Cause for celebration for Frontier leader Pope John Paul II, healing Upper Merion

ROYERSFORD >> The Pope John Paul II girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night Thursday.

Their opponent, Upper Merion, has had reason to celebrate recently, for reasons that extend well beyond wins and losses.

After recognizing seniors Elise Sylvester, Lauren Ciuba, and Julie Cherneskie before tipoff, Pope John Paul II showed off its Pioneer Athletic Conference-leading defense (allowing just under 33 points per game). Kallan Bustynowicz handled the offensive scoring load, pouring in a game-high 17 points as PJP caused 19 turnovers in topping Upper Merion, 44-26, keeping pace with Pottsgrove in the race for the PAC’s Frontier Division crown.

“We take immense pride in our defense,” said Bustynowicz. “And it pays off, especially on nights like tonight where our offense struggles a little.”

With the victory, PJP (13-8 overall, 10-5 PAC, 9-1 PAC Frontier) will be rooting for Phoenixville to upend Pottsgrove Friday night. A Phantoms victory would give the Golden Panthers the outright Frontier Division title, but a Pottsgrove triumph would give the crown to the Falcons on the inter-divisional, or crossover tiebreaker. The two squads split their head-to-head matchups earlier this season.

The division champion will enjoy a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in next week’s PAC Final Six, scheduled to begin Thursday at Spring-Ford. The second-place finisher in the Frontier will also qualify, but will face an extra game and a tougher road to the league title with PAC unbeaten Spring-Ford lurking as the No. 1 seed.

“We want that high seed, we want to be the top dogs,” said Sylvester, one of the three seniors honored before Thursday’s game. “So that division title means a lot to us.”

Once the game started, the Panthers’ defense took center stage, allowing the squad to survive a slow shooting start to take a 20-8 lead into halftime. Ciuba and Bustynowicz led the offensive charge, each netting a pair of threes for the Golden Panthers in the first half.

Upper Merion closed within five in the third quarter behind strong inside play from Isabella Legendre (14 points), but an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter iced the contest for the Golden Panthers.

It won’t be a playoff campaign for Upper Merion (5-15 overall, 5-9 PAC, 3-6 PAC Frontier), but for the past week or so the Lady Vikings have been celebrating a different sort of victory each time they take the court.

Back in July, four members of the squad were involved in a serious automobile accident. Juniors Tymeriah (Ty) Stanton and Jenna Foster sustained extensive injuries in the crash.

After emerging from a nearly two-month medically induced coma, Stanton faced a long, challenging recovery. At her side for the entire journey were her Lady Viking teammates and head coach Leah Shumoski.

“For me, faith was a determining factor,” said Coach Shumoski. “If wins and losses are the only reason you get into coaching, it becomes a depressing job. Going to the hospital every day, visiting these girls — it certainly brings perspective.

“I don’t think I’ve ever prayed so hard in my life for anything but to be able to continue to have (Ty and Jenna) here with us.”

As the Lady Vikings prepared for the 2018-19 season, Coach Shumoski admits that she was advised not to expect too much.

“Just to have Ty at practice, have her happy and involved, meant so much,” she remembered. “But when I’d say I wanted Ty to play again someday, people thought that was crazy.”

Except for the one who counted most. When practices began on November 16, Stanton was just beginning physical therapy. “I asked what I’d have to do to get back to playing ball,” she recalled, “but there was no singular turning point, no one event. I just stayed motivated throughout the process.”

Stanton quickly showed noticeable progress — enough so that her coach deemed her worthy of a new challenge.

“Can you believe,” asked Stanton with a laugh, “that she gave me a research project?”

“She wasn’t back in school, so she needed something to do,” joked Coach Shumoski. “In all seriousness, she was working her way back, but after the accident she fell behind a bit. She couldn’t take her SATs. So I told her to look into colleges. She made it through the accident, and she had her whole future to consider.”

“I researched schools — the grades I would need, the SAT scores,” said Stanton.

“She did a great job,” Shumoski said.

Slowly at first, but later in impressive steps and milestones, Stanton’s improvement gave way to doctors clearing her for more and more activity. Fast forward to last Tuesday’s home game against Pottsgrove — Upper Merion’s Senior Night. After the introduction of the three seniors on the team, one last starter remained to be introduced — Ty Stanton.
Stanton was greeted in the pregame warmups by Jenna Foster, who continues to recover from the accident, before embracing Coach Shumoski at center court.

Ty back in action! pic.twitter.com/QXFJGLUGK9

— UM Athletics (@UMAHS_ATHLETICS) January 23, 2019

“Knowing Ty — knowing what she went through, knowing the kind of person she is — that’s a moment I’ll never forget,” said Shumoski. “Senior nights are always emotional, but this one was special for sure.”

But it was nothing compared to a few minutes later, when Stanton’s first shot of the game found net — the Lady Vikings’ first points of the game, and for Stanton, the culmination of her comeback trail.

“There are still challenges, and there are things I missed,” she admitted. “This fall, my brother (a freshman at Upper Merion) wanted to play ball together, we couldn’t do that. But that basket was the moment I realized that part of me was coming back. See, I didn’t really care what people were saying after [the accident]. But until I got back out on the court, that accident would have taken basketball away from me.

“When I scored that basket, I knew it hadn’t been taken away. I could still play.”

Stanton’s coach-assigned research project paid dividends. She’s decided she wants to pursue forensic science as her college major, possibly at George Mason University in Virginia. Basketball is part of the plan but “if it happens, it happens” said the junior.

Next year, Shumoski, Stanton, and the Lady Vikings hope to welcome back Jenna Foster to complete their team once more. But no matter what happens, Stanton says she knows her basketball family at Upper Merion will always be by hers’ and Foster’s sides.

“When you go through something like this, you need people around you for support,” Stanton said. “And I wouldn’t have asked for anyone else but my coach and teammates.”