City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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VILLANOVA >> In Jasmine Bascoe, Villanova knew it was getting a pretty complete player.

The freshman guard has played above her years all season long on the Main Line and her last appearance at Finneran Pavilion this year showed off a little bit of everything she can do. From facilitator to scorer, from blistering pace to patient resolve and even from rebounder to takeaway artist, there wasn’t much Portland could do to slow Bascoe in Thursday night’s WBIT quarterfinal.

The Pilots didn’t go quietly but their stellar season came to an end at the hands of Bascoe and the Wildcats in a 71-61 win that sent Villanova to its second straight WBIT final four.

“Honestly, it’s just making the right reads,” Bascoe said. “In the first half, my teammates were getting open and as a point guard, I gotta hit them. In the second half when they kind of changed their defense up, it allowed more opportunity for me to iso from the top of it, which is one of my strengths.”

Bascoe finished with an even 20 points, her eighth time this season going for 20 or more points and the 5-foot-7 guard added five rebounds, eight assists and four steals. In the first half, Bascoe was equal parts giver and taker, the freshman doling out seven of her eight assists before halftime while also racking up three of her four steals in the same timeframe.

That third was a notable one, Bascoe’s 64th takeaway of the season giving her the freshman single season steals record that had stood since the 1980-81 season. Bascoe said it’s just an accolade; her focus was on making sure her teammates playing for a final time at the Finn went out the right way.

“We’ve played so many close games this year, we practice it all the time too, so we know what to do in those situations,” Bascoe said. “It’s the trust we have in each other, knowing they’re going to go on a run but as long as we all stick together, we’re all talking and if we listen to Denise, we’ll be ok.

“It gets a little rocky sometimes but we always find a way to pick it up.”

Wildcats head coach Denise Dillon, sitting to her point guard’s left, smiled.

“Smart girl,” the fifth-year Villanova coach said, the two sharing a laugh.

Bascoe led the way but she had plenty of help. Sophomore Maddie Webber posted 16 points, the South Fayette graduate coming out hot making her first five shots on route to an 11-point first half while feasting in the midrange.

Archbishop Wood product Ryanne Allen came off the bench with 12 points, netting eight in the fourth quarter and grad student Lara Edmanson had 10 points off the bench in one of her strongest outings since missing time earlier in the season. Dillon credited assistant coach Michelle Baker-Sword for having a good rotation pattern on Thursday, the Wildcats using 10 players on and off until emptying the bench in the waning minutes.

While Villanova is going back to the WBIT semifinals, this is far from the same team that went to the inaugural WBIT title game last year.

“It’s just about the progression and the buy-in, doing what you’re capable of and working it out together,” Dillon said. “It’s an incredible feat for this group.”

Portland, the West Coast Conference regular season champions, would probably have some sympathy for the plight of Odysseus after the last nine days they’ve had. The Pilots, who despite owning a 29-4 record after falling in the WCC title game, weren’t given a top four seed in their bracket so they’ve been doing a lot of traveling over the last week-plus.

Their run started with a rally in overtime to win at Stanford on March 20. On Sunday, they surged back from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit at Seton Hall then stayed on the East Coast before taking on the Wildcats. It’s not quite a 10-year journey home back to Ithaca, but Pilots coach Michael Meek didn’t deny fatigue was a factor on Thursday while also making sure to credit Villanova for its part in the outcome.

Meek had nothing but positives for his group, one that includes six graduate students and seniors including his daughter, Pilots graduate student point guard McKelle Meek. They didn’t lose a single player to the transfer portal after last season and won at least 20 games for the fourth straight year, finishing with a 31-5 record.

“I don’t know what day this is, nine or 10, being on the other side of the country, I think we do the best we can to get ourselves in position to be ready for the game,” Pilots graduate guard Emme Shearer, a native of Auckland, New Zealand, said. “There’s no denying we’re on the third game of this huge kind of road trip but we do the best we can and unfortunately our season ends today but the fact we end 31-5, there’s so many more positives to take out of this season.

“The fact we didn’t play how we wanted to play today, that’s basketball and it happens but looking at the journey it’s been, I’m looking at the positives and I’m definitely excited to go home, that’s for sure.”

A prominent Portland alum, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, favors the term “for competitors only.” He’d probably like the resolve of this Portland team, one that featured six international players and that thrived on comeback victories this season with a competitive resolve that graduate guard Maisie Burnham said doesn’t relent until the final horn.

Tired, far from home and facing another deficit on the road, the Pilots felt like they had enough in them to do it one more time. They didn’t go away and they made a couple runs but just didn’t have enough to come all the way back a final time.

“It’s just the confidence we have in each other; we’ve been in that spot a lot this year, a lot throughout our careers actually,” Burnham said. “We’re not new to that. We know our team is capable of a lot of things, it just didn’t happen today but that isn’t a representation of who we are and what we are.

“We’ve had an amazing season and we’ve come back in so many games, it’s like how can you be mad about five losses on the season? Especially making it this far in such a fun tournament with so many great competitors, we’re walking away pretty grateful.”

In Sunday’s dramatic win over St. Joe's, the three was the difference maker for Villanova. Thursday, the Wildcats were just 5-of-19 from deep with Portland actually shooting a bit better behind the line at 5-of-16.

Instead, Villanova attacked the defense in different ways. In the first half, it was the midrange game with Webber, Bascoe and Maddie Burke (CB West) all connecting inside the arc but outside the lane on jumpers. 

Then, as Bascoe started to find opportunities to attack defenders, she and forward Denae Carter (St Basil Academy) connected three times on a drive and late dish under the rim which in turn opened some looks outside. Throughout it all, the Wildcats continued to set the tone defensively while forcing 20 turnovers including seven steals and a couple of shot clock violations.

“It was all about the defensive end,” Dillon said. “Portland was going to go on a run. Their games in this tournament, they have been down and came back and won, so that mentality of players talking each other through helped secure a win.”

Villanova led 36-24 at the half but a 9-2 run to start the third quarter pulled the Pilots within five points and prompted Dillon to call a timeout. The hosts replied with an 11-0 run, Bascoe and Edmanson either scoring or assisting on every basket of the run, to push the lead out to 16 with 2:53 left in the frame.

Portland ended the third on a 6-0 run and a hoop by Burnham to start the fourth clipped the lead back to seven. Just as it started to look like the Pilots were lining up another late-game comeback, the Wildcats responded.

Allen buried a three off a feed from Kaitlyn Orihel, Archbishop Wood’s all-time leading scorer playing facilitator to the program’s No. 2 top scorer, to start a run. Bascoe put the hammer down with four straight baskets – one coming directly off her fourth steal – to give Villanova a 63-46 lead with 5:49 to play, Allen converting an and-one in an overall 14-2 run.

“We came out really, really hard in the first quarter and we’ve shown we can do that for a full 40-minute game but there have been times where we haven’t,” Bascoe said. “I think the next game, it’s really important we push that kind of play the whole game because that last possession could be make-or-break.”

Villanova will face Belmont in the WBIT semifinals on Monday at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

It’s a good bet that Bascoe will be integral in trying to not only get the Wildcats back to the title game, but to coming home with a championship this time around.

“You talk about the game, especially for guards, players who can dribble, pass and shoot,” Dillon said. “In Jaz’s case, when you have the ability to handle the basketball the way she does with whatever pressure and pass the ball to an open player - her court vision is tremendous - then that scoring ability, they talk about people being three-way scorers and the different things they do but when you’re impacting every possession, it’s really hard to stop.”