City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)

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PHILADELPHIA — It was a core day for Jefferson women’s basketball.

Personal trainers love to tout the importance of the core muscles and for good reason, as everything either attaches to or stems from them. There’s a similar thinking for a sports team, a core group of players serving as the hub with everything else attached to or stemming from them.

Sunday, hosting No. 9 West Chester in an early season clash of two of the best Division II teams in the area, No. 11 Jefferson leaned on its core group to pick up an impressive 75-63 win.

“I felt that core five had to stay in there,” Jefferson coach Tom Shirley said. “We have a good team, we have good players coming off the bench but today was a core-five game.

The host Rams’ core — its five starters — provided the requisite stability as all five hit double figures in scoring and put in the reps on defense. Haley Meinel led the way with 19 points, the reigning CACC Player of the Year posting another stat-stuffing line that included four blocks, four steals and five assists, while junior Sam Yencha continued her terrific start to the season with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Cassie Murphy scored 13 points, Emma Kuczynski posted 12 and Morgan Robinson tallied 11 to round out the core. The Rams like their bench — Emily Spratt and Tori Nigro had two points each for the only bench scoring — and there will be games where the reserves get their chance to flex a little bit, but with two teams holding NCAA Tournament aspirations duking it out Sunday, Jefferson needed its strongest group.

“We’ve been together since the COVID year,” Yencha said. “The chemistry we have, you only get that through three or four years.”

Shirley summed it up another way.

“If you want to fight one of them, you’re going to have to fight 13 of them,” she said.

Jefferson’s defense was also a major factor in the outcome. The Rams kept West Chester to just 24 points in the second half and scoreless over the final 3:01 of the fourth quarter after Michelle Kozicki’s three-point play cut the lead to 66-63.

Shirley emphasized the game would likely be decided on the 3-point line. West Chester wants to get attempts up from deep, the Golden Rams averaging 26 looks from 3 per game going in, but hit just 4-of-20 from 3 Sunday.

“You’ve gotta have enough stuff in your bag that you can pick and choose what fits for what situations,” Shirley said. “I thought the zone with that particular lineup, especially Meinel up top because she has so much length, fit for us there.”

West Chester did have four in double figures, paced by 20 points and eight boards from Emily McAteer, who at times looked unstoppable against the Jefferson defense. Anna McTamney added 15, Kozicki added 11 points and nine rebounds and Leah Johnson went for 10 points.

Jayde Boyd was the only other West Chester player to score, chipping in seven as all 63 points came from the starting five.

While the Golden Rams were only charged with 14 turnovers, they certainly had an impact beyond just giving the ball away.  It became a maelstrom of turnovers, missed shots, missed chances to get a stop and so on that ended up creating the final margin. 

“What showed in this game was that we haven’t had any close contests yet. Jefferson had their matchup with Kutztown, which was a close game throughout for the most part; our games early on haven’t come down to the wire where it was on us executing,” WCU coach Kiera Wooden said. “I think, honestly, we got a bit tight in our sneakers. I’ll give credit to Jefferson’s defense, but the wide-open layups in transition, I’m expecting us to make those and we’re missing those, putting a little too much pressure on ourselves because we weren’t getting stops on the defensive end we needed to.

“Instead of thinking about making a bucket, we’re thinking about what we did wrong.”

The Golden Rams had a 10-0 first-quarter run and a 12-2 second-quarter run, the latter giving West Chester a 33-21 lead when McAteer scored on a fourth-straight possession with 4:05 left in the first half. After halftime, its largest runs were a pair of 5-0 spurts, it only held the lead once and was tied briefly after a McTamney 3 to open the fourth. A 6-0 Jefferson run put the hosts in front for good.

Jefferson didn’t have any huge scoring runs in the second half either, but a couple 6-0 jolts and enough timely scores in between kept West Chester a few possessions away until the final three minutes. While the Rams were just 2-of-12 from 3, the two makes coming from Meinel in a 10-0 second-quarter run that got Jefferson back into the game. The CACC side still shot 50.8% for the game.

Inside the arc, the Rams hit 60% of their looks and were good in the midrange. Yencha, who splashed a couple jumpers in the intermediate area during the fourth quarter, explained it’s something the program emphasizes and all the core players are confident in doing.

“What makes us really unique as a team is that we don’t have to rely on the 3-point shot to be successful,” Yencha said. “Basketball nowadays is all about the 3 or the post — you see most teams rely on a post or the 3-point shot, but with us, we’re such a versatile team that we still have one or two 3-point shooters, but want to get to the basket, play through the post and make those midrange jump shots.”

The way Shirley tells the story, he found Yencha when he wasn’t looking for her. When the Rams’ coach goes to an AAU event to scout or evaluate, he has his list of players he wants to see but also always takes a few blocks to just pick games and watch.

That’s where he saw Yencha and knew within minutes she was a Jefferson player, her tenacity for rebounding sticking out in particular. 

“Personally, I try to play both ends of the floor well,” Yencha said. “Getting second-chance opportunities for my time, that’s a really big thing because getting multiple shots in a possession, you just have a higher chance of scoring in that possession.”

Sunday was a core day for Jefferson, but the core doesn't get stronger unless it’s getting regular work in. Yencha would know; she worked her way into the core group last year but made sure to credit the second team and reserve players that are battling her every rep in practice every day so they’re ready.

Jefferson’s core has also been together through four or five years now, thanks to the program generally redshirting freshmen when they come in and building them up. Most of the older players share a house off-campus, and as Shirley likes to tell them, they’ll be in each other’s weddings.

It’s a built-up chemistry, so when the Rams need a core day, they know what they’re getting.

“Having gone to the NCAAs two years ago and winning a game, then going last year, winning two games and getting into the Sweet 16, the desire is to go back to the Sweet 16 and beyond, get to the Elite Eight or a Final Four,” Shirley said. “They are focused on we’re going back and we’re going to go a step further. They want to win a CACC championship, we haven’t won one the last two years and this group is also coming up on 100 wins together.”

JEFFERSON 17 21 16 21 - 75

WEST CHESTER 19 20 12 12 - 63

Scorers

J: Haley Meinel 19, Sam Yencha 16, Cassie Murphy 13, Morgan Robinson 12, Emm Kuczynski 11, Emily Spratt 2, Tori Nigro 2

WC: Emily McAteer 20, Anna McTamney 15, Michelle Kozicki 11, Leah Johnson 10, Jayde Boyd 7