Girls’ basketball: Springfield falls to Wyoming Valley West in second round of States

Easton – About 10 minutes after District 1 champion Springfield saw its season end with a 51-33 loss to Wyoming Valley West in the second round of the PIAA 5A state girls’ basketball tournament Thursday evening, Cougars head coach Ky McNichol reflected on her team’s special season.

“Springfield girls’ basketball had a season to remember – I’m extremely proud of them,” said an emotional McNichol. “They fought hard all season long, they played their hearts out all season long.

“One week ago, we walked away as district champions, and [after tonight’s game] I told the whole team how proud I am of them, how proud and privileged I am to be their coach. We had a tough game tonight, but it’s not going to define our season. It was a really special season, a fun season.”

Thursday night in the Easton Area Middle School gym, Springfield (24-5) got off to a good start against Wyoming Valley West (22-4), second-place finishers in District 2.. The Cougars jumped out to a 6-3 lead midway through the first quarter on treys from the left corner by sophomores Jordan D’Ambrosio and Belle Mastropietro.

Late in the first quarter, the Cougars fell behind 9-6 but rallied when Mastropietro scored inside (after a succession of about a dozen Springfield passes), then freshman Alyssa Long made a nice move inside for a layup that put the Cougars ahead 10-9. It was Springfield’s last lead of the night.

Early in the second quarter with Springfield trailing 15-10, senior Amanda Hopkins grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to cut the Spartans’ lead to 15-12. Wyoming Valley West then went on a 12-0 run for the final six minutes of the second quarter, as Springfield’s shooting turned cold. The Cougars scored only two points in the second quarter and trailed at halftime, 27-12.

McNichol said, “Offensively, we couldn’t get into any rhythm. Defensively, we didn’t make enough stops in the first half. I thought we did a nice job defensively in the second half.”

Springfield held Wyoming Valley West to just seven points in the third quarter, and they held the Spartans’ big scorer, senior guard Erin Gibbons (16.3 ppg), scoreless in the period. Gibbons tallied only two second-half points.

“I thought Jordan D’Ambrosio did a good job guarding Gibbons,” said McNichol. “All season long, Jordan’s been guarding the other team’s best scorer, she takes so much pride in her defense, and we wouldn’t be in the state tournament if it wasn’t for Jordan’s defense – and our team’s defense.

When D’Ambrosio hit a trey from the left corner to cut the Spartans’ lead to 29-17 early in the third quarter, the contingent of Springfield fans turned up the volume. Jamie Brower gave the Cougars some additional third-quarter scoring punch, tallying from underneath a couple of times, but Springfield couldn’t get a sustained run going and trailed at the end of the third quarter 34-21.

In the fourth quarter, trying the turn the tide, Springfield kept sending Wyoming Valley West to the free throw line. The Spartans connected on 13 of 15 free throws from the charity stripe in the final period, and were 17-for-21 on free throws for the night.

For Springfield, Mastropietro led all scorers with 13 points, and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line. D’Ambrosio finished with eight points.

It was hard for McNichol to say good-bye to her seniors after the game.

“We have 10 seniors graduating [this spring], and I told them [after the game] how much they brought to our program, and how much we’re going to miss them,” said McNichol.

“Our three senior captains, Amanda Hopkins, Erika Biehl and Maggie O’Connell, have been true leaders for us this season – they’ve put the team on their back and we were 24-5 this season with their leadership.”

 

Wyoming Valley West 51, Springfield 33

Springfield                        10      2       9      12     –       33

Wyoming Valley West      12    15     7      17      –       51

Springfield: Long 2 1-4 6, Hopkins 1 0-0 2, D’Ambrosio 3 0-2 8, Biehl 0 0-2 0, Brower 2 0-0 4, Mastropietro 4 4-4 13, O’Connell 0 0-0 0, Whitaker 0 0-0 0, Fasy 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 0-0 0, Culbertson 0 0-0 0, McCann 0 0-0 0, Totals 12 5-12 33.

Wyoming Valley West: Gibbons 4 2-2 12, Blaski 2 0-0 6, Gruver 1 3-6 5, Boutanos 0 1-2 1, Amato 2 0-0 6, Johnson 0 2-2 2, Smicherko 4 4-4 12, Cwalina 1 5-5 7, Scarcella 0 0-0 0, Totals 14 17-21 51

3-point field goals: SP – Long, D’Ambrosio 2, Mastropietro; WV – Gibbons 2, Blaski 2, Amato 2.

Personal fouls: Springfield 17, Wyoming Valley West 17.