WEST CHESTER >> Ciara Forde spent the first 40 minutes of the Valor Bowl as a facilitator instead of a scorer, two roles she excelled in during her Bishop Shanahan days.
In Forde’s final high school game, she finally got the green light to put up a shot. Naturally, she didn’t miss.
Forde’s 3-pointer in with 55.8 seconds left in overtime sealed West’s 49-42 victory over East in the second annual Believe and Achieve Valor Bowl game at West Chester Henderson High School Thursday night.
“It was a good time for that shot to go in,” Forde said with a smile. “I was missing a couple shots earlier, but that one felt good.”
Forde score five of West’s nine points in overtime as the all-star squad trailed for much of the game. In the two minute overtime period, West outscored East 9-2 on baskets from Paige Warfel (Downingtown East), Grace Phillips (Bishop Shanahan) and Forde.
Warfel’s layup put West up for good at 42-40 to open the overtime period. Phillips followed with a reverse layup that got the capacity crowd on its feet to make it 44-40 with 1:17 left.
After Julie Gawrylowicz (West Chester Henderson) hit a deep jumper, Forde responded with her wide-open 3-pointer on a pass from Laura Ochsner to seal the win, the first for West in the event’s short history.
Warfel led the West with 10 points while Ochsner and Hannah Supplee (Downingtown West) had seven.
“It’s an all-star game, but none of us like to lose,” Forde said. “Once we got used to playing with each other, we were fine. This was a great time and a good way to cap off an awesome four years at Shanahan. I made a lot of friends there and will never forget my time playing there.”
The East squad matched up with West’s talent for the first 40 minutes behind stellar play from Ellie Mack (Conestoga), who had nine points in the first eight minutes before leaving with a leg injury.
Ashlyn Smith (Great Valley) finished with seven points while Gawrylowicz and Jenna Maratea (West Chester Henderson) each had six.
“We were having a great time no matter the outcome,” Gawrylowicz said. “This was our last time playing together so it was a lot of fun. I played with a lot of these girls for years and this was a great way to finish off the year.”
West 49, East 42 (OT)
West: Dunn-Hogue 0 0-0 0, Forde 2 0-0 5, Hill 2 0-0 6, Warfel 3 4-8 10, Bahls 1 2-2 4, Ochsner 3 1-2 7, Supplee 3 0-0 7, Phillips 2 2-3 6, Hussey 1 0-0 2, Jemison 0 0-0 0, Camden 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 9-15 49.
East: Griesemer 2 0-0 4, Porreca 2 0-0 5, Culbertson 0 0-0 0, Pancoast 1 0-0 2, Nelson 1 0-0 2, Mack 4 1-2 9, Maratea 2 1-2 6, Gawrylowicz 2 1-2 6, Smith 2 3-4 7, Davis 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 7-12 42.
West 20 20 9 – 49
East 21 19 2 – 42
3-point goals: Forde 2, Hill 2, Supplee; Porreca, Maratea, Gawrylowicz.
