28-03-2025
Upper St. Clair girls' basketball team eyeing second PIAA championship in school history
The Upper St. Clair girls' basketball team has something special going on this year and they have a chance to win their second ever PIAA state championship title.
Friday's PIAA 6A Championship game will feature Upper St. Clair and Perkiomen Valley and it's the first time in over two decades the Panthers team from the South Hills is competing for a state title.
The team practiced for one last time Thursday before getting on the bus to head to Hershey.
Senior Rylee Kalocay, a Kent State recruit says the season has been filled with ups and downs and that it feels good to be one of just twelve teams remaining in all of Pennsylvania still playing basketball.
"I know earlier in the season, it was a little bit rocky for us," Kalocay said. "Really, towards the end of the season, we've gelled so well. We're all scoring the ball, everybody scores every game. We're playing really, really good team basketball."
The Upper St. Clair team has some solid coaching that helped get them to this point.
Husband and wife duo of Pete Serio and Suzie McConnell-Serio helped flip the team that was on a three-game skid to a team that won 12 of its last 13 contests.
"The chemistry has been off the charts over this last month and a half," Serio said. "It has been a journey but man, is it ending, it's a great journey. Once we believed in each other again, that was the most important thing."
"Coach Pete and Coach Suzie, they're some of the most valued coaches I've ever had," Kalocay said. "Everything they say to you, it comes from the heart. It comes from them wanting you to do well."
After practice on Thursday, students, parents, teachers, and the school band gathered outside the school to send the team off to Hershey with good wishes.
Upper St. Clair and Perkiomen Valley will square off Friday night at the Giant Center in Hershey. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
