Beaver defense stifles Quaker Valley
Bobcats hold Quakers scoreless in 3rd quarter
Quaker Valley was in a very good position after the first quarter of the WPIA Class 4A championship against Beaver.
Not only did the Quakers have a fivepoint lead, they had taken the Bobcats stifling defensive game and turned it against them. In doing so, Quaker Valley had opened its offensive opportunities and appeared as though it might be able to finally force Beaver out of its comfort zone.
That may have worked in the first quarter. In the second, Beaver reverted to form and snapped back to the impregnable defensive team that had stifled every opponent it had faced and sent Quaker Valley home disappointed in its first WPIAL final foray.
Beaver (20-0) did not allow Quaker Valley (15-5) to score from the field the second quarter, held the Quakers without a point the third quarter and flipped a five-point deficit into a five-point halftime lead that it used to propel itself to a 45-29 victory and the first WPIAL Class 4A title in school history.
“The sweet is never the sweet without the sour,” Beaver coach Greg Huston said. “We were the epitome of sour two of the last three years, especially in 2018 and that sour feeling makes this feel way, way sweeter.”
Winning was extra special for Beaver after losing in the final in two of the previous three seasons. The Bobcats suffered a devastating loss on a last-second shot in a 50-49 decision against North Catholic in 2018, then lost, 44-26, last season to former section rival Mohawk.
“When you go from losing two WPIAL championships in the past three years like we did last year, that takes a toll on you and I feel for Quaker Valley because that’s one of the worst pains,” Beaver guard Emma Pavelek said. “I still think about it to this day, that buzzer-beater when I was a freshman, so to be able to come out and win this game and have it not be something where we had to make a special shot … I’m really proud of everyone.”
As if shutting out Quaker Valley from the field in the second quarter wasn’t bad enough, Beaver completely stuffed the Quakers in the third quarter. The Bobcats forced eight turnovers and Quaker Valley missed all five shots from the field.
“It’s really incredible what these guys were able to accomplish and to hold then scoreless in the third quarter, I think they
might have had three field goals from the second quarter on,” Beaver coach Greg Huston said. “This group of girls, they have the skill to do it, but it’s really the heart that they have to keep grinding away and … to shut out two Division I players like they have, it’s really a credit to these guys.”
Beaver was able to slam the lid down on Quaker Valley 1,000-point scorers Corinne Washington and Bailey Garbee throughout the game. Washington was 1 for 13 from the floor and finished with six points, while Garbee was 3 for 13 and ended up with nine.
After Washington made her only shot from the floor with 25.2 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give Quaker Valley a 14-9 lead, the team went 18:24 without a basket until Lily Johns drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 6:01 left in the fourth
quarter to cut the Beaver lead to 33-22.
If cold shooting wasn’t enough — Quaker Valley finished the game a dismal 8 for 45 (17.8 percent) from the field — the Quakers were held without a point for 10:16 between a Claire Kuzma free throw with 1:16 remaining in the second quarter to a Washington free throw with 7:00 left in regulation.
“We went on a cold spell there and, against a team like that, it’s tough to go on a cold spell,” Quaker Valley coach Tom Demko said. “It’s not like they were pouring on the points either, but it was a little one here, a little one there and building a lead and, yeah, it hurt.”
Beaver not only shut down Quaker Valley on offense, it took advantage of some of the Quakers frustration as they ended up taking a few questionable fouls in the second
quarter. The Bobcats made them pay as they finished the first half 10 for 10 from the free-throw line, including the eight they made in the second frame.
Pavelek led Beaver in scoring with 11 points, all from the stripe.
Still, to hold a team without a field goal for more than two quarters and to hold them scoreless for more than 10 minutes at a critical juncture would be cause for celebration. But Beaver, which allowed only 11 of its 20 opponents to score more than 25 points this season, it left the players nonplussed.
“We work together, so sometimes, in the moment, you don’t think about those things,” Beaver guard Kenzie Weiland said. “You’re just thinking about the end result and ... that’s what we did and that was our goal.”