Westtown girls basketball squad edges Penn Charter for first PAISAA tournament title

PHILADELPHIA >> On Friday, the night before the PAISAA girls basketball championship final, Westtown associate head coach Doug West noted, “Our 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.”

Westtown relied heavily on that resiliency Saturday night for an emotional 51-50 victory against Penn Charter in the PAISAA championship final at LaSalle University’s Tom Gola Arena. In a seesaw battle that saw numerous lead changes, Westtown captured its first-ever PAISAA girls basketball title.

“Trying to win that first title, we [coaches] understand what the players are going through out there,” said Westtown head coach Fran Burbidge. “Going through that for the first time, it’s understandable that the game is going to take different runs and different spurts. I think the one thing that enabled us to pull it out is that these kids really get along really well. They live together in dorms, so they have a great bond and a great closeness.”

When it came time for the championship trophy presentation after the game, Westtown’s six seniors took the court to receive it – Kaylene Smikle (who scored 28 points), Helena Lasic, Meliah Van-Otoo, Maria Donnelly, Olivia Wiggins and Josie Boyer.

“Our team is like a family,” said Smikle. “Everyone is close to each other.”
Westtown trailed 48-47 with 2:24 left when Smikle had to leave the game with her fifth foul. But Van-Otoo came up with a couple of clutch baskets down the stretch, the second one giving the Moose a 51-50 lead with 31 seconds left.

“Winning this title for the first time in school history is a beautiful experience,” said Van-Otoo. “We persevered throughout the entire game, and we finally reached our goal. All season long, we’ve been working in the gym, doing sprints, doing a lot of hard work, and it’s great to see our work paying off.”

“I think at the end we just fed the hot hand, and Meliah hit a couple of shots that got us back in the game,” said Westtown junior Grace Sundback, who scored 10 points. “And then our defense stepped up and got a lot of rebounds that helped us win the game.

“When the buzzer sounded, I couldn’t believe it [winning the state title] – we worked so hard for this. I think this season was a battle of ups and downs and I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team. I think the ups and downs made us better, and winning this is a testament to our will. I’m so proud of our team.”

“We needed to be resilient tonight,” said West. “We didn’t play one of our better games, but our girls were able to fight and pull out a victory at the end. In the last three minutes, the key was that the players on the bench had to be ready when they came in – they hadn’t played much in the game [earlier], and they did a very good job. It was a team effort.”

With 3 ½ seconds remaining in the game, Penn Charter had the ball for one last scoring opportunity on an inbounds play under the basket. Penn Charter then missed a shot from underneath, and the frantic battle for the rebound ended when Westtown sophomore Zahra King grabbed the ball and held it as the final buzzer sounded.

“I knew I had to grab it to win the game,” said King. “I saw the ball coming my way, and Michelle [Olak] had a really good box out, and I tipped it backwards to myself and I secured the rebound. When the buzzer sounded I was so happy, so ecstatic.”

From the opening minutes of the game, Westtown had to battle back. The Moose missed every shot they tried in the first four minutes, and were trailing 8-0 midway through the first quarter. Finally, Lasic broke the scoring ice with a basket, then Smikle followed soon after with a layup and two free throws to cut Penn Charter’s lead to 8-6.

Westtown continued to struggle offensively in the first half, and trailed Penn Charter 15-9 at the end of the first quarter. Toward the end of the second period, the Moose rallied. When Smikle drove inside for a basket to give Westtown a 27-26 lead with 1:25 to go before halftime, it was the Moose’s first lead of the game.

Westtown went into halftime trailing 29-27.

“I think we started off the game playing a little selfish,” said Smikle. “At halftime, we got together and said if we want to win we have to play as a team. The key was staying calm, not letting [Penn Charter] rush us – they were rushing us at the beginning.”

“One of the things we talked about at halftime was making sure that we were all pulling on the rope the same way,” said West. “It seemed like we were a little splintered in the first half – we had people doing a little too much of everything that they weren’t supposed to be doing. It was about getting into their roles, getting together. We were a separated group in the first half.”

Westtown started the third quarter on an 11-3 run, with Smikle getting eight of the points. A Smikle steal and drive to the basket gave the Moose a 41-32 lead with 3:23 left in the third period.

But Penn Charter battled back, and tied the game at 41-41 at the end of the third quarter on a buzzer-beating trey by Maddie Shoup. Penn Charter completed its 11-0 four-minute run with a basket by Bella Toomey to go ahead 43-41.

The lead kept changing hands in the fourth quarter. Sundback’s trey gave Westtown a 47-45 lead with 4:51 left, but two minutes later Penn Charter’s Kaylinn Bethea matched it with a three from the right corner to give PC a 48-47 lead.

Van-Otoo hit a jumper with 1:30 left to put Westtown ahead 49-48, then Penn Charter junior Aleah Snead scored underneath to give her team a 50-49 lead. Van-Otoo came right back, driving inside for a score to make it 51-50.

With 15 seconds to go, Penn Charter missed two free throws, then six seconds later, PC missed two more from the charity stripe. On the final play, King grabbed the defensive rebound, and the Moose were state champs.

Burbidge: “It was a gutsy win, and we could have been just as easily on the other side of the [outcome], but the kids rebounded at the end when they needed to, and here we are.”

Smikle said, “When the final buzzer sounded, it was like I couldn’t believe it, that we made it this far. I knew we were going to win, but when I heard the [final] buzzer, it was like a shock. It was my last game for Westtown.”

Westtown 51, Penn Charter 50
Penn Charter 15 14 12 9 – 50
Westtown 9 18 14 10 – 51
Penn Charter scoring: Bethea 4 1-3 11, Toomey 4 0-3 8, Snead 6 3-8 17, M. Shoup 4 4-8 13, G. Shoup 0 1-3 1, Walter 0 0-0 0, Bradby 0 0-0 0, Vieira 0 0-0 0, Totals 18 9-25 50.
Westtown scoring: Van-Otoo 4 0-0 8, Sundback 2 4-4 10, Lasic 1 3-4 5, Smikle 9 7-9 28, King 0 0-0 0, Wiggins 0 0-0 0, Fox 0 0-0 0, Olak 0 0-0 0, Totals 16 14-17 51.
Three point goals: Penn Charter – Bethea 2, Snead 2, M. Shoup. Westtown – Sundback 2, Smikle 3.