Chartiers-Houston Dethrones Vincentian For Girls 2-A Title

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, March 2, 2017 | 8:58 PM

The No. 1 seed Chartiers-Houston (23-2) Buccaneers kicked off the WPIAL Championship games with a 47-35 win over  the No. 2 seed Vincentian Academy Royals (20-5). This was the 8^th consecutive trip to a title game for Vincentian, and after winning their last five tries, the Royals fell short Thursday. For Chartiers-Houston, it was their first time playing for the WPIAL Championship. Their inexperience never showed though.

In the first quarter, Chartiers-Houston came out firing and started on a 7-0 run. Vincentian Head Coach Ron Moncrief was forced to call a timeout to try and calm his players down and shake off the nerves. That did not appear to work. To make things worse, Royals leading scorer and rebounder Caroline Elliot went down fighting for a rebound and had her chin split open, forcing her to get medical attention. Elliot did not return until the third quarter.

The Bucs then consistently worked the ball inside. Junior Forward Alexa Williamson was a dominant force, scoring eight points in the frame. The Bucs were in total control of the game and led 17-4 at the end of the first quarter.

Vincentian fought back in the second. Six different players scored in the quarter. More noticeably, their defense started to pick it up, as Moncrief switched to a zone and forced the Bucs to play more from the outside. The game pace slowed down significantly and the Royals were able to climb back into the game.

Vincentian benefited from a slower type style. On the other side, Chartiers-Houston still had a relatively comfortable lead. They went into the half up eight points, 25-17. 

In the second half, game flow was clearly disrupted, with each team turning the ball over. Only 15 points were scored in the third quarter with Chartiers-Houston having 10 of those. Each team tried pressing on defense and press breaking on offense, but it kept leading to turnovers each way.

But Alexa Williamson just simply stood out for the Bucs. On top of being the tallest player on the court, she was clearly the best player. The Bucs found ways to attack and get her the ball down low. Along with Williamson, strong, physical play came from Kearia Walker. She contributed 10 points, 6 rebounds and consistently gave the Bucs an emotional spark. Chartiers-Houston started sensing how close they were to a title as they extended their lead to 35-22 entering the 4^th quarter.

The same story stood true in the final stanza as Williamson scored 8 more of her 22 total points. Bucs Coach Laura Montecalvo had to mentor her team a bit last year when Williamson went down with an injury. As she explained, “everyone had to get better.”

Although Williamson had 22 of the Bucs’ 47 points, contributions were they from Jala Walker and Maddie Simpson. Each player scored 4 points and put forth so many intangibles that don’t show on the score sheet. Walker and Simpson had to break the press most of the game, on top of finding ways to throw entry passes inside to Williamson. Vincentian fought hard throughout the contest, but could never overcome that early deficit. In fact, the Royals never led in the game.

Coach Montecalvo explained that her players had three key goals going into the season of a Section Championship, a WPIAL Championship and a PIAA Championship. They have the chance to get that PIAA title as they represent the top seed out of the WPIAL, and they should be a tough out as long as they play similar to they way they did in their victory over Vincentian.

Box Score:

CH – 47   VA – 35

By quarter:

1. CH – 17   VA – 4
2. CH – 8      VA – 13
3. CH – 10   VA – 5
4. CH – 12   VA – 13

Chartiers-Houston:

2 – Maddie Simpson 4 points 3 rebounds

11 – Keaira Walker 10 points 6 rebounds

14 – Jules Volcano 7 points 5 rebounds

21 – Macy Mazutiz 2 rebounds

23 – Jala Walker 4 points 3 rebounds

24 – Alexa Williamson 22 points 14 rebounds
 

Vincentian Academy:

12 – Tess Belko 7 points

20 – Hannah Sturgis 2 points 2 rebounds

21 – Katie Bartlett 5 points 9 rebounds

24 – Caroline Elliot 3 points 6 rebounds

30 – Olivia O’Brien 9 points 4 rebounds

33 – Marina Eyster 5 points 1 rebound

35 – Hannah Katz 4 points 3 rebounds

Tags: Chartiers-Houston, Vincentian Academy