Feb 17, 2016 4 min read

MCMURRAY – As Jules Vulcano pumped her fist and gave a wry smile to the rest of her Chartiers-Houston teammates following an old-fashioned three-point play in the middle of the third quarter, the Bucs knew they had a chance.

Keaira Walker sealed the deal with a breakaway layup with seven seconds remaining to lift the Bucs over Washington, 49-48, in their WPIAL Class AA high school girls first-round playoff game at Peters Township High School.

Following a Mikala Maltony free throw with 14 seconds left that put the Prexies ahead 48-47, Keaira Walker got behind the Washington defense for the game-winner, the only points for the Bucs in the fourth quarter not scored by Jala Walker.

It marked a big mistake for the Prexies, who had beaten the Bucs, 47-37, in an exhibition game last month.

“We got rattled a little bit,” said Wash High head coach Mike Maltony. “We concentrated too much on (Jala) Walker (in the beginning) and let the other players get away from us.”

That was the plan for the Prexies, who finish their season at 18-5, going in with the Bucs (17-6) playing without star forward Alexa Williamson. With Williamson, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Dec. 30, Jala Walker had provided much of the spark for Chartiers-Houston’s offense.

Washington implemented a box-and-one defense to try and force Chartiers-Houston to find secondary scoring, a strategy that was successful in the earlier meeting.

But Chartiers-Houston, which advances to face top-seeded OLSH in Friday’s quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined, expected the tactic and adjusted accordingly.

“We told them while preparing that (Wash High) was going to try and take Jala out of the game,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Laura Montecalvo. “It was going to take one or two other people to step up and have a high scoring night, something that could have been out of their comfort zone; maybe do some things that they wouldn’t do if we had both Williamson and Jala Walker.”

Vulcano’s 15-point and four-rebound performance not only took the Prexies out of their defensive game plan, but it forced Wash High to play a more conventional defense. And Jala Walker took advantage by scoring 11 of Chartiers-Houston’s 13 points in the fourth quarter. She finished with a team-high 18 points after being held to four in the first half.

The Prexies finished the second quarter on a 7-0 run highlighted by a Nicole Hoffman three-pointer with 19 seconds remaining to take a 24-20 lead.

But Vulcano scored the first seven points of the third quarter to put the Bucs ahead 27-24 and force the Prexies to switch to a press defense.

“We knew we just had to have confidence in our shots,” said Vulcano. “I knew I had to take it to the hoop, be aggressive and get them in foul trouble.”

Chartiers-Houston handled the half-court press well, something that Montecalvo credits the Bucs preparation from their 12 section games.

“Our section play all year was tough, seeing both the full and half-court pressure really prepared our kids for any pressure they were going to see in the playoffs,” said Montecalvo.

Senior Tajah Gordon led the Prexies with 18 points and collected six rebounds. Hoffman also scored 13 points for Washington, which had issues with players being in foul trouble.

“I couldn’t ask for a bunch of nicer girls,” said Maltony as he fought back his tears. “I go home with a headache sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade these girls for anybody. It has been a very special season. Tonight is hard.”

The Bucs, who made a strong run in the playoffs last year, wanted to show they still are a team to be reckoned with, even without Williamson.

“Defensively, we knew we were the better team tonight, we just had to show it,” said Vulcano. “This is a big win and we didn’t want our season to end. It is a lot better that this next game isn’t far away so we don’t have to wait. If we can do what we did tonight, especially in the beginning, we can beat them.”