It initially appeared Wyomissing was going to capture its third straight District 3 Class 4A championship without much stress.
The Spartans limited Lancaster Catholic to three points in the first half and held a 12-point lead with about 5:00 left in the third quarter.
Every hooper knows basketball is a game of runs and Lancaster Catholic, the program with the most District 3 titles, certainly made a good one. The Crusaders ended the third quarter on a 13-0 burst to take their first lead of the game.
If you've been following these Spartans during their historic stretch these past three seasons, you also know who and what they can rely on when the tense moments inevitably pop up.
Senior Amaya Stewart and defense.
Stewart scored six of her team-high eight points in the fourth quarter and blocked a shot at the rim in the final seconds as Wyomissing preserved a 26-24 victory over Lancaster Catholic Friday night at Hershey's Giant Center to win the District 3 Class 4A championship for the third straight season.
"We persevere, we stick together," Stewart said. "When adversity hits us, we don't crumble. We rise to it, face it head-on, and we keep pushing."
The Spartans (23-4) will host District 12 fifth-place finisher Nazareth in the first round of the PIAA state playoffs March 8. Wyomissing went to the state Final Four last season before falling 47-31 to eventual champion Blackhawk.
"This feels like an amazing accomplishment that we get to bring back to our school," Stewart said of the district threepeat. "That class of 2025 is something special and it means the world to us to leave that impact. But we're still pushing for a state championship."
The Spartans scored the first six points of the game with senior Lili Marshall's jumper, junior Kacey Maggs' steal-and-score, and Stewart's euro layup with 3:53 left in the first quarter.
Sophomore Navaeh Kennedy scored the first points of the game for the Crusaders (22-5) with a free throw at the 2:06 mark.
Junior Morgan Gaylord finished inside off an assist from Kennedy to cut Wyomissing's lead to 6-3 at the end of one.
The Spartans held the Crusaders scoreless and got two layups from senior Audrey Hurleman, both times assisted by Marshall, in the second quarter to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
The Spartans slightly modified their zone defense to focus on Lancaster Catholic senior Carleigh Anderson, who came in averaging 11.2 points with a team-high 31 3s.
The zone usually shifts from 1-2-2 to 3-2, but at times looked like a 2-3 as defenders stayed in Anderson's pocket to make sure she didn't get loose. Anderson got free a bit in the third quarter when she scored her only four points, but the plan was effective.
"We knew there were certain players capable of doing things and we wanted to flatten the zone out and cut off the penetration," Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders said.
The Spartans started the second half on a 7-2 run with senior Alexis Hardy drilling a 3 off an assist from sophomore Karly Hyde, Marshall's steal-and-score, and Hurleman's layup off an assist from Stewart to give Wyomissing its largest lead at 17-5.
Anderson's lone bucket and free throws came next to cut the lead to single digits.
Kennedy stepped up with all of the defensive attention on Anderson and scored nine of her game-high 14 points including an and-one putback at the end of the third to conclude a 13-0 run that gave the Crusaders their first lead at 18-17.
Kennedy then drew a foul on Stewart and converted both free throws to begin the fourth and push Catholic's lead to 20-17.
"Our movement in the first half was not good," Lancaster Catholic head coach Charlie Detz said. "We made some adjustments at halftime and got some screening on the outside of the zone to hit some drives and try to bring Stewart out of the paint. We tried doing that in the first half on the baseline, but it wasn't effective."
The Spartans also struggled to break the Crusaders' full-court pressure and constant double-teams of Stewart. They hadn't scored in roughly seven minutes of gametime until Stewart drilled a midrange jumper and made two free throws to give the lead back to Wyo with 5:00 remaining.
Kennedy regained the lead for Catholic when she finished through Stewart's contact on the next possession.
Hardy, a Delaware track commit, responded with a blistering coast-to-coast dash after the Spartans inbounded the ball and made a layup plus the harm, which gave the Spartans the lead back even though the free throw was missed.
Catholic started to hold the ball and run clock after a timeout with 4:20 left, but multiple possessions ended with turnovers instead of points.
Hardy nearly identically sprinted to the rim and was fouled with 4:03 left and made 1-of-2 free throws to push Wyo's lead to 24-22.
Sophomore Natalie Celluci hit a jumper off an assist from Kennedy to tie the game with 3:13 left.
Three straight turnovers put the ball back into the Crusaders' hands, but another turnover occurred when they went backcourt with 1:01 remaining while again attempting to run clock.
Stewart capitalized with a bucket off an assist from Hurleman to give Wyomissing a 26-24 lead with 47 seconds remaining.
"We continue to push each other every day in practice," Stewart said. "We are only worried about ourselves, not another team. When adversity starts to shake us, we don't stop. Just pick your head up. When the score starts to get a little close, it's like 'okay,' we know we need to turn it up."
Kennedy missed a 3 and Stewart secured the rebound, but the Spartans stepped out of bounds on the sideline and gave the ball back to the Crusaders with 24.5 left.
Wyomissing's staunch D forced Lancaster Catholic to use a timeout with six seconds left, before Stewart blocked Kennedy's drive to the rim in the final seconds and Maggs secured the rebound.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Wyomissing | 6 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 26 |
Lancaster Catholic | 3 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 24 |
Spartans (23-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Marshall | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Stewart | 3-15 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 9 | 8 |
Hardy | 2-3 | 1-3 | 1-1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Maggs | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Hyde | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Hurleman | 3-10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
Loeb | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Paolini | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 12-39 | 3-5 | 1-5 | 5 | 27/28 | 26 |
Crusaders (22-5) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Kennedy | 4-14 | 6-7 | 0-5 | 1 | 9 | 14 |
Anderson | 1-9 | 2-2 | 0-5 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Gaylord | 1-6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Albertini | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Pisano | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Celluci | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Swartz | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 8-37 | 8-11 | 0-11 | 4 | 20/25 | 24 |
Turnovers: Lancaster Catholic 18, Wyomissing 17. Team rebounds: Lancaster Catholic 5, Wyomissing 1.
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