Silver lining proved to be golden ticket to C-H’s success
Chartiers-Houston senior Madison Simpson is averaging nine points per game this season, reaching double figures 10 times for the Bucs.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston guard Jules Vulcano has scored in double figures seven times this season for the Bucs. She is averaging eight points per game.
Standing just behind Alexa Williamson as she crumbled to the E.J. McCluskey Gymnasium floor at Farrell High School two years ago, Chartiers-Houston’s Madison Simpson watched as her teammate clutched her knee as medical assistance rushed onto the basketball court.
A starter, along with current teammates Jules Vulcano and Keaira Walker, Simpson sat on the bench as a wide-eyed sophomore, shocked to watch the Bucs’ best player in Williamson lay in agony during the 2015 Farrell Christmas Tournament.
Not panicked, other than for the unknown of Williamson’s diagnosis, Chartiers-Houston coach Laura Montecalvo entered the silent huddle of worried stares of players, led by Simpson, gathered around the bench.
“What do we do now?” Simpson remembered thinking.
Not only did the promising future of Williamson look bleak, so did the final two months of the season for Chartiers-Houston, at least in the eyes of those in the huddle.
“My gut reaction was hoping Alexa didn’t tear her ACL, but honestly I wasn’t as afraid (for our team) as some people would think I would be,” Montecalvo said. “You have to be (in our program) to understand why. If you were to tell somebody we were going to make the state playoffs when she went down, they would probably have said you’re crazy. … We made the state playoffs.”
As the third-quarter buzzer sounded Tuesday night in Chartiers-Houston’s PIAA second-round game against Bishop McCort, those same players – now seniors – made their way over to the bench with Williamson forced to sit with foul trouble to begin the fourth quarter.
Montecalvo looked into the eyes of Simpson, which told a different story compared to the one they reflected more than two years ago.
“I could see that there was no way she was going to let us lose that game,” Montecalvo said.
Simpson played the best game of her four-year career, finishing with 18 points as Chartiers-Houston advanced to tonight’s quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. against Bellwood-Antis in Johnstown.
In the two months following that brutal injury for Williamson, whose sophomore season ended with rehab sessions and recovery rather than playing in games, Chartiers-Houston won eight of its last 12 games to qualify for the WPIAL and, eventually, state playoffs.
“We really had to lean on each other,” Simpson said. “We could always just give it to (Alexa) if we were ever in trouble. That wasn’t the case. We had to find it within ourselves to do better, to do things we might not be comfortable with. But in that situation, it was something we had to do.”
It also was just the start of creating something special.
“I told them then that there is a silver lining to everything,” Montecalvo said. “The silver lining was that they played nearly an entire season without (Alexa) and saw themselves as leaders. They saw themselves doing just as well. People were going to say, ‘No, you’re not’ to us making the state playoffs. These kids said, ‘Yes, we are.’ That was a defining moment.”
In the seasons since, led by the eventual leading scorer in school history in Williamson, the Bucs became only the third Washington County school to win a WPIAL girls basketball title in 2017. They then became only the second girls’ team from Washington County to appear in the WPIAL title game in back-to-back seasons, but did it in a slightly different fashion.
“It’s the consistency of work. It is kids at 8:30 a.m. on a summer day, day in and day out, showing up when it’s not mandatory,” Montecalvo said of the success. “It’s Jules Vulcano calling me two days after the Bellwood-Antis game last year and asking me to meet her at the gym. That is what lets you know you have a special group of kids.”
The maturation and extra work turned the Bucs into a team that has a seemingly different person join Williamson in double figures for any game.
When at least one other player scores in double figures, Chartiers-Houston is 14-1. With Williamson’s memorable 51-point performance in the Bucs’ opening state tournament game, Chartiers-Houston reached exactly the must-needed number for a win just from her. The Bucs are 18-0 when they score at least 51 points in a game this season.
“It’s nice to see more than one person scoring in double digits because that makes us hard to stop,” Vulcano said. “I don’t think there is pressure on us. We’ve been playing together since we were kids.”
Simpson averages nine points, and Vulcano is the third-highest scorer at eight points. The two have combined to score in double figures in 17 games, including four where they both reached at least 10 points.
Walker and Macy Mazutis, another senior who played a lot of minutes in previous seasons before replacing Jala Walker as the Bucs’ starting point guard, also have played significant roles. Walker averages 11 rebounds per game.
“You can’t put numbers on what Macy gives you,” Montecalvo said. “Her speed and explosiveness is the kind of stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. If you have a kid who’s willing to do that knowing they might not get (noticed), that is what makes a team great.
“They are just Houston kids. There isn’t any magic. It’s just hard work and kids who have stuck together no matter what. Like Tuesday night, when you’re on the ropes. If you don’t have each other, then what do you have? You can’t replace that.”