Mayock leads the way as Conestoga girls win district opener

TREDYFFRIN >> Coming into its District 1 6A girls’ basketball opener against Coatesville Friday evening, No. 13 seed Conestoga was concerned about the Red Raiders’ fast pace.
“We don’t want to get caught up in their [fast pace],” said Conestoga head coach Chris Jeffries prior to the contest. “We’ll be looking to play more of a deliberate game.”
Of course, it helps to have a player like 6-foot-5 senior center Katie Mayock helping to dictate the flow of the game. The Pioneers won, 55-45, thanks in large part to Mayock’s 26 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
“Katie anchors our defense,” said Jeffries. “She settles the middle for us, and she did a great job of keeping Sarah Huston out of the lane late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.”
Late in the third quarter, the Pioneers began a 13-0 run to open up a 53-31 lead. Mayock blocked three shots and scored seven points during that drive.
With the victory, Conestoga (16-7) advances to the second round to play No. 4 seed Garnet Valley Wednesday. For No. 20 seed Coatesville (11-11), the season is over.
“Chris does a great job with Conestoga,” said Coatesville head coach Tem Mack, like Jeffries a Bishop Shanahan grad. “They don’t hurt themselves with mistakes, and they used their size well tonight. We have a young squad – only one senior, and four freshmen – and I told our girls after the game that we’ll learn from this [defeat] for next season.”
Conestoga maintained a small lead during most of the first half, and never trailed at any point of the contest, despite missing senior point guard Julia Weiss, who was in Florida Friday for a college interview.
“[Junior guards] Hailey Klinger and Nia Scott did a good job for us tonight,” said Jeffries. “We were able to take advantage of some transition points tonight – when you’re playing Coatesville, you’ve got to deal with their [fast pace and aggressive defense].
“Sarah Huston [eight steals, 13 points] can be such a pest on defense – I’ve never seen anyone disrupt an offense like she can. But we took our chances [in transition] in a smart way. We got it done tonight.”
Mayock said, “Coatesville likes to run in transition, but at times we were able to beat them in transition. Everyone stepped up for us tonight.”
Huston scored six of Coatesville’s first eight points in the third quarter, and had the Red Raiders within striking distance at 39-30 late in the third quarter.
“Sarah Huston is the heart and soul of our team,” said Mack. “Whoever gets her [for college basketball] is getting a gem.”
After Coatesville’s Sierra Bermudez (who scored 14 points, including a trio of treys) converted a free throw to make the score 40-31, host Conestoga made its 13-0 run. The run began when Scott (who finished with 12 points, including three treys) scored on a drive to end the third quarter, then Mayock blocked a shot to start the fourth period, and about 10 seconds later scored on a putback to make it 44-31.
Mayock blocked two more shots, scored on another putback while being fouled and converted the free throw to make it 47-31. Conestoga sophomore Katharine Gay scored underneath on a nice feed, then Mayock duplicated Gay’s score with an field goal underneath to increase the Pioneers’ lead to 51-31. When Conestoga sophomore guard Emily Lortz scored, it gave the Pioneers a 53-31 lead with 3:41 to play.
For Conestoga, Garnet Valley is next on the district playoff schedule. For the young Coatesville squad, there is next season to look forward to.
“Conestoga is a team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, but I feel like our defense and rebounding has improved a lot this year,” said Huston. “I’m looking forward to next season.”

Conestoga 55, Coatesville 45
Coatesville: Boggs 1 2-4 4, Huston 3 7-7 13, Bermudez 3 5-6 14, Ellzy 2 3-3 8, Young 0 0-0 0, Peoples 1 0-0 2, Powell 0 2-2 2, Edwards-Rowley 0 2-2 2, Totals 10 21-24 45.
Conestoga: Klinger 1 0-0 2, Conaway 0 0-2 0, Esbenshade 3 0-3 6, Lortz 1 1-2 3, Scott 4 1-2 12, Eaton 0 0-0 0, Dudrear 0 0-0 0, Gay 1 2-2 4, Rycyzyn 1 0-0 2, Mayock 7 12-16 26, Totals 18 16-27 55.
Coatesville 5 17 9 14 – 45
Conestoga 13 15 14 13 – 55
3-point goals: Bermudez 3, Ellzy, Scott 3.