Just a few minutes after his team beat Trinity for it's third consecutive District 3 championship, York Catholic coach Kevin Bankos was already talking about next time.
"We expect to see them again," Bankos said of the Shamrocks, who defeated the Fighting Irish by 16 points in a regular season matchup in Camp Hill.
Bankos and his players know it would take a serious upset to keep the two premier District 3 girls basketball powers and intense rivals from meeting for a third time this season in the semifinals of the PIAA Class AA tournament.
The coach said his players were "a little embarrassed by the way they played last time (against Trinity) and they should have been" and used that as motivation in Thursday's victory. With the chip now on Trinity's shoulder, will the Shamrocks be able to ride that wave of frustration into the state title game? If Trinity shoots better than the 22 percent it averaged on Thursday, will the Irish still be able to win?
The Shamrocks should have some concerns as well: What if Irish shooters like Jenny and Mary McGann and Ashton Bankos find their stroke from the outside in the third game? What if Kelly Rhein, who grabbed 14 rebounds on Thursday, becomes more of a scoring presence in the paint after scoring a combined four points in the teams' first two contests?
Trinity coach Kristi Britten mentioned her team's poor shooting and failure to close the game out down the stretch and concluded that her team had "choked." I asked her if the biggest concern is just missing shots, shouldn't she feel good about her chances if the teams meet again in states?
"It's always going to be a good game between York Catholic and us," Britten said. "Both teams have great work ethics and they're both intense. Of course, I hope to come out on top if we meet again in the eastern final."
Not exactly a Namath-like guarantee -- just the typical coach-speak. But as much as Britten harped on what she perceived as her own team's failures, it seems like she firmly believes a state title berth is solely in her team's hands. And if the Shamrocks do shoot better and comitt fewer sloppy fouls (the Irish shot 23-of-27 from the foul line) they will have a great chance to win.
But if the rest of the Shamrocks share Britten's perspective and continue to think of themselves as the top team in the area, they won't have that psychological advantage that the Irish had going into Thursday's game. As Bankos said in my story, his team showed a renewed focus after losing to Trinity in the regular season, working hard to prove that they still belonged on top.
Even though they are the two-time defending state champions the Irish still seem to think they have something to prove. Losing four starters from last year's team, York Catholic still hears the nay-sayers when it comes to their chances to three-peating at the state level.
"For the past two years we've been on top and everybody has doubted us and said we're overrated," said Rhein, the only returning starter from last season's team. "This year we proving to everyone that we are a team to be afraid of. They say 'Oh they lost all those seniors.' Well, we're just as dominant as last year."
The Irish don't have the speed or the strength that the Shamrocks have -- putting them at a disadvantage from the start. What York Catholic does have is toughness and poise down the stretch. And they understand there is more work to be done.
"We talked about it all week -- this is not the end," Kevin Bankos said. "Win, lose or draw, it's not the end. And that's a credit to the kids. They know there is more basketball to play."
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