Lady Chargers able to survive bombing from Eagle visitors

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
Chester County went bombs away on Westview, but the Lady Chargers survived to play another day.
The Lady Chargers looked like they were going to run away with this one in the first period, saw the Lady Eagles came back with a vengeance in the second period and then did just enough in the second half to post a 48-43 win in the Region 7AA Tournament quarterfinals Friday night at the Westview gym.
Westview built up a comfortable 17-4 lead after one period of play thanks to 3-pointers by Kendall Leyhue, Kaley Leyhue and Katelyn Luthi. Chester County then went on a 3-point shooting barrage of its own in the second.
The Lady Eagles hit five consecutive triples to pull to within one point with 3:38 to play in the second, and then Lesha Sims put the Lady Eagles on top by one with a basket in the paint.
Kaley Leyhue scored Westview’s only points in the second period on a short jump shot with 1:43 to play. Tamacha Couch then hit her second 3-pointer of the period with 1:21 remaining to give Chester County a 21-19 halftime lead.
The Lady Eagles did not miss a shot from long range in the second period.
Lady Chargers’ head coach Sean Stephenson said he was glad this game was at Westview and not at Chester County.
“We are obviously fortunate to be playing this game at home,” he said. “Chester County could have been a tough pill to swallow on their home floor. It is hard to believe they could make any more shots at home as they did here.
“I thought we got off to a really good start. I do not know if we got kind of relaxed or whatever in the second quarter, but they came back and made a bunch of shots. I would like to give my kids some credit and being able to persevere.”
And persevere is what the Lady Chargers were able to do as they handled the big run by the Lady Eagles, but not before CC hit two more threes early in the third period to make it seven consecutive 3-pointers without a misfire.
Kaitlyn Harrelson’s putback got Westview back to within a basket with 5:13 to play in the period, but then Couch answered with a basket of her own to give her eight points in the period.
Tiffany Rechis made it a 29-27 game before Couch struck again with a 3-point conversion. Westview then went on an eight-point run with Kendall Leyhue hit a short jumper at the buzzer with an assist from Kaley Leyhue to put Westview up 35-32.
“We got going offensively again,” Stephenson said. “I thought that 3-point play Rechis made in the third quarter when they had just gone up by five to immediately to get it back to two, I thought that was a big, big play to keep the game manageable.”
Westview used its 1-3-1 defense to keep Chester County from getting any more good looks at the basket from long range the rest of game after the Lady Eagles made those two early in the third period.
Chester County was off target on the rest of its shots from beyond the arc the remainder of the game. Stephenson credits his girls for forcing CC to shoot high above them on the long shots and missing them.
“Thought we did a better job of getting out there,” Stephenson said. “I thought Harrelson and Luthi both did a great job up front on the 1-3-1. You score a few points it makes your defense look a little better because they are playing a little harder.”
The Lady Eagles struck first in the final period on baskets by Adreyan Amos and Sims to put CC up by one. Rechis hit a big 3-pointer with 5:50 left in the game to put Westview up 38-36. Couch tied the game at 43-all on a shot inside the paint before Westview made 5-of-6 shots at the charity stripe for the win.
This was only the second time Westview has beaten Chester County in the last five tournament meetings between the two schools. Chester County beat Westview in 1994, ’97 and in 2000. It took CC three overtime periods to beat Westview in the Region 7A quarterfinals in 2000.
Westview did beat CC three times during the 2004-05 regular season — the same season the Lady Eagles won the Class AA state tournament.
Vincent led Westview with 11 points followed by Rechis with nine. Couch led all scorers with 16 points for CC.

Published in The WCP 2.26.13

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