When Keturah Vactor walked onto the court at the Palumbo Center last Friday, she had plenty of motivation.

But it wasn't fulfilling the dream of a WPIAL championship or exacting revenge on arch-nemesis North Catholic that was necessarily pushing her most.

It was to make good on a promise she made to herself to honor the memory of her mother, Alice.

"What drove me is my mom passed away Sept. 9 of this year, so I dedicated my season to her, and my teammates know that," said Vactor, a junior forward.

"When I came out on that court, I knew I was going to play my best and I knew I was going to win from the get-go.

"It was all for her."

Vactor had one of her best games of the season on the biggest of stages, scoring 20 points and grabbing seven rebounds as the Royals defeated Section 4-A rival North Catholic, 57-31, in the WPIAL final. It was Vincentain's first win in 12 tries against North Catholic since the Trojanettes moved to Class A in 2006.

A valuable contributor to the team since her freshman season, Vactor is the Royals' leading scorer and one of their emotional leaders. Her teammates came together to support her and give their season more purpose.

"I said to her in the locker room, 'You know your mom's really proud of you -- I know she is -- and you should be really happy because she's looking down on us and she's really proud of us and she's here with us right now,'" forward Gabby Baldasare said.

"When her mother died, she showed so much maturity," Vincentain coach Ron Moncrief said. "I look up to her because of that. She handled it very well; handled it a lot better than I would have, for that matter.

"Before the season she said she was dedicating it to her mother, and the team kind of rallied around that. It wasn't easy -- there were ups and downs throughout the season -- but when it came down to crunch time, we rallied around it, and I'm so happy for her."

At 5 feet 11 with the ability to make 3-point shots and grab rebounds, Vactor is averaging 15.1 points per game this season, one in which the Royals (16-7) won their first WPIAL championship since claiming the Class AA crown in 2002. It was the Royals fifth WPIAL championship in the past 15 seasons -- three in Class A and two in Class AA.

"I think she's our best all-round player," Moncrief said. "She can go inside and post up, she can go outside, she can hit jump shots, she can handle the ball.

"She's one of those players you can just put her on the court and put people around her. She does so many things for us. It's a luxury. When you have a player like that, I can do a lot of different things. It makes my job a whole lot easier."

Baldasare, a 6-1 junior who is Vincentian's leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, has been playing with Vactor since the two were 12.

"She's been a great teammate," Baldasare said. "She's always been there. We're friends off the court, we're friends on the court, and yeah, we've had our tough times and gone through a lot of stuff together, but without her, this team wouldn't be the same.

"I think she's been doing a great job with all the stuff she's been dealing with. I think she's a really strong girl and a really good teammate."

A teammate who should continue to be counted on for years to come -- at the college level upon graduating from Vincentian.

"She has a lot of D-I schools looking at her," Moncrief said. "She deserves it. She's a D-I talent."

The Royals play Otto-Eldred (18-8), the fourth-place team from District 9, at 2 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny in the first round of the PIAA tournament.

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