Downingtown East, Great Valley advance to Ches-Mont girls final

West Chester >> Downingtown East and Great Valley, who will meet in the Ches-Mont League girls basketball championship final Tuesday, took different roads to the title game in their respective semifinal contests Saturday afternoon at West Chester University.
In the opening semifinal, Downingtown East, the regular season champions of the Ches-Mont National division, grabbed an early 8-0 lead, then led all the way in a 60-43 win against West Chester Rustin.
The second semifinal was more of a back-and-forth affair, with Great Valley, the regular season champions of the Ches-Mont American division, prevailing at the end against West Chester East, 58-53.
In the opener, the Cougars (17-6) started quickly, with 6-foot-5 standout senior Bella Smuda scoring underneath three times during the 8-0 run.
“Everyone on our team was so excited for this game, we’ve been looking forward to playing in the Ches-Mont tournament almost all season long,” said Smuda.
Late in the first quarter, and early into the second period, Rustin (14-7) came back, thanks to some sharp shooting from freshman Laine McGurk. Midway through the second quarter, the Golden Knights cut D-East’s lead to 22-17, and McGurk had 13 of Rustin’s 17 points. McGurk’s per-game scoring average has been in double digits this season.
“Laine brings athleticism that’s tough to guard,” said Rustin head coach Lauren Stackhouse. “With that athleticism, she elevates her teammates’ play, and she was finishing at the rim.”
D-East, who was 12-0 in the Ches-Mont National League during the regular season, shut down Rustin the remainder of the first half Saturday in a 10-0 run that gave the Cougars a 32-17 halftime lead. Early in the run, 5-7 sophomore guard Cassidy Denning hit a timely trey from the right corner, then 5-9 junior guard Caroline Brennan took over, hitting a midrange jumper, then making a key steal and drive to the basket.
“Everybody on the team, guards, posts, everyone, has put a priority on defense,” said Smuda. “It’s like our coach [Tom Schurtz] said, ‘Offense wins game but defense wins championships,’ and I think that’s a big thing we’re going into the post-season with.”
Schurtz said, “We’ve been doing a good job early in games this season, being strong defensively and then just trusting in our offensive set. I thought today we rotated defensively well, made it difficult for them to score. McGurk (who finished with 22 points) had a great game for them, but I think we were able to weather that by [forcing them into] difficult shots and limiting them to one shot per trip.”
By halftime, the trio of Smuda, Brennan and 5-8 sophomore guard Lauren Kent had combined for 25 of the Cougars’ 32 points.
In the second half, Downingtown East maintained its double-digit lead, gradually building its margin in the fourth quarter.
“I think we pushed it the entire game; there was no point in our game today where we stepped off the gas pedal,” said Smuda. “I think everyone [on the team] was going 100 percent the entire game.”
“I thought today was a good team effort,” said Schurtz. “We talk a lot about making it difficult for teams to get shots and make shots, and I thought we led today by that credo. We are about team defense and team basketball.”
Smuda finished with 21 points, Brennan added 15, Kent got 14 (including 8-for-8 from the free throw line) and junior guard Mary McFillin tallied seven.
Coming into Saturday’s game, Downingtown East was ninth in the PIAA District 1 6A rankings, and Rustin was 13th.
Interestingly, Stackhouse, the Golden Knights’ first-year head coach, was an assistant coach at Downingtown East last winter.
“Downingtown East’s guard play was on-point,” said Stackhouse. “I tip my hat to them.”
Like the Cougars, Rustin’s season is not over, as they now prepare for the District 1 6A tournament.
“After the game, I told our team that we have a clean slate going into Districts, that it’s a new season,” said Stackhouse.

Downingtown East 60, West Chester Rustin 43
West Chester Rustin 12 5 15 11 – 43
Downingtown East 18 14 13 15 – 60
West Chester Rustin (43): L. McGurk 9 3-3 22, DiCampli 2 0-0 4, Costin 3 0-0 6, Greer 2 2-2 6, Plona 1 0-0 2, Shivers 1 0-0 3, Betchyk 0 0-2 0, Flynn 0 0-0 0, Harrison 0 0-0 0, Totals 18 5-7 43.
Downingtown East (60): Smuda 10 1-3 21, Brennan 7 1-3 15, Kent 3 8-8 14, McFillin 3 0-0 7, Denning 1 0-0 3, Hewitt 0 0-0 0, Geary 0 0-0 0, Totals 24 10-14 60.
3-point field goals: WCR – L. McGurk, Shivers. DE – McFillin, Denning.

