By John Knebels • Posted February 20, 2026

Delaware County basketball fans might experience a traffic jam heading into the city Sunday morning.

Thanks to victories in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals Feb. 16 at Villanova University’s Finneran Pavilion, top-seed and undefeated Archbishop Carroll will meet two-seed and forever-rival Cardinal O’Hara in the girls’ PCL championship at noon Feb. 22 at the Palestra.

Archbishop Carroll last won a PCL title in 2019. Cardinal O’Hara captured the crown in 2022—coincidentally against Carroll. This will mark Carroll’s third straight trip to the finals. During the regular season, Carroll completed its first undefeated regular season since 2022 and overwhelmed O’Hara, 51-28, on Jan. 13.

In the first half of the doubleheader, Carroll defeated four-seed Archbishop Wood, 50-38. The upset-minded Vikings stunned the crowd with a 13-3 start. But Carroll answered with a 14-0 stampede to take the lead, 17-13.

“It was definitely a little weird how that game started out,” said Villanova University-bound Carroll senior Alexis Eberz, the PCL’s Most Valuable Player. “I think the big thing that we did when we were down that many (points) was that we just came together and we knew that we had to have more energy. We started off really slow, but once we started playing team defense and executing our plays on offense, we did some really great things.”

A back-and-forth first half ended with Carroll ahead, 21-20. From there, the Patriots never relinquished their lead.

First-team All-Catholic sophomore Kayla Eberz was unstoppable. Her 22 points, seven rebounds, and two steals overpowered any defense Wood applied. She scored six, four, seven, and five points in each quarter, respectively.

Her sister, Alexis, added 12 points and six rebounds. Though the sisters combined for only 14 points, senior Bridget Grant, junior Cate Schumacher, and junior Abbie McFillin stifled the Vikings defensively, while senior Colleen Besachio, hobbled by a sore knee, still netted a tough 15. The five Carroll starters played all 32 minutes.

Kayla echoed her sister about Carroll’s early deficit.

“I was never worried,” she said. “I knew we would come back once we just settled in and ran our offense as a team. We just had to settle in and just go out and play.”

In the second half of the doubleheader, senior Megan Rullo engineered arguably the best game of her career, leading O’Hara past three-seed and defending champion Neumann-Goretti, 51-33.

The Drexel University-bound senior finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Junior Bre Davis tallied 10 points, including a fourth-quarter three-point play that woke up the Pavilion, and added four rebounds. Junior Brigidanne Donohue contributed 13 points. Sophomore Catie Doogan corralled seven rebounds.

“It was really special,” said Rullo. “One of the main reasons I came to O’Hara was for the chance to play at the Palestra, so finally getting that opportunity means a lot. Beating the defending champs felt great and just shows how much we’ve grown as a team. But we’re not done yet. Carroll’s a tough team, and we’re playing really well right now, so we’re just focused on working hard and getting ready for Sunday.”

The Lions sprinted to a 13-6 first-quarter lead and never looked back. They led 26-16 at halftime, 40-27 after three, and, highlighted by Davis’ aforementioned three-point play, outscored the Saints 11-6 in the fourth.

“When the shot went up, I realized (her defender) didn’t know who was behind her and wasn’t boxing out,” Davis said. “I challenged it, got my position, went up, came down with the ball, and went strong right back up. I was pumped—it felt really good.”

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Contact John Knebels at jknebels@gmail.com or on ‘X’ @johnknebels.