Top seed Westtown rolls past GA, advances to PAISAA finals

Westtown >> The Westtown School girls basketball team, which has been on fire since the Christmas holiday break, kept the pressure on Germantown Academy in the PAISAA tournament semifinal Friday, building an early lead and rolling to a 65-48 win.
The No. 1 seeded Moose, who have won 19 of 20 games since the beginning of this year, relied on a tough, aggressive defense to jump out to a 17-9 first-quarter lead against No. 4 seed GA. When the Patriots pulled to within four points (41-37) late in the third quarter, Westtown closed the game out on a finishing 24-11 run.
With the victory, Westtown advances to PAISAA tournament championship final against No. 2 seed Penn Charter tonight at LaSalle University.
Leading the charge for Westtown Friday was senior Kaylene Smikle, who kept GA at bay with well-timed baskets throughout the game. Smikle finished with 30 points, including a trio of treys (the Moose connected for seven 3-point shots Friday).
The Rutgers-bound Smikle has been Westtown’s leading scorer this season, and has tallied 30 points or more multiple times this winter.
“Kaylene has terrific range,” said Westtown head coach Fran Burbidge. “She’s strong, she can get to the rim, she shoots at a high percentage, and she shoots foul shots well.”
Smikle said, “The key to our [strong start] today was communication, talking with each other so there was no open possession for the other team. I think we’ve gotten more aggressive [on defense] as the season has gone on because we’re all on the same page, we come out with all of the energy we have, and leave it all out on the floor.”
Germantown Academy head coach Sheri Retif was impressed with Westtown’s defense and athleticism.
“Westtown is very athletic, and they put a lot of pressure on the ball the whole time,” said Retif. “We were trying to keep the ball in front; we knew we couldn’t play them man-to-man, as soon as we did they hit the quick shot, so we went right back to the zone [defense]. Size-wise, we wanted to keep Kendall [Bennett] close to the goal.”
Bennett, who averages double figures in points and rebounds for GA, led the Patriots with 13 points, mostly from inside.
“GA was hurting us a number of times with a lob to Bennett,” said Bur-bidge. “I thought our guards did a good job of making them work, making them bounce the ball a lot more than they wanted to. … I thought we defended really well on a lot of different things.”
With the score tied 7-7 in the first quarter, Westtown junior Grace Sundback hit a trey from the left corner, giving the hosts a lead that they never relinquished. Bennett scored underneath to cut Westtown’s lead to 10-9, but the Moose finished the opening quarter on a 7-0 run with a Smikle three from the right side, a putback by senior Meliah Van-Otoo and a Smikle layup following a missed GA shot.
Westtown continued its red-hot run into the second quarter. After Smikle made two free throws, Westtown senior Olivia Wiggins intercepted a GA pass, and Smikle drove in for a layup. One minute later, following a Patriot turnover, Smikle scored on a putback to make it 23-9.
GA battled back for a 7-0 run of its own, and trailed the hosts 28-20 at halftime. Bennett scored nine points in the first half for the Patriots.
“We were up and down today, and I think there was a lot of angst on our players trying to get to tomorrow,” said Burbidge. “A lot of times we were playing [our style], and sometimes we were trying to do too much. It wasn’t for a lack of effort – they played hard. GA has a nice team with good players, but our players figured out a way to win the game, and I’m happy for them to have the opportunity to play tomorrow.”
Westtown associate head coach Doug West said, “This team has a lot of resiliency. We’ve been in a lot of different situations, done a lot of travelling and seen a lot of different teams, and we’ve found ways to win games.”
In the third quarter, GA hung tough, and midway through the period the Patriots’ Sam Wade hit a trey to cut the hosts’ lead to 34-31. Smikle immediately answered with a three of her own to give Westtown a 37-31 lead.
Late in the third quarter, GA cut Westtown’s lead to 41-37. Westtown sophomore Zahra King hit a field goal from mid-range, then Smikle stole the subsequent GA inbounds pass and immediately scored on a layup as she was being fouled. Smikle made the free throw to give the hosts a 46-37 lead with 1:23 to play in the third quarter.
The Patriots got no closer than seven points the rest of the game, and late in the contest, Westtown slowly began pulling away. Down the stretch, both Van-Otoo and Sundback, who combined for 24 points Friday, hit well-placed treys.
For Germantown Academy, the loss marked the end of their season, but Retif pointed out that the Patriots are young – all freshmen and sophomores, except for Bennett, who is a junior.
As the Moose prepare for their final game of the season, Burbidge paid tribute to coaches Doug West and Greg Alessandroni.
“Greg has done a great job with interaction with the kids, he has a real good rapport with them,” said Burbidge. “Doug, we obviously know what his DNA is – I’m the head coach, but he’s the associate head coach, we’re in this thing together and have been from the very beginning. A lot of the stuff we do out there on the court is because of Doug’s influence.”
Westtown 65, Germantown Academy 48
GA 9 11 19 9 – 48
Westtown 17 11 20 17 – 65
GA scoring: Thomas 1 0-0 2, Bennett 6 1-2 13, Casey 3 0-0 6, Wade 3 0-2 8, Bowes 0 5-6 5, Aponik 7 0-0 14, Totals 20 6-10 48.
Westtown scoring: Van-Otoo 4 1-2 10, King 4 0-0 8, Wiggins 1 0-0 3, Olak 0 0-0 0, Sundback 5 2-3 14, Lasic 0 0-0 0, Smikle 12 3-3 30, Totals 26 6-8 65.
Three point goals: GA – Wade 2. Westtown – Van-Otou, Wiggins, Sundback 2, Smikle 3.