The Palestra.
Say those two words, and any Catholic high school student, alum, faculty, and aficionado in the Philadelphia area will know exactly what you’re talking about: the Philadelphia Catholic League basketball championships at the University of Pennsylvania’s famed Palestra stadium.
Constructed 98 years ago and originally a popular boxing arena, The Palestra, which is derived from Greco/Roman terminology meaning gymnasium, has become the home of the Catholic League’s girls abd boys semifinals and finals for nearly 70 years.
While being home to the Catholic League title, the arena has also hosted UPenn athletics, Philly College Big-5 Basketball, and numerous professional games as the building’s parent company, which also owned New York’s Madison Square Garden, would require clients to play games at both venues if booking the famed MSG.
Through all those years Archbishop Carroll’s boys and girls basketball teams have had the privilege of playing on the famed grounds numerous times, with the girls taking a majority of the appearances. Since the school’s founding in 1967, the girls team has appeared in the league title 22 times and taken home the hubcap 11 times while the boys stand with just a lone title in 1994.
The Lady Pats have appeared in the title game four times since 2019 and under head coach Reine Shields, winning only their inaugural appearance. Since then, Carroll fell two times, in 2022 and just last season in a double OT heartbreaker to Archbishop Wood.
Nonetheless, the Lady Pats were able to claim their revenge this time around, knocking off the Vikings in an upset victory 57-48 on Monday night at Finneran Pavilion at Villanova University to claim their second consecutive title appearance.
This time around, however, Carroll will be faced with a test just as difficult in the form of Neumann-Goretti, a club that hasn’t appeared in the game since 2010.
The Lady Pats, though at a disadvantage when it comes to high-level talent, has one big advantage against the Saints –that being experience. Patriots seniors Brooke Olender, Bridget Archbold, Olivia Nardi, and Djami Diallo have been here before, twice to be exact. They appeared the first time as freshmen back in 2022, and then again last year, where they played big roles and were on the floor when the clock hit triple zeroes in the second overtime.
Now in 2025, that experienced core will get one last chance at Catholic League history. At the same time, a young, exciting group of players headlined by junior guard and Villanova recruit Alexis Eberz will get a chance to show their stuff.
Eberz, a first team All-Catholic selectee, has been Carroll’s top option on offense this year while taking some of the hardest matchups on defense. Following closely in her trail is her younger sister, freshman Kayla Eberz, and sophomore guard Abbie McFillin, both of whom were named second team All-Catholic this season.
Kayla notably scored 30 in a game against Friends Central earlier this year. Abbie has become the leader and primary ball handler on offense for Carroll, stepping up in the absence of her older sister Maddie McFillin, a Division I commit to the Air Force Academy who has missed the entirety of her senior season with a knee injury.
Additionally, the likes of sopohmore sharp shooter Caitlin Schumacher and junior forward Bridget Grant will provide depth for the Pats come Sunday. However, don’t expect Sheilds to dip into her bench all to much. The Lady Pats boss dosen’t frequent the end of her bench, especially in big time games, until more recently, that is.
Something we saw during the Pats first matchup with the Saints this year was the lack of depth. The Patriots fell in that Jan. 18 game 52-43, one of two PCL losses suffered this season. The second cane to Archbishop Wood on Jan. 24 when the Vikings seemingly took what they pleased in a 52-41 victory in Radnor.
In the Pats’matchup with Wood earlier this week, a whole new team came to play as Shields shuffled around with her bench and kept a fresh lineup going. That fresh lineup was able to put up some of the best rebounding numbers of the year for Carroll while also holding a steady advantage over Wood for most of the game and slowly lulling the Vikings to submission.
The key to the game this Sunday will without a doubt be seeing if the Pats can replicate what they did against Wood in the semifinals. The change in game plan from the clubs’ first meeting in the regular season paid dividends, it remains to be seen if the Lady Pats will stick with that game plan, which could very well put them over Neumann their second time around.
Sunday’s matchup at the Palestra will get underway at 12:30 pm, though tickets are sold old on first-hand markets currently the official live stream can be purchased with pay-per-view from Bob Long Sports.
