City of Basketball Love

Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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WEST CHESTER – It was a tale of two takeovers in the Ches-Mont semifinal matchup between Bishop Shanahan and West Chester Rustin's girls. 

First, it was sophomore Riley Stackhouse sparking Rustin. In the second half, the Knights relied on junior leader Laine McGurk.

The one-two punch proved pivotal for head coach Lauren Stackhouse's squad as Rustin picked up a 51-35 victory over Shanahan to move on to the Ches-Mont championship. 

McGurk’s big second half was a complete turnaround from her first-half performance. 

After going scoreless in the first half, the Drexel commit rebounded with an 18-point second-half which sparked Rustin (19-4) in their win. 

"Not seeing a basket go through the hoop really got to me in the first half," McGurk said. "At halftime, I was able to sit down and really think… My team really supported me the whole time, telling me to keep going."

During her cold spell in the first half, Stackhouse kept the Knights in it with 16 first-half points doing most of her damage from beyond the arc draining three first-half treys.

"I mean [Riley Stackhouse] really stepped up, we were looking for shots… we realized their zone was collapsing and the outside shot was open," McGurk said. 

As a freshman, Stackhouse — who finished with 18 points in the win — was strictly a junior varsity player, and as a first-year varsity player, she played a significant role in keeping Shanahan (14-9) at bay during McGurk's scoreless first half. Her scoring output was a major reason the Knights went into the locker room with a 23-22 lead.

"This year, she had to step up and be a starter which is really hard for someone that's younger," McGurk said of Stackhouse. "We have just been pushing her to be the best that she can be, and she didn't act like a sophomore today."

In the second half, once McGurk found her rhythm, the senior was equally impressive in the half-court and in transition, where the senior punctuated her night with a behind-the-back gather before laying it up for her 16th point. 

"It's something I do at practice. It's not just like a trick shot," McGurk said about her fancy finish. "I've never used it, but it came in handy tonight."

"That kid's capable of pretty much anything," Stackhouse said. "Nothing she does surprises me. She's the most athletic kid on any court she steps on."

With the win on Friday, the Knights will now take on Downingtown East on Tuesday in the Ches-Mont championship.

By Quarter
West Chester Rustin:  6   |  17  |   14   |  14  ||  51
Bishop Shanahan:      10  |  12  |    7   |   6   ||   35

Scoring
West Chester Rustin: L. McGurk 18, Stackhouse 18, Flynn 8, Costin 6, E. McGurk 1

Bishop Shanagan: Brown 14, Griffin 8, Oswald 8, Blumenthal 3, Wolf 2

~~~

Game Two: Downingtown East in familiar territory

Downingtown East punched their Ches-Mont championship ticket on the back of someone who's been there before.

Lauren Kent's 18 points led the Cougars to a 48-36 victory over Great Valley, and now Darren Domsohn's team has a chance to win their third league title in four years.

The Cougars (18-4) came into the Ches-Mont final four as the No. 1 overall seed and have been dominant in the league for four years straight, winning back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 they won the regular-season title, but the Ches-Mont playoffs were canceled due to the pandemic. 

Kent was a part of the 2020 championship team and believes that this year's squad is just as talented. And thanks to the pandemic, this year's Cougars team is closer off the court than in years past and that chemistry has driven this year's success.

Another factor in the team's success is Ari Smuda. On Friday, the junior scored 13 points, and once Great Valley's (14-9) defense began to collapse around her, Kent and the other Cougars began to attack. 

The Cougars' aggressiveness was rewarded with 20 second-half free throws. Kent was particularly impressive at the line going 9-14 from the charity stripe in the game. 

"[Free throws] are really important to our game because we're driving based team, and we have to make sure we can get those free points whenever we can," Kent said. 

"They were kind of collapsing on Ari, which is our main source of points in the paint. So all of us collectively knew we had to go at their best players, and we got some of them in foul trouble which was key."

Now East’s players have to prepare for a championship matchup against West Chester Rustin, the same team that knocked them out of the first round of districts last year.

"Rustin's a solid team; they're very good, they're well coached. I know they're going to be prepared, so I know it's going to be a tough matchup for us," Domsohn said. "But I'm looking forward to it, and I know our girls are going to be ready to play."

By Quarter
Downingtown East:  5  |  13  |  17   |  13 ||  48
Great Valley:            6  |   9   |  13   |   8  ||  36

Scoring
Downingtown East : Kent 18, Smuda 13, Denning 11, Hewitt 3, Ford 3

Great Valley: Lum 17, DiPrinzo 6, Curley 5, Siotis 4, Eisenhardt 2, Powell