Archbishop Wood hopes to make history by securing its fourth straight girls’ basketball state title this season

The number four has permeated its way all through Archbishop Wood’s girls’ basketball program.

From the four letters spelling W-O-O-D on the front of the Vikings’ uniforms to the four elected co-captains, four is everywhere. At the forefront of all the fours is the team’s ultimate objective: a fourth-straight PIAA title, something the program has never done before.

“We’re excited to see how far we go this year,” said senior Alexa Windish said. “With such a new team and such a young team, it’ll be exciting to see what we can do.”

Last year’s team had seven seniors, the largest class of head coach Mike McDonald’s tenure, and plenty of experience. This season, there’s a very different dynamic to the Wood roster, although it’s certainly not lowering any expectations.

Ava Renninger, a Fairleigh Dickinson recruit, Windish, and Lauren Greer make up this year’s senior class and three quarters of the captain’s council. Emily Knouse, a junior with a dozen Division I offers, rounds out the four co-captains and the players with significant returning varsity experience.

Greer and Windish project to move into the starting lineup and take on expanded roles.

“It starts with the team connection and the team energy,” Greer said. “As long as you’re a really close team, you communicate, and share the ball, then you’re going to get far.”

Wood added some depth when Colleen Besachio transferred in this summer following a standout freshman year at Upper Dublin. The 5-foot-11 forward with a formidable outside game was having a prolific fall, but an injury has left her status in question for the upcoming season.

Knouse had a great summer on the GUAA circuit with the Comets 15U team. The sharpshooter has also shown some excellent passing in fall events, and she’s embracing the fact that as one of the taller players, she’ll be counted on as a leading rebounder.

“Coach Mike said in one of our huddles, ‘We don’t have Deja [Evans] (now at Albany) to get us an automatic 15 anymore, so it’s going to take that much more effort going after the ball, boxing out, and being aggressive,’” Knouse said. “Those extra possessions Deja would get us, now everyone needs to get in and scramble for.”

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The Vikings are expecting seven incoming freshmen who could see varsity minutes. Makayla Finnegan is already showing similarities to her older sister Delaney, who graduated last year, as a high-energy, fiery competitor on the defensive end.

“She’ll definitely bring it on defense every play and she’s aggressive on offense,” Renninger said. “As a freshman, she’s not scared to bring it to the hoop or get after some people, so I think she’s going to be a nice role player for us.”

Wood doesn’t have a supernova scorer like former players Kaitlyn Orihel (at Villanova) or Ryanne Allen (Vanderbilt), but neither did last year’s team. What the Vikings do have is a good variety of players who can score.

“Everyone on our team is talented, scoring-wise,” Windish said. “Every one of us can score — if we play as a team, that’s what makes us hard to guard.”

It’s a shared sentiment among the returning veterans.

“I love that we’re already so comfortable with each other and we’re not just looking for one person to score for us.” Knouse said. “It’s so much more fun when it is so evenly spread out.”

Wood’s schedule is again loaded. The Vikings start the season with trips to Washington, D.C., for the She Got Game Classic and Coral Springs, Fla., for the Kreul Classic. They won’t play in their home gym until Jan. 9 against Nazareth Academy.

Locally, they have confirmed games against Perk Valley and Westtown, and there’s always the annual grind of the PCL. Wood was the runner-up last year, falling to Lansdale Catholic at the Palestra, and this group knows how difficult it will be to get back there in late February.

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“We go through all these games and our preseason to get us ready for the PCL,” Knouse said. “All the teams know each other in the PCL — we know what they’re running and they know what we’re running, so what we hope [will] takes us to the next level is playing all these tough, high-level teams.”

The last girls basketball team to win four straight state titles was Allentown Central Catholic from 2001-04. It’s not a common feat, and the Vikings aren’t shying away from making it their goal.

“We’ve all experienced at least two, and it’s always an amazing feeling,” Knouse said. “For our seniors to go out winning four in a row would just be incredible.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.