By Sam Cavalieri, Berks Girls Basketball correspondent
WYOMISSING -- Two-time defending District 3 Class 4A champion Wyomissing opened its title defense against Susquehanna Township on Friday night over a week removed from a devastating loss in the Berks County semifinals to eventual champion Reading.
Sixth-seeded Susquehanna tried to replicate what Reading did and pressure the third-seeded Spartans into a helter-skelter game. But, the Spartans had too much moxie, too much defense and too much Amaya Stewart. Wyomissing cruised to a 49-31 victory led by Stewart’s game-high 17 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks.
The gaudy stat line doesn’t tell the whole story for Stewart who struggled from the field and missed a lot of looks that she normally doesn’t. The Albany commit showed why she is the three-time Berks Player of the Year and focused her attention on the defensive side.
“It’s just those little things that you got to stay above on,” Stewart said. “I was worried about winning the game at that point. I knew my shots might not fall, but I knew my team was going to rise above me and hit the shots I couldn’t. It was about how I was going to stay within myself and stay within the game.”
The Spartans (21-4) jumped out to a 9-0 lead early in the first quarter and held Hanna (15-8) without a point until under the three-minute mark. Aaliyah Barnes (team-high 12 points with four 3s) took the lid off for Susquehanna with a 3-pointer and her teammates responded with two more buckets to close the gap to 9-7 at the end of the quarter.
Stewart asserted herself on the defensive end in the second quarter with an emphatic volleyball-spike block and followed it up with another block just a few seconds later. The sequence drew a roar from a raucous Wyomissing crowd.
Her senior teammate Alexis Hardy (nine points, five rebounds, four assists) facilitated the strongest stretch of the game offensively for the Spartans in the second quarter.
“(Hardy’s) taking her game to the next level now,” Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders said. “She’s finishing and she’s getting to the basket. It’s all coming together for her at the right time.”
Wyomissing scored 19 points with three 3-pointers in the second quarter and generated clean looks from behind the arc to lead 28-17 at halftime.
“(Coach) Anders says it all the time, basketball is a game of runs and if you let someone else’s run get in your head then you’re losing it yourself,” Hardy said. “We knew that we were able to keep scoring and we were able to get it back. The first quarter happened, there is nothing we can do about it, so if we come out 10 times harder in the second quarter that’s all that matters.”
Susquehanna struggled as Wyomissing was content to let them bomb away from deep or funnel them towards Stewart, who altered shots if she didn’t block them. Jaycee Martin came into the game averaging 20.5 points to lead the Mid-Penn Conference, but the freshman struggled going 3-for-19 from the field for seven points. Her freshman teammate Devyn Archer went 3-for-15.
Hanna managed to draw within 28-22 in the third quarter as Wyomissing sputtered on offense with no points until the 3:11 mark. Audrey Hurleman was sent to the foul line for the third time in the game and made her first attempt and missed the second. Stewart continued her dominance on the glass with the offensive rebound and putback basket to stymie any comeback bids.
“(Stewart’s) our safety valve,” Anders said. “Whether it’s a shot and her willingness to be in the trenches and get the offensive rebounds. I’m really proud of her.”
Hurleman continued on her comeback from a torn ACL in her left knee with five rebounds and two assists off the bench. Karly Hyde scored nine points including two 3s.
Wyomissing will meet Northern Lebanon in the semifinals on Tuesday. The Vikings defeated Berks Catholic 36-33 on Friday night.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Wyomissing | 9 | 19 | 8 | 13 | 49 |
Susquehanna | 7 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 31 |
Spartans (21-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Marshall | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
Stewart | 5-16 | 7-10 | 0-0 | 0 | 20 | 17 |
Hardy | 3-6 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
Maggs | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Hyde | 2-7 | 3-4 | 2-6 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Hurleman | 0-1 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
Loeb | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Anders | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Paolini | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Totals | 15-40 | 15-25 | 4-12 | 7 | 39/42 | 49 |
Hanna (15-8) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Martin | 3-19 | 0-0 | 1-6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
Barnes | 4-9 | 0-0 | 4-8 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
Murray | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Lester | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Archer | 3-15 | 0-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
Jackson | 3-7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 7 | 6 |
Le'Mon | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 13-56 | 0-6 | 5-17 | 5 | 26/31 | 31 |
Turnovers: Susquehanna Township 17, Wyomissing 17. Team rebounds: Susquehanna Township 5, Wyomissing 3.
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