this team,” Lieb said. “We have come so far. Nobody expected us to come this far, and we’re just like a family. We all worked so hard, and it all really paid off this season.”

Pablic’s 3-pointer gave Bishop Carroll its final lead of the game and earned BC a standing ovation before BG freshman Layona Williams tied the game just before the fourth quarter.

“It’s amazing. I love it,” Pablic said. “We had so many people supporting us throughout our journey. We couldn’t be more grateful.”

Like Strittmatter, Lieb expects the Lady Huskies to earn another chance at playing to go to Hershey for an opportunity at a state title before long.

“Caroline and I were so proud of these girls,” Lieb said. “We were so glad to be able to be on a team with these girls, and I know they are going to go so far and get even better. They’ll make Bishop Carroll proud.”