For what some observers termed a rebuilding season a year ago, the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart girls basketball team did quite well for itself.
The Chargers put together an overall record of 17-10 and a 6-4 mark in WPIAL Class 3A Section 2 play, good for a three-way tie for second place with Keystone Oaks and Seton LaSalle.
OLSH won its first WPIAL playoff game before being eliminated, then qualified for the PIAA tournament and took Mercyhurst Prep down to the wire before losing a close game.
It certainly wasn’t a disappointment to Don Eckerle, the OLSH coach who will be starting his 22nd season at the Chargers’ helm and has nearly 400 career wins, one WPIAL crown and a half-dozen or so section titles to his credit.
“All in all, given that we had almost a whole team of basically new starters, players who were gaining varsity experience, we deemed that to be a successful year, no doubt about it,” Eckerle said when looking back on his 2023-24 squad.
“Maybe it was not one of our best seasons record-wise, but to be able to play in the state playoffs and to be competitive (against Mercyhurst Prep) – that’s a hard place to play up there.”
Eckerle will have a young but experienced squad when it takes the floor for its first game at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, against Eden Christian.
Monday’s game, along with most of the Chargers’ other home games this season, will be played at Cornell, as OLSH’s home court is undergoing some renovations.
Six of the seven juniors on this year’s team played significant minutes last year and all three returning seniors also were key contributors a year ago.
Claudia Ierullo, a 5-foot-5 senior guard who has committed to playing at Slippery Rock next year, is the Chargers’ top player. “She can score in many different ways,” Eckerle said. “She can shoot from the outside or drive the ball to the basket. She’s a talented player. I’m hoping she can stay healthy and can be a leader.”
Two other seniors who figure to start are Libby Gallick and Emily Scheller-Gallagher, both of whom stand 5-3. “We’re short – that’s our challenge,” Eckerle said.
Sara Daeschner, a 5-7 junior, started a number of games as a sophomore last year and will contribute this year along with Lola Garner, a 5-8 junior who was hampered by a knee injury for part of last season. Leah Parker, Annabeth Grayson and Camryn Hummel are other juniors who will compete for playing time.
Among the underclassmen, two players who figure to provide help inside are sophomore Shae Trombetta and freshman Rowan Winter, both of whom stand 5-10.
Eckerle said his team saw plenty of action during summer league play and competed against mostly bigger schools.
“That’s kind of my MO,” Eckerle said. “I don’t really care if we lose every summer game, as long as we’re improving and getting better, and I really feel like we did that.”
OLSH will remain in Class 3A but will move from Section 2 to Section 1, where it will compete against the likes of Beaver Falls, Ellwood City and Mohawk, all of which made the WPIAL playoffs a year ago.
The Chargers also will play a competitive nonleague schedule, which is just the way Eckerle likes it.
“It’s going to challenge us,” he said. “We work to try to win them all, but the reality is, we’ll be playing a lot of teams up in classification. But our experience and depth are good, and if we can get a couple of our young kids with a little bit of height playing and contributing, I’ll feel much better about our scenario.”
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