Late surge not enough; Kennett’s season ends against C.B. East

KENNETT SQUARE >> The girls basketball season ended on Friday for Kennett in round one of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs. But the Blue Demons didn’t go down without a fight.

Trailing by as many as 14, Kennett staged a few furious fourth quarter comeback bids before falling 66-57 to visiting Central Bucks East.

“Just when you thought we didn’t have a chance, we started doing what we do, which is shooting the ball,” said Demons’ head coach Vince Cattano. “They started to fall.”

To the surprise of no one, Kennett’s lone senior — guard Andrea Prestianne — sparked the late surge by scoring 12 of her 19 points in the second half. But teammate Maddie Fowler was also a force with 11 of her 19 points in the final quarter, and that was not necessarily expected.

“The first 15-16 games, Maddie really didn’t score the ball,” Cattano pointed out. “Now she is scoring at a high clip. She’s a hard working kid and deserves that success.”

Seeded 16th, Kennett wound up dropping four of its final five to finish the season at 15-9 overall. But the Demons were just one win shy of a Ches-Mont American title. 

“Reflecting on what we did this season, to have 15 wins and play competitively in a district game, I have to be proud of that,” Cattano said. “We really weren’t supposed to be here.

“The bottom line is if our kids enjoyed this experience, they need to put the work in if they want to get back here. We lose one heck of a senior, but we have all the rest coming back. It’s been fun and a lot better result-wise than I expected.”

The 17th seed, Central Bucks East improves to 14-9 overall, and will take a five-game winning streak into round two next Wednesday against top-seeded Garnet Valley. The Patriots placed third in Suburban One Continental this season.

A junior forward, Fowler capped a 12-4 Kennett rally with a 3-pointer to make it 46-40 early in the fourth quarter. But moments later, East got two (of many) offensive rebounds which led to a four-point possession, and with just over four minutes to go, the Pats were in charge, 56-44.

“Rebounding has been an issue all season,” Cattano acknowledged. “But our forwards scrap as hard as they can. We are undersized in every game.”

East opened the door with a bunch of missed free throws, however, and the Demons sliced it to 58-54 with 1:53 on the clock thanks to another Fowler 3-pointer and a 3-pointer-and-one by Prestianne.

“We are always fighting – that’s what was so fun about this team,” Prestianne said. 

“We are known for shooting 3’s. Four of our five starters can hit from behind the arc. When they go in for us, we can score in bunches.”

Prestianne then made it 60-57 on another from long distance with 50.1 seconds to go, but that was as close as Kennett would get. Just 17-for-30 from the line in the game, the Patriots went 6-for-6 on foul shots the rest of the way to clinch it.

“It was a dogfight towards the end, and it was fun to see everyone battle back and have that fire in the belly,” said Fowler, who scored just three points shy of her career best.

Despite going 0-4 from the free throw line in the final period, junior guard Gina Lusvardi chipped in 15 points. And other than Lusvardi, Prestianne and Fowler, the rest of the roster scored a mere three points combined.

“We try to get three scorers in double figures and we got that,” Cattano said. “It just wasn’t good enough today.

“It’s a 32 minute game and every second counts.”

A shaky start – with two turnovers and two missed shots – put the Demons in a 6-1 hole early. Kennett scored the first eight points in the second quarter to briefly take the lead, but the Patriots ended the half with six straight to make it 26-21 lead.

Afterwards, the Blue Demons looked forward to a bright future.

“(Cattano) talked about some life lessons – learning from this game and taking it into the real world,” Prestianne said.

“Andrea’s shoes are going to be big ones to fill next season, but her leadership is going to stick with this program,” Fowler added. “She set an example for us.”

Central Bucks East 66, Kennett 57

CENTRAL BUCKS EAST: Salvati 5 3-5 13, Wilga 4 4-4 12, Pla 5 6-13 17, Chmiel 2 2-3 6, Krause 6 2-3 15, Barry 1 0-2 2. Totals 21 17-30 66.

KENNETT: LaCosta 1 0-0 3, Lusvardi 4 5-10 15, Prestianne 5 5-5 19, Matthews 0 1-2 1, Fowler 7 2-2 19. Totals 17 13-19 57.

C.B. East 14 12 20 20 – 66
Kennett 9 12 16 20 – 57

Three-pointers: Pla 2, Krause, LaCosta, Lusvardi 2, Prestianne 4, Fowler 3.