The past two seasons when Neumann-Goretti and Wyomissing matched up in the second round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs, dominant double-doubles by Amaya Stewart proved to be the difference for the Spartans.
Stewart again had a double-double (25 points, 12 rebounds) Wednesday night—while snapping Wyomissing's 31-year-old scoring record in the process—but N-G junior wing Kamora Berry's four 3-pointers in the third quarter ended up being the deciding X-factor.
Those treys kept coming in crucial moments as the Spartans fought back from a nine-point halftime hole before the Saints pulled away for a 58-45 victory at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford.
The Saints advance to face Scranton Prep, which defeated Allentown Central Catholic 74-36, in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals Saturday.
The Spartans third consecutive trip to the state playoffs ends in the second round after they went to the Final Four last season and the Elite Eight two seasons ago.
"These memories and friendships are going to last a lifetime," Stewart said. "We're gonna be thinking about this years and years after, how we played well together, how we just had that chemistry that no other team had."
The three-time District 3 champion Spartans took their first lead when Stewart drained a 3 off an assist from Alexis Hardy to make it 6-4 with 2:57 left in the first quarter.
Audrey Hurleman had two buckets in the final minutes and Hardy scored the final points of the quarter to give the Spartans a 12-10 advantage after one.
Carryn Easley hit a 3 to being the second quarter and regain the lead for the District 12 runners-up and Philly Catholic League champs.
The Saints (23-4) went on a 19-4 run to begin the quarter and take a 29-16 lead before Stewart's two made free throws with 1:29 left and putback deuce with 29 seconds left ended the carnage before halftime.
Those free throws lifted Stewart past Rachel Hoffman as the all-time leading scorer in Wyomissing history. By the end of the game, Stewart was the No. 7 scorer all-time in Berks girls history with 1,904 career points.
Easley had eight of her 14 points and Amya Scott had 10 points of her team-high 15 points in the second quarter.
Berry, who missed all four of her 3-point attempts in the first half, drilled the first of her 3s early in the second half and pushed N-G's lead back to double digits.
Hardy and Stewart each scored to get the lead down to eight, but Berry drilled her second 3 with 5:34 left to again push the lead back to double figures.
Stewart, Hurleman, then Stewart again scored inside to bring the deficit within five for the Spartans with 2:45 left.
Then—you guessed it—Berry drilled her third 3-pointer 20 seconds later to give the Saints a 38-30 cushion.
"We had to give something up," Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders said. "We felt as a staff that it was more detrimental for them to get into the lane and penetrate. We wanted to get it into our bigs and get them into foul trouble. So when you play a team as skilled, as good as that program is, you have to give something up. It worked for a quarter, but they really started shooting the lights out especially Berry."
Reginna Baker made two free throws and Berry drilled her final 3 in the closing moments of the quarter to put the Saints up 13.
Easley's 2 at the start of the fourth quarter pushed the lead to its largest for N-G at 15 and the Spartans just didn't have enough offensive firepower to complete the comeback.
"We knew we had to contain Amaya," Neumann-Goretti head coach Andrea Peterson said. "Amaya is going to go for 15-20-30, like she's just going to. But you've got to contain her, limit her touches. And that's what we were able to do today. Kind of made the other kids beat us, but we were still able to defend them as well, apply pressure to the ball."
Stewart (eight points) and Hardy (five points) combined for 13 in the fourth quarter. Easley, Baker, and Scott evenly split the scoring in the final quarter with five points each to hold on and avenge losses the past two seasons in this round to the Spartans.
When Anders decided to take out the seniors (Lily Marshall, Audrey Hurleman, Alexis Hardy, Amaya Stewart) in the final minutes, each received a round of applause as they hugged their head coach.
In a bittersweet moment for Stewart, she also hugged Peterson as the two know each other from AAU and training in the offseason.
"I get to spend every single day with these people, looking forward every day to be perseverant and overcome adversity," Stewart said. "When teams fell apart, we rose together. That was the most important thing."
In a few months, Stewart's next journey and chapter begins at Albany. Needless to say she won't be forgotten in Wyomissing any time soon.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Neumann-Goretti | 10 | 19 | 14 | 15 | 58 |
Wyomissing | 12 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 45 |
Spartans (24-5) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Stewart | 10-13 | 4-6 | 1-1 | 1 | 12 | 25 |
Hardy | 2-6 | 6-10 | 0-0 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
Marshall | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Maggs | 0-5 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Hyde | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Hurleman | 4-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
Loeb | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Anders | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Paolini | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Campbell | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 17-35 | 10-16 | 1-6 | 8 | 24/28 | 45 |
Saints (23-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Easley | 6-15 | 1-3 | 1-5 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
Baker | 4-7 | 6-9 | 0-1 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
Scott | 5-9 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 4 | 2 | 15 |
Berry | 4-10 | 0-0 | 4-9 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
King | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Coston | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Solis-Morgan | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Totals | 20-47 | 9-15 | 8-21 | 11 | 20/20 | 58 |
Turnovers: Neumann-Goretti 11, Wyomissing 22. Team rebounds: Neumann-Goretti 0, Wyomissing 4.
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