Three Berks Girls League teams are still playing basketball: Wilson in the PIAA Class 6A bracket, Conrad Weiser in 5A, and Wyomissing in 4A. Wilson plays at Upper Dublin Friday at 6 p.m. Conrad Weiser plays at Peters Township Saturday at 1 p.m. Wyomissing hosts Nazareth Friday at 1 p.m. Let's dive deeper into the 5A matchup between Wyomissing and Nazareth Academy.
12-5 Nazareth Academy (11-13)
The Pandas had a pretty successful first season in the Philadelphia Catholic League—one of the top high school basketball leagues in the state—last season when they beat Neumann-Goretti in the PCL quarterfinals, made it to the District 12 Class 4A title game before losing to Audenreid and Penn State commit Shayla Smith, and defeating Bishop McDevitt in the first round of states.
First-year head coach Jack Krouse, who took over this season after 14 seasons as an assistant at Nazareth's brother school Holy Ghost, is hoping the second year of playing top competition in the league results in another state playoff W.
"The top team in the league had multiple Division I players," Krouse said. "We've played against a variety of types of players, incredible scorers and athletes, tall and explosive people. We played some of those top teams really close. In our regular season game against Neumann Goretti, who was the Catholic League champion, we were winning in the third quarter. We were close with [Archbishop] Wood in the first half of our playoff game.
"It's just hard to keep these teams at bay for four quarters. Just the fact that we know we can play well in spurts against those teams will hopefully help us when we go up against a high-level team like Wyomissing. We feel like we can put a full game together at some point here."
The Pandas finished 5-6 in the PCL this season before falling 60-30 to Wood in the PCL quarterfinals. They then defeated West Philadelphia 62-27 in a PIAA qualifier to secure the fifth seed out of District 12.
Krouse's crew is led by senior 5-8 combo guard Reese Power, a Drexel soccer commit who reached 1,000 points earlier this season and was named second-team All-Catholic League.
"Reese is the primary ball handler and scorer," Krouse said. "She's strong and aggressive, fast and explosive."
College soccer commitments are a common theme across the roster.
"They have that soccer athleticism and endurance," Krouse said.
Senior 5-10 center Gracie Sullivan is also a Drexel soccer commit as a goalie; she was named the Philadelphia Catholic League MVP in soccer. Sullivan is the top defender and rebounder for the Pandas and was a third-team All-Catholic League selection.
Senior wing Rileigh Donahue (Chestnut Hill), senior 5-3 point guard Natalie D'Alfonso (Immaculata), and senior 5-7 sharpshooter Abby Rock (Bloomsburg) are also playing soccer at the next level and are key pieces in Crouse's rotation.
Junior 5-6 guard Alyssa Browning is a sparkplug off the bench and also a standout soccer player.
"Abby is a good shooter," Crouse said. "She can do a little bit of everything and is the secondary ball handler. Rileigh is a taller wing/forward who can push in transition, guard big, and step out on the perimeter. She provides hustle, rebounding, the little things and is a well-rounded player. Natalie is a hard-nosed, speedy point guard who distributes and is great at breaking the press.
"We're not very tall so we don't have a tremendous post presence. Gracie plays a little bit inside but she's probably only 5-10 or so. We move in a positionless sort of way. They can all do a little bit of everything."
Crouse recognized stopping Wyomissing, which has won three straight District 3 Class 4A championships, starts with containing senior 6-1 forward and Albany commit Amaya Stewart. Easier said than done.
"Stewart is a tremendous player," Crouse said. "I know she's close to 2,000 points at this point. They kind of look a little bit like us. They are athletic, have speedy guard play. They look very competitive on the defense end, very scrappy. They play well as a team, look to get Amaya the ball, and play unselfishly. They seem to be very organized and committed defensively. Kacey Maggs is a great defender. We have our work cut out for us."
3-1 Wyomissing (23-4)
Nazareth Academy and the Spartans are similar in the fact that each have a bunch of next-level athletes.
The Pandas have college soccer players galore. The Spartans have a Division I basketball commit in Stewart, two Division I lacrosse commits in Maggs (High Point) and Audrey Hurleman (North Carolina), and a Division I track commit in Alexis Hardy (Delaware).
The Spartans were upset by Reading High 40-38 in the Berks County semifinals, preventing a third consecutive county championship for Wyomissing. How did the Spartans respond?
They won their third straight District 3 Class 4A title with a 26-24 victory over Lancaster Catholic, which has won the most District 3 titles of any program.
Stewart leads the way with a 19.0 scoring average. She sits at 1,852 career points, only 34 away from Wyomissing's school record.
Hurleman, Hardy, and Lili Marshall join Stewart in the Spartans' historic senior class.
Hurleman, a 5-8 wing, returned from a torn ACL in late January and has been rounding back into form throughout the past month providing her tenacious defense and rebounding while seemingly always making clutch buckets.
Hardy has been the No. 2 scorer all season for the Spartans, averaging 7.3 ppg while also sharing ball-handling duties.
Marshall also handles the ball and has returned to play in every game this season after missing her junior year with a torn ACL.
Maggs, a 5-6 junior wing, is a stellar defender and averages 4.4 ppg. Sophomore 5-4 guard Karly Hyde is another ball handler, hit 24 3s, and averages 5.0 ppg. Sophomore Addie Loeb has hit a team-high 42 3s and averages 5.2 ppg.
Wyomissing went to the PIAA Class 4A Final Four last season before falling 47-31 to eventual champion Blackhawk.
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