Dec 8, 2017 4 min read

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Everyone knows Alexa Williamson is the strength of Chartiers-Houston’s girls basketball team.

The 6-2 senior forward is taller than almost any player she will go against all season, and her success with the Bucs has given her the opportunity to play for Temple University.

But in their season-opener Friday night, it wasn’t Williamson who took over the game, but rather two 20-point scorers on Canon-McMillan’s team.

Senior Izzy Allen and junior Tamara Mathis scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, to lead the Big Macs, a Class 6A school, to a 52-34 win over reigning WPIAL Class AA champion Chartiers-Houston in the the Trinity Tournament.

“Izzy’s a great player. Izzy can hurt you because she can play guard, too. … She can get you from the inside, and she can get you from the outside,” C-M’s first-year head coach Shawn Urbano said. “Tamara is one of the best point guards I’ve coached. Her speed is unbelievable. She’s smart and she’s savvy, so this year we put her in a leadership role where she’s going control the tempo.”

Canon-Mac will take on Trinity, which defeated Moon 56-26 later Friday night, in the championship game today at 4 p.m., while Chartiers-Houston will play Moon in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m.

Mathis, one of the smaller players on the court, said she is always trying to use her speed to her advantage.

“My speed just makes it easier to get to the hoop,” Mathis said. “Not a lot of teams know how to stop speed, so it’s easier to get there.”

Canon-Mac led 9-2 early in the game and didn’t relinquish the lead until midway through the second quarter. The Big Macs responded, though, going on an 11-3 run to end the first half to enter halftime ahead 24-19.

The teams combined to score 11 points in the third quarter, with neither team scoring a field goal in the first seven minutes of the quarter. To finish the game, the Big Macs outscored the Bucs 20-12 in the fourth quarter.

Williamson scored 17 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and stole six passes. Despite Williamson’s solid offensive output, the Bucs struggled getting the ball to her in the post for most of the game. C-H head coach Laura Montecalvo said the other four players on the court have to be able to score to take away the defense’s triple-teams on Williamson.

“We have to be able to do those other things, like shoot the ball and drive to the basket, in order to open up the lane for Alexa,” Montecalvo said. “If other people aren’t offensive threats, then we won’t have success getting the ball to her.”

Trinity, 56-26

If anyone was expecting a first-game hangover from PIAA Class 5A runner-up Trinity, then that’s the opposite of what they got.

Sophomore Riley DeRubbo scored 16 points and the Hillers’ defense didn’t allow double-digit points in any quarter to defeat Moon 56-26 and advance to the championship against Canon-McMillan.

Trinity head coach Bob Miles said DeRubbo is a multi-faceted offensive player.

“Riley’s a scorer. There are shooters, and then there are scorers,” Miles said. “She can shoot it from the outside, and she can take it to the basket. She’s unselfish, too. She made a couple nice passes out there that led to some easy shots inside for us.”

Miles said he tells his team that if it can keep the opponent to 35 points or fewer, then they put themselves in a great chance to win any basketball game.

“We were happy with the defense,” Miles said. “We played our gaps tonight. There were a few switch exchanges we got lost on, but we’ll work out. Also, Alayna (Cappelli) and Riley are the only returning starters, so the other three out there are learning on the fly.”

While DeRubbo led the Hillers in scoring, three other players scored eight or more points, as Cappelli, Maddie Chakos and senior Jayme Britton scored 12, nine and eight points, respectively.

“That’s what we’re hoping for. We don’t want to be a one-dimensional team,” Miles said. “We know that teams are going to start looking at Riley and start trying to take Alayna away, so we have to start getting those other girls involved into it.”