Shanahan breaks late tie to subdue Downingtown West
DOWNINGTOWN >> With the holiday festivities concluded, the Ches-Mont League National Division got back to business Tuesday.
Downingtown West, playing for the first time in 14 days, was looking to keep its unbeaten record going and earn an important early-season girls’ basketball victory.
But, host Bishop Shanahan had other ideas, Alyssa Brown scored five straight points to break a tie in the fourth quarter to spur the Eagles (2-0, 6-3) to a 50-46 win.
The loss knocked the Whippets (2-1, 6-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten.
“A win is a win,” said Shanahan coach Jim Powers. “I don’t care how you get it, in this league, a win is a win no matter what, so we’ll take it. They’re tough. We’ll take it.”
Shanahan nursed a 26-21 lead into the third quarter. The Whippets scored seven straight points after Abby Wolf scored to open the quarter, then the Eagles regained their footing to rebuild their lead, Brown scored on back-to-back trips for a 35-30 advatange.
West came back in the final minute, Rachel Schuda scored on a layup, then after a turnover, Liv Young dropped in a bucket to close the deficit to 35-34 after three quarters. Shanahan got sloppy in the quarter, turning the ball over seven times.
“They seem to be a problem,” said Powers. “We were undisciplined, did some stuff on our own and panicked a couple of times. They did a good job of pushing us and we let some stuff get away.”
Alexa Bojko got the fourth quarter started for Shanahan with a pair of free throws, Sami Schurtz answered for the Whippets with a jumper to cut the Eagles’ lead to one point. Shanahan led 41-38 when Schurtz buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the score with 3:35 left.
Then Brown took over. A layup put Shanahan ahead, then another layup following a turnover — one of 21 on the evening for the Whippets — help extend the lead. A Brown free throw with 1:48 left put the advantage at 46-41.
A Payton Forsyth put back made it 46-43. A pair of free throws from Bojko pushed the margin to five with under a minute left.
Schurtz buried another three to bring the margin to 48-46, but the Whippets missed a couple of field goal attemps and Brown seald it from the line as the Eagles gutted out the victory.
“I think that we were really nervous, then we calmed down and settled the ball,” Brown said. “My shots weren’t falling, so I decided to drive the ball and get to the basket.”
Schurtz led the Whippets with 13 points and Grant added nine. Brown finished with a game-high 22 points — 20 after the first quarter. Wolf had 11 and Bojko chipped in with nine.
The two teams meet again on Jan. 27 at Downingtown West.
“The out-of-conference schedule, they’ve been some tough games and we learned from that,” said Powers. “They got some buckets when they needed them and I’m proud of them for that.”
Bishop Shanahan 50, Downingtown West 46
Downingtown West: Young 2 0-0 4; Schurtz 5 0-0 13; Stauffer 0 1-2 1; L. Grant 3 3-6 9; Arrowsmith 2 0-0 4; Forsyth 1 0-0 2; Schuda 1 0-0 2; Mennan 3 2-2 9. Totals: 17 6-10 46.
Bishop Shanahan: Ambrose 1 0-2 2; Oswald 1 1-2 4; Wolf 5 0-0 11; Brown 8 6-7 22; Bojko 2 4-4 9; Senji 1 0-1 2; Griffin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 11-16 50.
Downingtown West 8 13 13 12 — 46
Bishop Shanahan 11 15 9 15 — 50
3-point goals: Schurtz 3, Mennan, Oswald, Wolf, Bojko.
