Allderdice girls capture 3rd straight City League title

By: George Guido
Saturday, February 15, 2020 | 2:17 PM

The Allderdice girls basketball team has relied on a balanced scoring attack this season.

That proved to be the case again Saturday afternoon as the Dragons won their third consecutive City League championship, 57-36, over Westinghouse at Petersen Events Center.

It is the 15th City League title for Allderdice.

Every Allderdice starter made a field goal by the time the Dragons (22-2) built a 14-2 advantage five minutes into the game.

The Bulldogs (15-6) committed 13 turnovers in the first half. Westinghouse, however, outscored Allderdice, 8-2, in the second quarter to pull within 10 points but couldn’t get any closer.

The Dragons went seven minutes without scoring but didn’t let the Bulldogs reduce their lead to single digits.

“It was ugly, but we got it done,” Allderdice coach Ellen Guillard said with a hearty laugh. “We’re excellent in transition. That’s our thing. That’s our game. When transition is going, the confidence builds for half-court, and it opens everything up. I’m just thankful we won after that dry spell.”

Westinghouse coach Phyllis Jones: “We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, and that’s what hurt us. We tried to get it to single digits but just couldn’t do it.”

Another problem was center Khamille Andrews picking up two fouls early and being held to only one first-half field goal.

“That messed up our rotation,” Jones said. “We didn’t want the fouls there and the turnovers, and that’s what kind of the downfall right there.”

Allderdice was 1 of 16 shooting in the second quarter.

Nautica Burwell’s basket ended the lengthy Dragons scoring drought with 5:31 left in the third quarter. Burwell scored six of Allderdice’s 12 points in the third period.

The Dragons committed nine turnovers in the third quarter, but Westinghouse was unable to take advantage of Allderdice mistakes.

With 25 seconds left in the third period, Andrews drove the right baseline and scored. But the basket was waved off with an offensive foul, her fourth, and she didn’t return until there was five minutes left in the game. By that time, Allderdice had built a 41-28 lead.

Sophia North led the Dragons with 15 points, including 5 of 6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Emma Waite added 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Burwell finished with 11.

“We have five people that average 10 points or more a game,” Guillard said. “It can be anyone’s night at any given time. It’s all well-rounded. We have a lot of weapons.”

Zaniya Murray came off the bench and recorded four steals, and Kiera Coleman led Allderdice with eight rebounds.

Makitah Logan had 10 points for Westinghouse, the team’s only double-digit scorer. Andrews was held to seven points, but she grabbed eight rebounds, the same as Ashanti Richardson.

Westinghouse(15-6) was seeking its 21st league title.

Both teams will enter the PIAA tournaments play-in games the week of Feb. 24.

Tags: Allderdice, Westinghouse