City of Basketball Love

David Gough (@DG0UGH)
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ENOLA, Pa. -- A PIAA 6A first round-battle between Harrisburg and Downingtown West might as well have been a home game for the former, even though it was played at East Pennsboro HS.

All the Cougars had to do to get there was travel eight miles west; the Whippets had to travel 77 miles in the same direction.

On top of that, the Harrisburg girls’ team had just played immediately before, so Cougars fans already made up the overwhelming majority of those in a packed East Pennsboro gym.

They provided the noise during the District 3 champs’ 55-34 victory.

“It was just a good atmosphere for us,” senior Quintyn Flemister said.

The 5-foot-9 guard helped those fans get and stay loud as the Cougars got off to a quick start.

After hitting a 3-pointer two minutes in to retake the lead for good, he stole a Whippets pass and hit a layup on a fastbreak. That turnover wasn’t the first one for Downingtown West and it hardly would be the last.

The Whippets turned the ball over 27 times in the game and that’s ultimately what made the difference. The Cougars were able to maintain a double-digit lead for well over three quarters of the game despite shooting just 15-of-45 (33 percent) from the field.

For comparison, the Whippets -- led by senior forward George Gordon’s 13 points -- shot a slightly better 13-of-38 (34.2 percent).

Even though the turnovers didn’t translate into more efficient shooting, Harrisburg coach Kirk Smallwood was happy with how his team performed.

“That was part of the plan,” the Harrisburg coach of 23 years said. “Turn them over and try to get some easy shots, some easy looks. Our kids put in the effort to make that happen."

Flemister was the team’s top scorer with 12 points, leading the team with eight in the first half off the bench.

“I feel like I played well tonight,” Flemister said. “I feel like I managed the team pretty well. Distributed the ball, made shots while I was open.”

While Flemister scored more than any other Cougar, they didn’t have a real standout performance from one individual. Instead, nearly everyone who stepped on the court contributed in a positive way.

Nine of ten Cougars who played on Saturday scored at least two points. Seven of them scored in the team’s dominant first half in which they finished up 33-15.

To top it off, Harrisburg’s usual number one option in senior Chris Whitaker -- who came in averaging a team-high 19.7 points per game -- had just seven points to tie junior Tony James as the second-leading scorer for the team.

Instead, with shots not falling as much as they’re used to, Whitaker and just about everyone else were productive in other categories. Namely, forcing turnovers.

So, it wasn’t the most common way the Cougars have found a way to come out on top, but it was a welcome way.

“Everybody knows their role,” Smallwood said. “They know they’re going to play, but they also know that when they get in there that they have to do something and that’s what happened tonight.”

The District 3 champs were the heavy favorites over the tenth and final representative out of District 1, so the outcome shouldn’t be too surprising.

The Cougars, however, weren’t going to overlook Downingtown West -- who reached the state tournament for the second time in three years -- and they weren’t expecting just how quickly they were able to control the game.

“We thought it would be a closer game, but we’re happy that it wasn’t,” Flemister said. “We felt like we had a more athletic team, so we just tried to push the ball. Then on defense, just tire them out and then press so they could get tired.”

The Whippets got tired fast.

After getting within two with under six minutes left in the first quarter, Harrisburg went on a 16-0 run that stretched two minutes into the second quarter.

Downingtown West finished with just five points in the first quarter and managed to put up just one missed shot in that timespan.

The Whippets could not recover from the rough start as the turnovers and missed shots piled up. Harrisburg was just too quick for them.

With the win, the Cougars will continue their quest for a 6A state championship when they meet Emmaus in a second round game on Wednesday.

With the quickness they showed on Saturday night, Emmaus will have its hands full especially if Harrisburg has a better shooting night.

“I just thought it was a good team effort as far as energy was concerned,” Smallwood said. “At this time of the year, we have to bring it every game and I think we did that today.”