In 32-point swing, W.C. East turns tables on Oxford in district opener
EAST NOTTINGHAM >> It happened more than two months earlier, but it might as well have been years.
The West Chester East girls’ basketball squad fell by 11 points at Oxford during the regular season. But on the same court 71 days later, during a playoff rematch, the Vikings got off to an excellent start and cruised to a lopsided 57-36 win over the Hornets on Friday.
“It feels like a totally new season. We’ve been waiting for this,” said East senior Mikayla Kushner.
“You look back at your regular season, there are a couple games you wish you could get back. That was one of them,” added Vikings’ head coach Erin Listrani. “We talked about it, but we also know we are a better team than we were in the second game of the season.”
It was a 32-point swing from the first meeting to the second.
“That’s the way the game can be sometimes,” said Oxford head coach Paul Day. “We came out really slow in the first quarter, got behind and dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t dig out of.”
Already in a tough position as the ninth seed, East (13-10 overall) is rewarded with a second round clash, on the road, with top-seeded West Chester Rustin (21-3) on Tuesday in a district quarterfinal. The Vikings fell 53-36 to the Golden Knights back on Jan. 7th.
“We definitely have a challenge in front of us in Rustin,” Listrani said. “It’s a team we know well and we respect a lot.”
Friday’s clash was the Vikings’ first in two weeks, and the squad played like it in the early going.
“We were all so antsy. Every practice was insane, we were all so ready to come out and play,” Kushner said.
“This team really capitalizes on momentum,” added junior guard Annie Kerns. “So we decided we were coming out and go full-speed and make (Oxford) call the first time out.”
The Vikings forced the Hornets into seven early turnovers, and scored the game’s first 11 points, before Oxford called a time out and finally got on the scoreboard. The margin was 13 at the end of the first quarter and 36-14 at the half. Eight different players scored for East and the Hornets turned it over 13 times.
“It starts on defense and the kids have bought into that as the season’s gone on,” Listrani said. “It showed. That was the key to our success tonight.”
The Hornets season ends with a 12-11 record.
“The last time we played (East), we went on a 17-1 run in the third quarter and came back and beat them,” Day recalled. “We had it in us, we just didn’t do it tonight.”
In the first three quarters, East forced Oxford into 20 turnovers. The Hornets managed to make just eight shots from the field during that span.
“Our turnovers led to, probably, 24 points for (East),” Day said.
“(Oxford) ended our season last year and they were our second game this season,” Kerns added. “They’ve hit us twice so this was super personal.”
Kerns paced the Vikings’ balanced attack with 12 points, while Annalise Kubasko and Sofia Keith each added 10 apiece. Senior Olivia Voss had a game-high 13 points for the Hornets.
“That first game was a tale of two halves, and we didn’t show up in the second half,” Listrani said. “It was a very long bus ride home from Oxford back in December. We will have a much more fun bus ride tonight.
“We are a different team than we were then.”
West Chester East 57, Oxford 36
W.C. East 17 19 8 13 — 57
Oxford 4 10 7 15 — 36
W.C. EAST – Kubasko 3 2-4 10; Kerns 3 6-9 12; Miller 1 0-0 3; Bickle 1 0-2 2; Keith 5 0-0 10; Kushner 3 1-1 7; Horan 4 0-0 9; Flowers 1 0-0 2; Cooper 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 9-16 57.
OXFORD – Kline 1 1-5 4; Patterson 3 2-4 8; Voss 5 3-5 13; Frank 2 1-2 5; Tipton 1 0-0 2; Eshleman 2 0-0 4. Totals 14 7-16 36.
Three-pointers: Kubasko 2, Miller, Horan, Kline.
