By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
WEST CHESTER >> It’s not like Annalise Kubasko hasn’t made big shots before. The West Chester East guard hit a bucket to win a triple overtime game last week. But what the junior did Saturday in the semifinals of the Ches-Mont Championships was a whole other level.
“For sure, that was the biggest shot I’ve ever made,” Kubasko agreed.
Her 3-pointer prevented the Vikings from losing in regulation, and East teammate Carly Bickle brought it home in the OT for a 53-48 nail-bitter over Kennett at West Chester’s Hollinger Field House.
“It was a huge shot because we needed it or the game was over,” said Vikings’ head coach Erin Listrani. “But Annalise made the winning layup against (Bishop) Shanahan in triple overtime. She is a great competitor and she is going to keep going until the final horn.”
Now 17-6 overall, East advances to the final where it will face West Chester Henderson at 6 p.m. at Hollinger. The Blue Demons fall to 16-7 but will host Plymouth Whitemarsh in round one of the upcoming District 1 6A Tournament.
“We just have to regroup,” said Kennett head coach Vince Cattano. “We’ll figure it out.”
The Demons were forced to play without leading scorer Mia Matthews for the final 5:33 of regulation and the OT after she fouled out. Kennett also lost another starter, Sarah Mullin, to an injury in the final minute of regulation, but still had a 43-40 lead with time running out.
Down two starters, Cattano reluctantly abandoned the zone defense his team had played the entire game for the pivotal possession. That’s when Kubasko worked free against the man-to-man defense and buried the three with 7.2 on the clock to send it to overtime. It wound up the only made field goal of the game for Kubasko.
“I was struggling with my shot all day, but when that moment came, I knew I had to sink it. It felt good and I knew it was going in the second I shot it,” she said.
“(Kubasko) hit a big shot – you have to give her credit,” Cattano added. “We were comfortable going man-to-man because of the two starters we were missing. You could second guess that, but playing without (Mia) Matthews is a killer, and we lost (Sarah) Mullin. That’s two integral pieces to what we do.”
In the OT, Bickle connected on a 3-pointer, then followed her own miss with a bucket, and later made a free throw. The sophomore wound up outscoring the Devils 6-5 in the extra session all by herself.
“(Bickle) is probably the most mentally tough player we have,” Listrani said. “She stayed strong, calm and confident and gets it done.”
Down three starters when junior Quinn Simmons fouled out, Kennett wound up going 3-for-8 from the free throw line in overtime.
“It was a big hill to climb,” Cattano said. “We had to win it in regulation. It’s hard to win a game when your best kid is on the bench.
“Our kids played hard. They gave it everything they have. But that was a lot to overcome.”
The Vikings – who entered the day third in the District 1 5A Power Rankings — grabbed five offensive rebounds early and raced out to a 12-3 first quarter lead. The Demons sliced it to one, 14-13, in the second quarter, but East scored seven of the last eight – including a buzzer-beater by Bickle – to make it 21-15 at the half.
“Both teams had to fight a lot of adversity throughout the game,” Listrani said.
“Our team is battle-tested and it showed. The (Ches-Mont) National Division was a fight and we’ve played in some close games this season and down the stretch.”
Simmons scored seven of her 10 points in the fourth quarter as Kennett took its first lead since the opening minute. She hit two free throws with 25.2 on the clock to make it 43-40 to set up Kubasko’s heroics.
“We all gritted it out and found a way to win,” Kubasko said. “We just had so much energy today, which was different from the first time we played (Kennett).
“I’ve been dreaming of this for the last three years and we want to get it done on Tuesday.”
Sophomore Lauren Horan paced East with 16 points, Bickle added 15 and junior Sofia Keith chipped in with 11. The Vikings’ defense forced 19 turnovers, but seven came in the fourth and in the OT.
Matthews finished with 15 points for the Demons and Simmons added 10. Kennett was just 15-29 on free throws for the day. Just two weeks earlier, the Demons topped visiting East 41-37 in the only regular season clash.
“We didn’t do much differently game plan-wise,” Listrani said. “The first time we played it was a ‘flat Saturday.’ We knew Kennett would be ready, so this time it was more emotional, trying to get revenge against a team that just beat us.”
West Chester East 53, Kennett 48 (OT)
KENNETT – Frazier 1 0-4 2; Carroll 4 1-2 9; Simmons 3 3-3 10; Burns 0 3-6 3; Mullin 1 2-2 4; Harper 0 0-2 0; Matthews 4 5-8 15; Comanda 2 1-2 5. Totals 15 15-29 48.
W.C. EAST – Kubasko 1 1-2 3; Kerns 0 3-6 3; Cochran 1 0-1 2; Bickle 5 1-2 15; Keith 4 3-5 11; Horan 7 2-3 16; Flowers 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 10-19 53.
Kennett 8 7 13 15 5 — 48
W.C. East 12 9 13 10 — 53
3-pointers: Simmons, Matthews 2, Kubasko, Bickle 4.
