Wyomissing didn't have to sweat much in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament the past two seasons.
The Spartans defeated Parkway Center City by 45 in 2023 and Carver Engineering & Sciences by 21 last year. Nazareth Academy, with its slew of athletic college soccer commits, posed a stiffer challenge this season.
The District 3 champion Spartans won 59-43 over the District 12 fifth-place Pandas Saturday afternoon in the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball first round in Wyomissing, but Nazareth was within striking distance late in the game before Wyo closed it out.
Wyomissing senior and Albany commit Amaya Stewart was relegated to the bench for the last 5:15 of the second quarter after picking up her third foul. The Spartans led 18-15 at that point and the rest of the team held strong to keep a 25-23 lead at halftime.
“Sitting on that bench, I knew I needed to respond," said Stewart. "I had lots and lots of time to think and reflect, and seeing my teammates pick up the slack after I had to come out—I just knew I had to respond better than I did in the first half.”
She responded with 23 second-half points to finish with a game-high 27 points plus 14 rebounds and three blocks as the Spartans advanced to face District 12 runner-up Neumann-Goretti, which defeated Northwestern Lehigh 76-27 on Friday, in the second round on Wednesday.
It's the third season in a row Wyomissing and Neumann-Goretti will be matching up in the PIAA second round. The Spartans won 62-52 last season and 40-33 two seasons ago.
Senior guard Natalie D'Alfonso, an Immaculata soccer commit, had an immaculate 3-point jumper in the first quarter going 3-for-3 and signaling to the Spartans that the Pandas were ready to compete.
Nazareth also had success attacking Wyomissing's zone defense by working the ball into the high post and then dumping it to an open player under the net for an easy layup.
The Pandas (11-14) jumped out to an 11-4 lead after D'Alfonso's third 3, forcing Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders to use a timeout.
The Spartans (24-4) dug in defensively and started forcing turnovers and making the Pandas work harder for their points. The plan coming into the game was to speed the Pandas up. It wasn't happening at first, but the Spartans stuck to it, and it eventually came to fruition.
"Our halfcourt defense in the second half really, really did what I was concerned of us being able to do, which was speed them up," Anders said. "They run a lot of Princeton stuff with backdoor cuts and screens. They are used to specific spots and cuts, and I think we did a real nice job suffocating that."
The early deficit could have rattled an inexperienced team that was favored. Luckily for the Spartans, they have a battle-tested senior class of Stewart, guards Alexis Hardy and Lily Marshall, and forward Audrey Hurleman.
“In these games, it can definitely come with a lot of pressure," said Marshall, who was part of a backcourt that had 11 turnovers to Nazareth's 22. "Being able to turn to older players helps calm everybody down and give words of encouragement.”
Hardy went coast-to-coast to give Wyomissing a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hardy had eight of her 18 points in the first.
After Stewart went to the bench, Kacey Maggs tipped a pass that Marshall secured before pushing it ahead to Hurleman for 2.
Nazareth senior and Drexel soccer commit Reese Power answered with a drive then Wyo sophomore Karly Hyde nailed a 3 off an assist from Hardy to push the Spartans' lead to 23-17.
Four made free throws from Nazareth, two from Wyo, and a bucket from Maddie Brazukas off an assist from Power ended the half with the Spartans holding a 25-23 lead.
In the third, Stewart drilled a 3 for the first points of the quarter and Rileigh Donahue answered with a trey.
Putbacks from Hardy and Stewart pushed Wyo's lead to 32-26, but D'Alfonso drilled another 3 to cut the lead.
Hardy swished a 3 on the next possession after Nazareth used a timeout. Power answered with a bucket to cut the lead to four, but that's the closest the Pandas would get.
Frankly, Stewart was unstoppable. She scored 14 straight points for Wyomissing from the 2:00 mark in the third until 4:00 left in the game.
"She’s a problem," Anders said. "I don’t mean to be cute about it, but it’s really, really difficult to stop her."
Donahue drilled a 3 to cut Wyo's lead to 47-42 with 2:55 remaining, but Hardy and Stewart went a combined 9-for-11 from the foul line down the stretch to close it out as Nazareth started to intentionally foul.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Wyomissing | 15 | 10 | 16 | 18 | 59 |
Nazareth Academy | 13 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 43 |
Spartans (24-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Marshall | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Stewart | 11-19 | 4-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 14 | 27 |
Hardy | 6-9 | 5-6 | 1-2 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
Maggs | 1-6 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
Hyde | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Hurleman | 1-4 | 4-10 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Loeb | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Paolini | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 21-50 | 13-21 | 4-17 | 8 | 29/34 | 59 |
Pandas (11-14) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Power | 4-8 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 5 | 9 | 11 |
Rock | 0-11 | 0-0 | 0-6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Sullivan | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
Donahue | 4-10 | 0-0 | 3-6 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
D'Alfonso | 5-10 | 2-2 | 5-8 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
Brazukas | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Stanton | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 15-43 | 5-6 | 8-22 | 11 | 22/25 | 43 |
Turnovers: Nazareth Academy 22, Wyomissing 11. Team rebounds: Nazareth Academy 3, Wyomissing 5.
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