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In the second Ches-Mont girls’ basketball semifinal at Hollinger Field House Saturday, Great Valley (20-3) held off a persistent West Chester East squad, 58-53, in a fast-paced game featuring a couple of youthful squads – the Vikings (16-7) have no seniors, the Patriots only one.
That lone senior, Tessa Liberatoscioli, scored 28 points – 10 points in the first period (including 5-for-6 from the free throw line), as the first quarter ended in a 15-15 tie.
Liberatoscioli scored underneath twice to open the second quarter, the second one on a coast-to-coast drive, to give the Patriots a 19-16 lead. Great Valley maintained a small lead for the rest of the first half, and kept it until the beginning of the fourth quarter. But West Chester East kept battling, and kept Great Valley’s lead from growing into double digits.
West Chester East head coach Erin Listrani said, “We got into foul trouble early in the first half, but I thought we responded to [that] adversity well. The girls that came off the bench for us played big minutes, and everyone stayed focused and stayed together.”
In the second quarter, Great Valley freshman Gia Sioutis scored on several putbacks, tallying eight points in the period as the Patriots built a 30-23 halftime lead.
Great Valley head coach Alex Venarchik said, “I loved our rebounding effort on both ends today, particularly on the offensive end. Gia Sioutis and Emma DeRobertis were just monsters on the offensive boards. Not just getting the boards, but keeping the possessions alive to give us an extra shot. … Long shots cause long rebounds, and I thought we did a decent job of locking up our defensive rebounds too.”
Late in the third quarter, the Vikings chipped away at Great Valley’s lead, getting a couple of baskets underneath from junior Megan Merten, then a trey from freshman Mikayla Kushner, to cut the Patriots’ advantage to 40-38 as the fourth quarter began.
West Chester East’s trio of Merten, Lauren Klieber and point guard Mary Grace Kerns combined for 35 points Saturday. The Vikings converted seven treys, three of them by Klieber (16 points).
Listrani said, “MG Kerns, Lauren Klieber and Megan Merten all were starters as sophomores last year, and the post-season experience they got last year was invaluable for them. This year, they have really jelled and taken on leadership.”
Merten scored inside to tie the score at 40-40 early in the fourth quarter. Liberatoscioli then started to take over, scoring after a series of crisp Great Valley passes, then going coast-to-coast for a layup as the Patriots earned a 50-44 lead.
“The key at the end for us was not losing our composure,” said Venarchik. “We knew that East is a good team that could shoot that 3-pointer. Defensively, we were trying to keep them in front of us. At times, I thought we gambled a little too much with defensive positioning, going for steals, but we didn’t lose our focus, we didn’t lose our composure. We made plays and free throws down the stretch when we had to.”
A couple of treys by East’s Lauren Klieber kept the score close at the end, but the Patriots kept getting the ball into Liberatoscioli’s hands, and she came through from the field (nine field goals, including one trey) and from the free-throw line (9-for-12) to finish with 28 points. Sioutis finished with 12 points and junior guard Ashley Sullivan tallied eight.
Coming up next for Great Valley is Downingtown East in the Ches-Mont League championship final Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Venarchik said, “Downingtown East has good size, so we’re going to have to concentrate on boxing out and keeping [Bella] Smuda off the boards.”
Like Great Valley, West Chester East’s season is not over, as the Vikings now prepare for the upcoming District 1 5A tournament. Coming into the game, West Chester East was sixth in the District 1 5A rankings, only three spots behind Great Valley.
Listrani said, “The statement we made today, playing with heart and playing together, speaks volumes. I couldn’t be prouder of them. They play as more of a team than any team I’ve coached.”

Great Valley 58, West Chester East 53
West Chester East 15 8 15 15 – 53
Great Valley 15 15 10 18 – 58
West Chester East (53): A. Douglass 2 0-0 5, K. Douglass 3 1-2 8, Kerns 2 2-7 7, Smeins 0 0-0 0, Kushner 2 0-0 5, Klieber 4 5-7 16, McDonald 0 0-0 0, Merten 6 0-0 12, Totals 19 8-16 53.
Great Valley (58): Liberatoscioli 9 9-12 28, Dill 0 0-0 0, DeRobertis 1 0-2 2, Sullivan 3 0-1 8, DuPont 1 0-0 2, Sioutis 6 0-0 12, Valyo 0 0-0 0, Lum 1 0-1 2, Curley 2 0-0 4, Totals 23 9-16 58.
3-point field goals: WCE – A. Douglass, K. Douglass, Kerns, Kushner, Klieber 3. GV – Liberatoscioli, Sullivan 2.