City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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WEST CHESTER — West Chester Henderson girls basketball had just lost to Coatesville on Jan. 4, and senior guard and leader Whitney Evans decided to text her teammates.

Evans and fellow senior Jackie Shea knew something had to be done about how their team was playing. The cathartic moment came in a classroom. It was done calmly, maturely. It was done without Warriors’ head coach Greta Neff, who was booted from the players-only meeting when she attempted to poke her head in to see what was happening.

If there was a turning point in the Warriors’ season, that little classroom session may have been it.

Since then, Henderson has won 12 straight games, topped off by the Warriors’ 51-44 victory over West Chester East Tuesday night in the Ches-Mont League Tournament championship at West Chester University’s Hollinger Field House.

The West Chester Henderson girls basketball team poses with its trophy following a win over West Chester East in the Ches-Mont League championship game on Tuesday at West Chester. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“I don’t think we would be here right now if we didn’t have that meeting and continued to play the way we were,” Evans said. “We weren’t playing the way we could. The meeting had to take place. I spoke about aggressiveness and how we needed to work together, and it was encouraging. I needed to change in getting my teammates more involved and be more of a leader. This is not a team of basketball players; it is a team of athletes.

“This is a great way to go out as a winner. It’s surreal.”

It marked the first time since 2018 that the Warriors won the Ches-Mont League championship, when Shea’s older sisters Abbey and Ellie played for the Warriors.

Jackie Shea remembers watching from the stands as an 11-year-old sixth grader.

“It feels great being a part of history,” she said. “We were always in the Henderson gym. I would see the 2018 team up there on the banner. None of the girls on this team ever won this. We hit a turning point after the Coatesville loss. Everyone put in the work.”

It did not start too well for Henderson (20-5). The Warriors were down 12-5 after the first quarter but took their first lead on a driving Evans’ layup with 35 seconds left in the half.

From there, Henderson never trailed again. The Warriors held a 23-22 lead at the outset of the third quarter, then responded with a 7-0 run to seize control.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game, everyone in this league is well coached and have good players,” said Neff, who is in her 10th season. “I thought the turning point in the season came when everyone took ownership. As for this game, I was not certain until there was around 30 seconds left. The kids had to step up and take ownership, and they did.

“Our 2018 team was so special. We won the district championship and this team came around. We lost to Archbishop Wood in the state quarterfinals, and I remember saying to my assistant (Amy) Buda about a week ago that this team was beginning to remind me of the 2018 team.”

The Warriors got great balance from Evans’ 17 points, Jackie Shea’s 14 and Ari Rivera’s 10 points. Sofia Keith led East (17-7) with 12 points, while Annalise Kubasko chipped in with 11.

East did make another push, getting to within 40-37 with 4:56 to play. Then Evans took over, scoring six of the Warriors’ last 11 points, going 4-for-4 from the line in the last 30 seconds to seal it.

“We didn’t play with the edge that we normally do, so credit to Henderson,” East coach Erin Listrani said. “We didn’t match or exceed their energy. That’s what got us this far. We play with energy and an edge, and I don’t know if was the moment or what it was. We just seemed not ourselves. We slapped first, but we certainly did not slap back.

“We’ll be fine. This is a resilient group. We’ll be fine. I know that we are not done. This will hurt, of course. They worked hard to get to this game, and we have bigger goals as well.”

By Quarter

Henderson: 5 | 18 | 15 | 13 || 51

West Chester East: 12 | 10 | 13 | 9 || 44

Scoring

Henderson: Whitney Evans 17, Jackie Shea 14, Ari Rivera 10, Lilli Bertrando 6, Mary Kate Killoran 2, Gabrielle Nanni 2.

WC East: Sofia Keith 12, Annalise Kubasko 11, Lauren Horan 7, Carly Bickle 6, Annie Kerns 6, Kayla Cochran 2.

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.