Wilson Punches Ticket to BCIAA Championship with Convincing Win Over Reading High

Opponents need to pick their poison when deciding how to defend the Wilson Bulldogs.

If you focus on stopping leading scorer Laila Jones, there are a handful of other capable scoring options, and nobody cares who takes the offensive reigns on a given night.

The top-seeded Bulldogs continued their team-first play Wednesday with a convincing 51-39 victory over fourth-seeded Reading High in the BCIAA semifinals at Santander Arena in Reading.

Wilson's Kailani Hardy. (PhilMarPhoto)

The Bulldogs (22-2) will play third-seeded Exeter, which defeated Gov. Mifflin 46-40 Wednesday, in BCIAA championship Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Santander Arena.

The defending champion Red Knights' (13-11) season is over. They are No. 18 in the District 3 Class 6A power rankings and the top 16 qualify.

Wilson never trailed and beat the Red Knights for the third time this season. The Bulldogs haven't lost a game against a Berks opponent this year.

Jones, who recently committed to Penn State Harrisburg to continue her career, only had four points — all in the first quarter — but she picked up seven assists and allowed her teammates to shoulder the scoring load.

She has some pretty good options to defer to.

Wilson's Laila Jones. (PhilMarPhoto)

Senior Laura Crocona, a Kutztown commit, scored 15 points.  Junior Ryan Leaman, a North Carolina lacrosse commit, scored 12 points. Junior Kailani Hardy, who recently picked up an offer from LaSalle, had 11 points.

"It's really fun actually, knowing that any game, anyone can step up," Crocona said. "It's a really cool thing. And we all want to see each other succeed. We don't care who's the leading scorer on any night. So it's a really special group."

And that goes without mentioning talented post players in senior Violet Houck, a Jacksonville track & field commit, and sophomore Jade Lee.

Just like how Jones deferred to her teammates and started picking up assists, Hardy found other ways to positively impact the game when her shot wasn't falling. She locked in on the defensive end with 12 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks.

"I know the team very well, and we build really good bonds with each other," Hardy said. “We just have a great friendship. I know I can share the ball with everybody, and everybody can make a play."

Wilson's Laura Crocona. (PhilMarPhoto)

The Bulldogs built a nine-point lead after the first quarter as Crocona drilled two 3s.

Five Wilson players scored in the second quarter as the Bulldogs allowed only five points by the Red Knights. Wilson led 29-15 at halftime.

The Bulldogs deployed a zone defense with the goal of stopping the Red Knights' penetration to the rim, even when Reading successfully let it fly from 3 in its quarterfinal win over Schuylkill Valley.

"They did shoot the ball really well that game, but they're so good at getting to the rim," Wilson head coach Matt Raquet said. "So the zone was as much about trying to keep them out of the paint, which we did a pretty good job in the second quarter."

Crocona added seven more points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 42-25.

Reading cut the lead to 48-37 with 1:06 left in the game but the damage had been done.

It might not be 49 years since Wilson's last Berks title like their championship game opponent Exeter, but 12 years feels long for the Bulldogs, especially with all of the success they've had in recent years.

Wilson's Ryan Leaman. (PhilMarPhoto)

"The team that wins this county tournament is the best team,” Raquet said. "It's not about the best individual performance on any given night. It would definitely mean a lot for this group, who's been here a lot and had a lot of heartbreak in this arena."

Jones, Crocona, and Houck were all freshmen when they fell by eight to eventual champion Wyomissing in the BCIAA semifinals. They were sophomores when they fell by nine to those same Spartans in the championship. As juniors last season, they fell by four to Gov. Mifflin in the semifinals.

They're motivated to change 2014 as the last year on a banner in their West Lawn gymnasium.

"Yeah, we look at the banner," Crocona said. "We know what we're gonna have to do and know we're gonna have to step up."

	1	2	3	4	Final
Wilson	19	10	13	9	51
Reading High	10	5	10	14	39

Bulldogs (22-2)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Jones	1-9	2-2	0-4	7	3	4
Hardy	4-9	3-4	0-4	1	12	11
Crocona	6-13	0-0	3-5	1	4	15
V. Houck	3-5	0-2	0-0	0	7	6
Lee	1-7	1-2	0-0	2	7	3
Leaman	4-4	3-6	1-1	2	1	12
Totals	19-47	9-16	4-14	13	34/37	51

Red Knights (13-11)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Beatty	7-14	1-3	2-2	4	7	17
Laws	3-8	0-1	0-2	1	4	6
Ortega	3-7	0-0	2-4	0	6	8
Gaskins	0-7	0-0	0-0	2	4	0
Blijden	1-5	0-2	0-0	0	3	2
McFarlane	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Sosa	0-2	0-0	0-1	1	2	0
Velez	0-4	0-0	0-0	0	3	0
Nunez	3-7	0-0	0-0	0	2	6
Hood-Marshall	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Perez	0-3	0-0	0-1	1	2	0
Luciano	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	17-60	1-6	4-11	9	35/39	39

Turnovers:Wilson 15, Reading High 18. Team rebounds: Wilson 3, Reading High 4.