Recapping the York Catholic-Villa Maria rivalry

For the third time in five years, the York Catholic girls' basketball team's will play District 10 champion Villa Maria in the PIAA Class AA championship game. Tip-off is scheduled for noon Friday at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

We'll have plenty of coverage of this matchup leading up to Friday's tip. For starters, here's a recap of these teams' last two state finals meetings.

March 23, 2007York Catholic 58, Villa Maria 44

The Fighting Irish completed a 35-0 season and won their second straight state title by jumping out to a big lead and holding off the Victors. York Catholic sprinted to a 22-7 lead after the first quarter and led by 16 at halftime. Megan Stewart and Amanda Weaver scored 24 and 18 points, respectively, in their final games for York Catholic. After the game, Villa Maria coach Scott Dibble raised a few eyebrows by saying the Irish were "not that good."

March 20, 2009Villa Maria 56, York Catholic 51

An inspired comeback by the Fighting Irish fell short. York Catholic trailed by as much as 18 in the second half before storming back into the game. The Irish even cut the Victors lead to two on a Rachel Forjan 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, before Villa star Kayla McBride iced the game by hitting 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch. McBride, a Notre Dame commit, scored 20 points, as did York Catholic's Kady Schrann.