Qiana Vigo gets first PAISAA tournament experience as Hill School beats Baldwin

Pottstown >> Qiana Vigo has had to watch from the bench as the Hill School competed in the PAISAA tournament during the past two seasons.

A torn meniscus cut Vigo’s season short as a sophomore in 2016-17. As a junior last year, Vigo tweaked the knee once again, ending her season prematurely.

Making her postseason debut on Friday against Baldwin, the senior guard helped charge the Blues with 14 points, including two late free throws to seal the 53-45 victory.

Hill will play at Penn Charter in the second round of the PAISAA tournament at 3 p.m. on Saturday, and Vigo will continue to make the most of her first postseason experience, even it was a little delayed.

“It’s honestly been a while,” Vigo said of her last time in the playoffs. “I haven’t played in the past. This is my first year at the high school level playing playoffs. I’m extremely excited. I really believe in my team. I really believe in our coaches and all our hard work. I’m just really ready to grind and see how far we can go.”

Hill held an 11-10 lead after a tight first quarter on Friday. Sophomore forward Cynthia Williams scored six of her team-high 15 points in the first eight minutes of play.

Sparked by guard Olivia Matto, who finished with 14 points, Hill got off to a blazing start in the second quarter. Matto picked up two quick steals and converted them into easy buckets that led to a 10-0 run for the Blues.

The early burst in the second quarter helped Hill grab a 28-20 lead at halftime, and the Blues continued to roll after the break, building that advantage as large as 17 points early in the second half.

“We just felt like it way too close for comfort,” Matto said. “We wanted to get a lead, jump on them. We knew we could. We kept our press on. Having the press really forced them to take some quick shots and helped us get some steals.”

Hill led 43-29 heading to the fourth quarter, but a young Baldwin team showed some fight. Led by sophomore forward Anajah Brown, the Bears cut the Blues’ lead to five, 48-43, with about a minute and a half remaining.

Brown scored 21 points in the game, including 11 in the second half. She gave the Hill trouble inside as she crashed the offensive glass and used some finesse to score inside. Freshman Kaya Weiser also scored six of her nine points in the fourth quarter.

“She’s fantastic,” Baldwin head coach John Bernhardt said of Brown. “Naj has been kind of steady the entire year, does the little things. She’s the epitome of toughness. You saw today, she kind of single-handedly kept us in that game getting big offensive board after big offensive board.”

Vigo got into foul trouble in the second half, and the Bears took advantage of her time on the bench by getting back into the game. Down the stretch, however, the ball was in her hands.

With just more than a minute left, Vigo went to the line for a one-and-one. The shot hit off the back of the rim, but she hustled to secure the rebound and was fouled. As she approached the line, Vigo had a confident smile on her face, knowing she’d been given a second chance to ice the game. The senior guard drilled both free throws. She said she didn’t want to give Baldwin any hope.

“She is a tough kid, and we need her on the floor,” Hill School head coach Jen Weissbach said. “It’s plain and simple. We are a better team with her on the floor. When she’s not on the floor, like when she got in foul trouble, we miss that. To have her here, to have her finish off her Hill career on her home floor with a win, I think that’s special for her.”

Unlike Vigo, Matto has plenty of postseason experience. Her Manheim Township squad advanced to the PIAA state tournament last season. She knocked down three of four foul shots in the final minute to finish off the playoff victory. At the end of games, Matto and Vigo give Weissbach two experienced ball handlers who are also very good shooters.

“We knew how important it was to put the game away,” Matto said. “During the season, coach (Weissbach) does a really good job of having us practice our free throws. That gave us a lot of confidence, and our teammates were able to get us the ball and get us on the line, where we needed to be to hit the shots to put the game away.”

Senior forward Amelia Sniffin added nine points for Hill. Sophomore Taylor Levinson scored seven points, and freshman Gabrielle Pritzker chipped in six points for Baldwin.

While Baldwin’s postseason experience ended sooner than the Bears would have hoped, Bernhardt was excited by the progress his team, which consists of three freshmen and two sophomores, made throughout the year in his first season.

Bernhardt didn’t get the job until October, and he wasn’t able to work with the team until their first official practice on Nov. 19.

“It’s tough, but we’ve consistently gotten better throughout the year,” Bernhardt said.