Bulldogs’ streak ends
Shady Side Academy had won 20 in a row, falls in quarterfinals
Westmont Hilltop appeared to be overmatched against Shady Side Academy.
After all, the District 6 runner-up Hilltoppers only had eight players on their roster when they took the floor against the reigning WPIAL champion Bulldogs on Friday.
But this is nothing new for the team, as it has dealt with being on the low side of the numbers game all year.
“It was a big thing on our team this season to get everyone involved,” Westmont Hilltop coach Brittany Eisenhuth said. “But through these playoffs, we’re on the up. We’re hitting our peak at the right time, and everybody’s contributing, making huge plays.”
As it turned out, Westmont Hilltop’s eight was more than enough to end Shady Side Academy’s season.
Junior forward Christiana Gordon had a doubledouble with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and was the only Westmont Hilltop (22-4) player to get into double figures, as the Hilltoppers stunned Shady Side Academy (26-3) and ended its 20- game winning streak with a 47-41 victory in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals at Norwin.
“Coming into this game, I felt like we were going to have to rely on our heavy hitters for scoring,” Shady Side Academy coach Jonna Burke said. “But I credit their defense. It was good.”
Shady Side Academy started out behind the 8-ball
when it found out top sub “Cassie picked up those Cameron Capel would be unable early fouls, and that really to play after hyperextending changes us,” Burke said. her knee and suffering “Cam Capel was unable to a bone bruise in the play, so that took out another team’s second- round outside threat and a matchup with District 10 good defender.” Northwestern. The Bulldogs’ It also didn’t help Shady problems mounted Side Academy struggled offensively quickly, though, when sophomore through most of center Cassie Sauer the first quarter. The Bulldogs picked up her second foul missed their first nine less than three minutes into shots, committed three turnovers the game and, after sitting and were held without most of the half, was tagged a point until sophomore with her third with 1:32 left Maggie Spell, who finished in the second quarter. with a team-high 19, scored with 51.2 seconds left in the opening period.
As bad as it was for Shady Side Academy, Spell’s basket cut the lead to only 4-2. The Hilltoppers could not take advantage of the Bulldogs’ problems.
“Offensively, we struggled, and I credit their defense and the zone they played us in,” Burke said. “We haven’t been facing much zone, but that’s no excuse. We just didn’t get the ball movement that we needed.”
Despite everything going wrong, when Shady Side Academy finally had its full team together in the fourth quarter, it was able to make a run and nearly pulled out a win. Sauer, who was a nonfactor for most of the night, scored six points — her only points of the game — and pulled in two rebounds in the fourth quarter, Spell scored eight and Thomas two of her 14 down the stretch, as the Bulldogs pulled back to within two at 43-41 on a Spell 3-pointer with 51.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
Spell also nearly had the play of the game when she stole the ball from a Westmont Hilltop player as the Hilltoppers were coming up the court. But a Hilltoppers player touched the ball, the officials blew a quick whistle for a jump ball and Westmont Hilltop got the ball back. A few seconds later, Westmont Hilltop guard Aubrie Shingler hit a layup with 33.3 seconds to play to put the game out of reach.