Archbishop Carroll’s ‘revenge game’ win over Wood brings it back to the Palestra for a second straight year

Archbishop Carroll’s Alexis Eberz rewatched last year’s Philadelphia Catholic League final against Archbishop Wood multiple times.

The now-junior guard had the opportunity to knock down a three-pointer with seconds remaining on the clock. She took the shot, but missed and the rebound landed in the hands of a Wood player, as they beat the Patriots by two in a double-overtime thriller at the Palestra.

She focused on that play for a while.

Although she knew her team had other chances to win, she could have made a difference in that moment. It was devastating, she said. But her mom, Michele, who played at Archbishop Prendergast and, later, Villanova, reminded her daughter that this is adversity. What matters is “how are you going to react to it?”

Alexis held onto those words — until the moment she took the court Monday night at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion in a rematch with the Vikings in the PCL semifinals.

“It was terrible last year. It was awful, but this game was our revenge game,” Alexis said. “We weren’t losing this game. I was not letting it happen.”

She stayed true to her word and scored a team-high 30 points, 26 of which came in the second half, in Carroll’s 57-45 win over Wood. The Patriots will face Neumann Goretti in the final at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Palestra. The last time Carroll won a PCL title was in 2019.

The victory wasn’t easy, though. Carroll knew that entering the game. The Vikings held Alexis, who’s been a team leader for this year’s group, to four points as the defending PCL champions carried a 23-22 lead into halftime.

» READ MORE: Neumann Goretti, Archbishop Carroll girls win semifinal matchups, will face off in PCL title game

But once Alexis got into rhythm, there was no looking back.

“I’ve been telling her a lot, ‘Let the game come to you,’” Michele said. “There was a moment when her and [her younger sister] Kayla connected and had a little thing they said to each other. I felt that from the stands. And I was like, ‘Oh man, here we go.’ and just let her rip.”

Kayla Eberz, who finished with 16 points, also has been a main contributor this season. Her twin sister, Kelsey, has been sidelined with an injury since the beginning of January. Although, it feels like a piece is missing, Michele said, when she watches them play, seeing her daughters together on the court has been special.

Especially Monday night at Villanova, the campus where Michele met her husband, Eric.

“It was very much the feeling of home,” Michele said. “Being back in the gym that I spent so many hours in and Eric spent so many hours in — it’s a different layout from when I played and Eric played, but it’s still the same. The court is still where it was when we played, and it was so cool that our two daughters performed so well on it.”

The two starred on Villanova’s basketball teams. Michele is ninth in Wildcats women’s basketball history in career assists (409), while Eric is one of just 48 men’s players to amass at least 1,300 career points (1,397). They were inducted into the school’s hall of fame.

Another full-circle moment: Alexis wears the jersey No. 12, the same number Michele wore in college. While donning it, Michele hopes to see her daughter do something that she didn’t get the chance to do: win a PCL crown.

» READ MORE: The Eberz sisters make up 60% of Archbishop Carroll’s starting five. For them, basketball is a family tradition.

“To even get there is a big deal,” she said. “With Kayla and Kelsey in the stands last year watching their sister on that stage, I think they couldn’t wait to get to Carroll, to get to the Palestra, and that was their end goal to actually achieve that. Now it’s there. I’m hopeful this year they’ll get it, because they’re hungry for it.

Kayla added: “Nothing comes easy in the PCL. It’s one of the best like leagues around, but I’m super excited to be on the court [at the Palestra], especially watching last year and thinking, ‘That’s going to be me.’”