With defensive pressure, Rustin tops Susquehannock to advance

WESTTOWN >> It sure didn’t take very long for West Chester Rustin’s ultra-aggressive full court pressure to make a significant difference.

In round one of the PIAA Class 5A Girls Tournament, visiting Susquehannock went from confusion to panic awfully quick in an effort to bring the basketball up-court against the Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon. And by the time the Warriors finally figured out what to do against Rustin’s quickness and athleticism, it was too late. The Knights were already well on their way to a wire-to-wire 62-34 blowout.

“It’s something we’ve been working on more and more since the beginning of the season,” said Rustin head coach Lauren Stackhouse. “We are trying to make it our focal point in terms of what we do.

“And it’s just gotten better and better throughout the whole season, so I feel like we are very comfortable in it at this point.”

With a winning streak that’s reached 14, the Knights improve to 25-3 overall. And the defending Ches-Mont and District 1 champions move on to the round of 16, where they will face Abington Heights (18-8) on Wednesday. The District 2 runner-up pummeled Archbishop Ryan by 23 on Saturday.

“It’s really easy to lose focus with these time gaps,” acknowledged Rustin senior star Laine McGurk. “We just had a week off, so we have to stay focused in practice. And the teams we are now playing, we don’t know them because they are coming from all over the state.”

The seventh-place team from District 3, Susquehannock’s season ends with a 14-13 mark.

“I think we have so much momentum, but we have to take it one game at a time,” said McGurk, who poured in 29 points despite having some shooting woes in the first half. “This is a special group, and we know the potential we have. Our ceiling is very high.”

It all starts, of course, with the pressure, particularly after a made basket. It yielded eight first quarter turnovers, which enabled the Knights to score 16 straight to end the period with a healthy 23-5 lead.

“Our guards are very aggressive and really good at moving their feet,” Stackhouse said. “Plus we have some length at different positions, which is nice, and we are just getting better and better at making those reads as to where the ball is going to go.”

A trio of seniors – Ava Panetta, Lola Flynn and Elizabeth McGurk – are the point of the spear on the baseline-to-baseline defense.

“I give a lot of credit to our press,” Laine McGurk pointed out. “We have Ava, Lola and Elizabeth running the three top spots, and they just do a great job of pressuring the ball and denying the next pass. The ball pressure is really terrifying for the opposing team.

“When we open games in that press, teams have trouble with it quickly. And it really gets us going.”

If it wasn’t over at the end of the opening quarter, it certainly was when McGurk started hitting shots and the Knights scored 18 of the first 21 points to start the second half.

“I took some shots in the first half that didn’t go in, but it doesn’t affect me,” McGurk said. “I know that my teammates will have my back.”

A 5-foot-7 guard, Flynn scored nine of her 13 points in the first half, and the 5-10 McGurk then tallied 13 points in the third quarter alone. The lead ballooned to 51-23 heading into the fourth.

“We want to continue to push the tempo and not change our style of play based on the score,” Stackhouse said. “We want to be consistent and not play the scoreboard.”

Elizabeth McGurk chipped in 10 points for Rustin, who wound up forcing 17 turnovers, but committed just four.

“With this group, we knew pretty early on that we had something very special,” Stackhouse said. “We keep emphasizing team basketball.

“Like today, if (an opponent) tries to just focus on Laine (McGurk), there are four other kids on the floor that can play. It’s a credit to how far Laine has come, with her ability to trust her teammates. The other four are great compliments to everything she does.”

West Chester Rustin 62, Susquehannock 34

Susquehannock                              5 12 6 11 — 34

W.C. Rustin                                      23 8 20 11 — 62

SUSQUEHANNOCK – Weldon 3 0-0 9; Elliott 3 0-0 7; Hebel 1 0-0 2; G. Snyder 1 0-0 2; Laubach 1 1-4 4; E. Jackson 0 0-1 0; Sweitzer 2 0-0 6; E. Snyder 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 1-5 34.

W.C. RUSTIN – Kraft 2 2-2 6; Flynn 5 2-5 13; Loper 1 0-0 2; E. McGurk 3 3-4 10; L. McGurk 9 7-11 29; Barry 0 0-2 0; Stackhouse 1 0-2 2. Totals 21 14-26 62.

Three-pointers: Weldon 3, Elliott, Laubach, Sweitzer 2, Flynn, E. McGurk, L. McGurk 4.