Different year, same story: C-H has season ended by Bellwood-Antis
Chartiers-Houston walks off the court after its loss to Bellwood-Antis.
Chartiers-Houston’s Alexa Williamson and her teammates walk off the court after their season-ending loss to Bellwood-Antis during a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal game at Greater Johnstown High School.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/ Observer-Reporter
Alexa Williamson weaves through Bellwood-Antis' defense en route to a layup in the second quarter. The senior scored 29 points in her last high school game.
Senior forward Alexa Williamson attempts a reverse layup in the second quarter.
Alexa Williamson makes a jumper over two Bellwood-Antis defenders.
Bellwood-Antis' Alli Campbell makes a layup against Chartiers-Houston's Alexa Williamson, left, and Macy Mazutis. The sophomore guard scored 23 points for the Blue Devils.
Senior guard Madison Simpson drives to the hoop in the first quarter.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/ Observer- Reporter
Luke Campbell/Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston coach Laura Montecalvo hugs Madison Simpson after the senior exits her last high school basketball game.
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JOHNSTOWN – The key for this game was not playing from behind for the Chartiers-Houston girls basketball team.
But that is all the Bucs did.
As Bellwood-Antis turned up the heat, Chartiers-Houston had no answer until it was too late.
Playing suffocating defense in the first half to force 15 turnovers, Bellwood-Antis built a big lead, took command and basically made a sequel of last year’s dominating performance to defeat Chartiers-Houston, 63-48, in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal game Friday night at Greater Johnstown High School.
Jacob Calvin Meyer
Staff writer
jmeyer@observer-reporter.com
Chartiers-Houston head coach Laura Montecalvo discusses Chartiers-Houston’s season-ending loss to Bellwood-Antis in the PIAA girls basketball quarterfinals.
It was the second straight season the Blue Devils ended Chartiers-Houston’s season, with last year’s loss coming exactly 365 days ago. Last year, the Blue Devils defeated the Bucs by 14 points in the second round of the state tournament by using the same tactic: a smothering defense.
“We knew we had to take care of the ball and try to slow them down offensively,” said C-H coach Laura Montecalvo. “That’s hard to do when they make a three, their crowd goes crazy and there is all that noise. We just didn’t do a good job of executing what we were trying to do in the first half.”
While Bellwood-Antis (26-3), which advances to the state semifinals Monday, sank the Bucs last year with three-point shooting, the Blue Devils took advantage of every turnover it created. They took a lead less than three minutes into the game that would never be surrendered, thanks in large part to shooting 16 of 26 from the field in the first half.
Playing with three fouls to open the second quarter, Bellwood-Antis’ star point guard Alli Campbell took the game over. Campbell scored eight points, separated by a pair of threes from Tina Hollen, as the Blue Devils went on a 14-6 run in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
They then ended a dominating opening 16 minutes with an 18-point lead, 38-20, after two layups from Sakeria Haralson and a floater from Riley D’Angelo with 25 seconds remaining.
“We thought we had an advantage (in the backcourt),” said Bellwood-Antis coach Jim Swaney. “We thought we could force Chartiers-Houston into some turnovers. That’s part of our game. We want to get after teams defensively and turn it into points. We rely much more on our pressure this year. We did a good job of that in the first half.”
The second quarter, when Bellwood-Antis made 10 of its 14 shots, provided enough of a cushion when the Bucs began to mount a comeback.
Turning to full-court pressure of its own to start the second half, Chartiers-Houston (21-7) created the opportunities, forcing eight turnovers in the third quarter to slowly chip away at a deficit that reached 20 points.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/Observer-Reporter
Jacob Calvin Meyer/Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston’s Alexa Williamson drives to the basket against several Bellwood-Antis defenders during Friday’s game.
Keaira Walker and Alexa Williamson, the two players who finished in double figures for the Bucs, combined to score 12 points in the final four minutes of the quarter as C-H went on a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to 10 points, 48-38.
“We executed our full-court press very well on a team that’s pretty darn good offensively,” Montecalvo said. “Our efforts in the second half was fantastic. That was really just a whole bunch of heart. That’s what got us back in the game.”
When Williamson made another layup to open the fourth quarter – she finished with a game-high 29 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks – the deficit was cut to single digits for the first time since six minutes remained in the second quarter.
“I told the kids in between quarters that good teams are going to make a run back at you,” Swaney said. “They did. The luxury of it was that we were entering the fourth quarter and it was still a four possession game. We were still working off of the good work we had in the first half. We held our composure and hung on in the fourth quarter.”
The eight-point deficit on Williamson’s opening, fourth-quarter field goal was the closest the Bucs would get as Bellwood-Antis played keep away for much of the final minutes with skillful passing.
Campbell, who didn’t pick up another foul the remainder of the game, finished with 23 points. Haralson and Hollen also finished in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston head coach Laura Montecalvo hugs senior Madison Simpson after she exits the game.
Bellwood-Antis shot better than 50 percent from the field for the game, while Chartiers-Houston ended the game with 22 turnovers.
“When you have that much of an excellent shooting team, it makes it tough to crawl back into games. One of our goals was to not play from behind against them,” Montecavlo said. “All it takes is a couple of shots. And when they are shooting that well it makes it nearly impossible to come back.
“I just left them with a huge thank you for all the hard work and all of the memories,” Montecalvo continued about her team’s 82-29 record over the last four seasons. “I think they’ve created something at Chartiers-Houston that won’t be forgotten and can’t be replaced.”