City of Basketball Love

Konner Metz (@konner_metz)
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West Chester East is showing the difference a year can make.

Last February, the team finished its campaign with only five wins, and didn’t qualify for the District 1 5A playoffs.

Fast forward one year, and head coach Erin Listrani is spearheading a turnaround. Not only did the Vikings qualify for districts, but they’re advancing past the first round thanks to a convincing 57-36 triumph over Oxford on Friday night.

“Oh my gosh, we had ‘All I Do Is Win’ playing right away,” junior guard Annie Kerns said after emerging from the locker room, grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah, we were super hyped.”

Certainly, the Vikings deserved that exciting postgame celebration. They didn’t just win, but did so without any doubt.

No. 9 East led wire-to-wire in a road environment at No. 8 Oxford, using a suffocating defense to close off passing lanes and steal valuable possessions, forcing the Hornets into 21 turnovers and a 1-of-14 mark from beyond the arc. 

It was a must-win contest for both squads in the D1 5A bracket – Oxford’s (12-11) season is now over, while East (13-10) secured a date with No. 1 West Chester Rustin on Tuesday, and at the very least, a spot in the play-back portion of the bracket that will determine which six teams qualify for states.

Listrani kept emphasizing just how antsy her girls were to get back on the court after a 13-day layoff from their regular season finale on Feb. 4. Every practice during the long break from game action was high-energy, she said.

“The two weeks off, they were going crazy, just chomping at the bit,” Listrani said. “So whoever was in front of them tonight, I think we would’ve had the same result, because they were just that fired up.”

And it wasn’t just a one-or-two-person effort. The Vikings got productive minutes from just about everyone who stepped foot on the court. Kerns led the way with 12 points, and sophomores Annalise Kubasko and Sofia Keith each added 10. Kubasko nailed two triples, and Keith had five field goals in the paint, a mismatch standing at 6-1 against the undersized Hornets interior.

Freshman Lauren Horan started off with a bang, scoring seven first-quarter points, helping her team to an 11-0 start and a 17-4 lead after the opening frame. Kerns got going from the free-throw line (six made FTs on the night) in the second quarter, while jumpers from Kayla Miller and Carly Bickle helped East stretch the gap to 36-14 by halftime.

But the Vikings were no strangers to a lead on Oxford at the half. These teams squared off Dec. 8, and despite a six-point edge at halftime, Oxford used a 17-1 run on East to storm back and secure a 49-38 victory that night.

This time around, there was no such scare.

The Hornets only managed seven third-quarter points, and continued to be plagued by turnovers and missed threes throughout the second half, allowing East to seal the blowout victory.

“When you look back at the regular season, there’s a couple games you wish you could’ve gotten back, and this was one of them,” Listrani said. “So yeah, we definitely talked a lot about what we did wrong that first game. But we also know we’re a much better team than we were in the second game this season.

“It starts on defense and the kids have really bought into that as the season’s gone on, and it showed. That was the key to our success tonight.”

Listrani recognizes that her team is still “relatively young,” but the experiences from rough times last year and even some rough games this season are now working to the Vikings’ favor. 

Experience-wise, it all begins with senior guard and captain Mikayla Kushner. She may have had a relatively quiet game Friday night – 7 points plus a couple impressive dimes to teammates – but she’s a cornerstone of East basketball day-in, day-out.

Kushner had a season-ending knee injury last year, a blow considering she was an all-league player her freshman and sophomore seasons. However, she’s healthy now, and along with having the chance to finish off her career on a high note, she serves as a crucial senior presence in a young starting lineup (composed of the junior Kerns, sophomores Kubasko and Keith, and the freshman Horan).

“Mikayla is a very large part of the reason we are so successful this year,” Kerns said of her teammate. “She’s a rock out on the floor, things are calm when she’s out there. She looks for the ball and she keeps things together on the offense.”

“Everything for the past four years, just being able to come back and keep going [is great],” Kushner said. “We’re not wanting our season to end.”

Kushner’s return this year has certainly propelled East to new heights and marked improvements from a down 2021-2022 season. Oxford, despite a tough end at its home court, had a similar year-to-year arc.

Coach Paul Day’s squad was also a five-win school last season, meaning a return to the playoffs was already an accomplishment itself. Senior Olivia Voss tacked on a game-high 13 points, but the sophomore-heavy Hornets could never find a rhythm bringing the ball up the court or in their halfcourt offense.

“Now we’re working on reloading and getting ready for next year,” Day said after the loss. “We got an offseason starting in a month.

“We went from 5-16 last year to 12-10, and we had a couple of top five teams that we lost by a couple buckets. From our perspective, we’re three or four wins away from being 15 wins on the season, something we’re very proud of.”

As Oxford’s season closes, the Vikings’ postseason may just be getting started. Rustin, led by Drexel commit Laine McGurk, hoisted the Ches-Mont league trophy last week, and defeated East handedly back in January, a 53-36 home win for the Golden Knights.

A challenge? Undoubtedly. But it’s a test that the upstart, energetic Vikings squad aren’t backing down from.

“We definitely have a challenge in front of us with Rustin,” Listrani said. “It’s a team we know well and we respect a lot. It’s whoever’s up next, really, at this point.”

“It’s great to be the underdog, because if no one’s expecting you, you gotta do it yourself,” said Kerns. “We’re coming for Rustin.”

By Quarter
Oxford:  4  | 10  |  7  | 15 ||  36
East:    17  | 19  |  8  | 13 ||  57
Scoring
Oxford: Olivia Voss 13, Kaia Patterson 8, McKenna Frank 5, Kate Kline 4, Jordan Eshleman 4, Caroline Tipton 2

East: Annie Kerns 12, Annalise Kubasko 10, Sofia Keith 10, Lauren Horan 9, Mikayla Kushner 7, Kayla Miller 3, Carly Bickle 2, Lyla Flowers 2, Jada Cooper 2

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District 1 5A First Round (Girls)
5) Upper Moreland 52, 12) Strath Haven 35
9) West Chester East 57, 8) Oxford 36
11) Phoenixville 46, 6) Radnor 37
7) Mount St. Joseph’s 62, 10) Marple Newtown 42

District 1 5A Second Round (Girls) — Tues., Feb. 21
1) West Chester Rustin vs. 9) West Chester East
4) Gwynedd Mercy vs. 5) Upper Moreland
2) Bishop Shanahan vs. 7) Mount St. Joseph
3) Vila Maria vs. 11) Phoenixville