Chartiers-Houston, Vincentian battle again for WPIAL title
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
With Alexa Willaimson, left, who now plays at Temple University, Chartiers-Houston made the WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball championship game each of the last two seasons. The Bucs’ opponent in those two games was Vincentian Academy.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Keaira Walker chases down a loose ball during last year’s WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball championship.
Not much has changed from the last time the girls basketball teams from Chartiers-Houston and Vincentian Academy played for a title.
Chartiers-Houston forward Alexa Williamson and Vincentian point guard Caroline Elliot, the two leading scorers for each team, will be featured in the matchup.
In fact, only two starters from last year’s WPIAL Class 2A final – the Bucs defeated the five-time defending champion 47-35 to win their first title – won’t be playing when the two teams meet at 5 p.m. tonight with another championship on the line at Peterson Events Center.
“Vincentian is a lot the same,” said C-H coach Laura Montecalvo. “Caroline Elliot is their best scorer. They have a few kids under the hoop that can battle. It is the same core of kids that played last year, which makes for an interesting matchup.”
Another factor Montecalvo hopes repeats itself is the red-hot start the Bucs had in last year’s championship.
Chartiers-Houston jumped out to a 9-2 lead less than 90 seconds into the game, held a 17-4 lead after the first quarter and never trailed Vincentian, which many believed to be the prohibitive favorite.
“We missed some easy buckets and turned the ball over,” said Vincentian coach Ron Moncrief. “Chartiers-Houston was a very good team. They capitalized, and we couldn’t stop them. We have to pay attention to details, take care of the ball, defend, rebound and play as a team on both ends of the floor this time.”
Elliot, who missed a majority of last year’s game after splitting open her chin battling for a rebound, leads top-seeded Vincentian (22-1) by averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. She replaced Madison Very, who suffered a knee injury prior to her senior season.
“Losing (Caroline) last year for significant minutes hurt us a lot,” Moncrief said. “We lost our best player. That put a wrinkle into our offense and defense. We have to understand basketball is a game of runs. Chartiers-Houston is a good team, again. They are going to get their points, and we just have to have longer runs in the end than them.”
For Vincentian to minimize the streaks of third-seeded Chartiers-Houston (19-5), it will likely mean trying to slow down the WPIAL’s leading scorer in Williamson, who is averaging more than 30 points per game.
Williamson scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the win last March.
“We have to put pressure on their guards and make it hard to get the ball to her,” Moncrief said. “She is one of the best players in the area. We have to make her take tough shots. She is going to her touches and points, but we have to make it difficult.”
Unlike a season ago, the Bucs rely on slowing the tempo and running a half-court offense, something they were almost forced to do with the graduation of point guard Jala Walker.
A slower pace has Chartiers-Houston only eighth in scoring per game in Class 2A at 53.4 points.
“This year has been a little different because we’ve had to fight tooth and nail,” Montecalvo said. “We have improved in the half court and are able to run offensive sets and show more patience. We depended on a ton of transition points last year. We have adapted. We have grown.
“We just can’t have a half where we let (Vincentian) win the boards, because that’s something we depend on every night.”