Wilson sophomore Kailani Hardy and the Bulldogs proved they could play with one of the premier programs in Pennsylvania Tuesday night in the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball second round.
Hardy scored a team-high 20 points and the Bulldogs gave Philly powerhouse Archbishop Carroll a scare early before ultimately falling 60-41 at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford.
"Now we know we can compete with any team in the state," Hardy said. "It's just about us continuing to push ourselves and work hard."
Carroll junior and Division I recruit Alexis Eberz scored 23 points and her freshman sister Kayla Eberz added 18 for the District 12 champion Patriots, who move on to the state Elite Eight where they'll face District 3 fourth-seed Central Dauphin, a 39-23 winner over Parkland Tuesday.
The Bulldogs will simmer throughout the offseason as they await to bring back their entire core from a team that won its first state playoff game in 11 years plus the hopeful return of All-Berks guard Laila Jones, who missed her entire junior season while recovering from a torn ACL.
None of the seven players Wilson head coach Matt Raquet played in Tuesday's game is a senior. Centers Violet Houck and Emma Williams and guards Laura Crocona and Janai Tisdale are juniors. Guards Ryan Leaman and Hardy are sophomores. Forward Jade Lee is a freshman.
"They're really good," Archbishop Carroll head coach Renie Shields said Tuesday. "We knew they were good after watching film. They have shooters and a big kid in [Houck] who's very good. They have a creative scorer in [Hardy]. We knew we had our work cut out for us.
"In the first half, they played really well and I think we were like, 'Oh my gosh.' As much as you try to prepare your team, sometimes they don't believe you. We forced a couple turnovers that got us going in the second half."
Then the shots started to fall for the Eberz sisters, whose parents Michele and Eric each played for Villanova in the 90s, as sophomore distributor Abbie McFillin racked up nine assists while committing zero turnovers.
Raquet was familiar with the Eberzes due to coaching Alexis with the Comets AAU program when she was a youth, a similar situation to how he coached Upper Dublin's Megan Ngo with the Comets and then faced off against Ngo and the Cardinals in the first round of states.
Crocona had the task of guarding the older Eberz sister and Hardy guarded the younger sister.
The Eberz pair was held to a combined two points in the first quarter as Hardy scored eight, Leaman hit a 3, and Houck scored a bucket and the District 3 fifth-seed Bulldogs (20-10) led 13-10 after one.
The Patriots (19-9) took the lead into halftime as Alexis Eberz (eight points) and Kayla Eberz (five points) combined for 13 of the team's 16 points while each hitting a 3.
Carroll pushed its lead to 46-39 at the end of the third quarter as Alexis Eberz (eight points) and Kayla Eberz (six points) scored 14 of the team’s 19 points.
Hardy scored eight of her team-high 20 points in the third quarter and Crocona drilled a 3 to keep Wilson in it.
Alexis Eberz (five points) and Kayla Eberz (seven points) scored 12 of the Patriots’ 14 points in the final quarter as Carroll’s defense stifled the Bulldogs, who only managed to score two points on Hardy’s two free throws.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Archbishop Carroll | 10 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 60 |
Wilson | 13 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 41 |
Bulldogs (20-10) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Houck | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
Leaman | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Crocona | 3-6 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
Williams | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Hardy | 8-19 | 2-2 | 2-7 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
Tisdale | 1-3 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Lee | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
Totals | 16-37 | 4-5 | 5-15 | 5 | 17/19 | 41 |
Patriots (19-9) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
A. Eberz | 9-12 | 4-6 | 1-2 | 0 | 8 | 23 |
K. Eberz | 5-14 | 7-8 | 1-6 | 0 | 4 | 18 |
McFillin | 3-5 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 9 | 4 | 9 |
Nardi | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Schumacher | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Grant | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Olender | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Archbold | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Totals | 21-40 | 14-17 | 4-14 | 15 | 19/20 | 60 |
Turnovers: Archbishop Carroll 7, Wilson 17. Team rebounds: Archbishop Carroll 1, Wilson 2.
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