In Kelsy Moschak’s alphabet, ‘D’ comes before everything else
The ink on Wilson’s 42-24 quarterfinal win over Twin Valley Saturday was barely dry and already Kelsy Moschak was thinking about her next defensive assignment.
“I’ve got Kya,” the Bulldogs’ senior guard said, looking ahead to playing Reading High and locking up with its top player, All-Berks pick Kya Washington. “I’ve gotta be ready and be on my ‘A’ game.”
Moschak hasn’t seen a game plan yet, hasn’t talked to any of her coaches about it, but already she knows what her job will be when the Bulldogs (16-5) take the floor at Santander Arena Tuesday at 6 in the front end of a BCIAA girls basketball semifinals doubleheader.
She’s the defensive stopper. She draws the other team’s top scorer. No questions asked.
Saturday the job was to try to slow down the Raiders’ Natali Foster, something few people ever do. Moschak relished the opportunity.
“I like that they all count on me,” she said of her teammates. “I don’t get to score that many points, so I know I can help them out on defense and they can look forward to me (doing that).”
That was her job in the fall when she was an All-Berks center back on a Wilson soccer team that won a county title and reached the District 3 championship game. Defense. It’s always about defense with Moschak.
It was with all of the Bulldogs in this playoff opener. They smothered the Berks II champion Raiders (14-8) with it. Their guards — Moschak, Gia Borelli and Amiyah Nguyen, all seniors — attacked the perimeter, trapped the ball, created havoc.
If someone got past them it was more trouble for the Raiders: 6-2 Isis Dojan or 5-10 Keira Levengood formed a back wall that turned back shots and swallowed all the misses.
The Raiders had two points in the first quarter. Two.
They had 10 at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter they were still stuck on 12.
“Their size hurts us,” said Twin Valley coach Doug Myer of the Bulldogs. “Nobody in the county has their size. Even if we beat our girl on the perimeter and get in the lane, it’s tough. Isis probably had five or six blocks in the game. One thing we can do (well) is attack the basket, and they kind of neutralize that against us.”
Dojan had a team-high 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs had more than twice as many rebounds as Twin Valley, 32-14. The Raiders had just four second-chance opportunities. Four.
“We did a good job today boxing out, not letting them get a second shot,” Levengood said. “That was a big part of today’s win.”
No wonder the Raiders were held to their third-lowest scoring output of the season. Three weeks ago when they played Wilson they managed just 27 points.
The Bulldogs may be the best defensive team in the county; they make a lot of teams struggle. Daniel Boone scored 11 points against them earlier in the week. Muhlenberg got to 19. Exeter and Emmaus each had 21.
“This end of the floor, the effort can’t change,” Wilson coach Chris Gallo said, talking about the defensive end, “no matter who we’re playing. That’s what it’s been (with me) for 30 years.”
Foster ended up with 13 points, just below her average. In the first meeting against Wilson, a 36-27 loss, she was held to six.
“She likes to drive a lot more than shoot it,” Moschak said. “She’s really athletic and pretty fast. You have to stay in front of her and be ready to move, because off her first step she’s gone.”
The Bulldogs scored the first eight points of the game. It took the Raiders nearly six minutes to get their first basket. It was 17-2, and pretty much over, a minute into the second quarter.
The Raiders kept battling and played well on the defensive end themselves. They trapped and pressured the ball and forced nine second-quarter turnovers, and 18 for the game. They were hurt when Rachel Knight, giving up six inches against Dojan, picked up her third foul in the opening seconds of the second quarter.
They just don’t have the depth to keep attacking on defense all game long. That caught up with them at the end, when the Bulldogs’ lead ballooned to 26.
Moschak finished with four points. Barely visible in the score book. Gallo sees it differently.
“She’s averaging like five points a game,” he said of Moschak, “but realistically it’s more like 15, because of what she’s holding the best player on the other team to.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Twin Valley | 2 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 24 |
| Wilson | 12 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 42 |
| Raiders (14-8) | FG | FT | Points |
| Foster | 5 | 3-6 | 13 |
| Lennon | 0 | 1-2 | 1 |
| Gowman | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Kaplan | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Knight | 1 | 0-0 | 3 |
| Zuber | 0 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Monaghan | 0 | 1-2 | 1 |
| Hurley | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Wheatley | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8 | 7-12 | 24 |
| Bulldogs (16-5) | FG | FT | Points |
| Nguyen | 2 | 1-2 | 6 |
| Moschak | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Borelli | 4 | 1-2 | 10 |
| Dojan | 4 | 4-6 | 12 |
| Levengood | 4 | 0-0 | 8 |
| Moncada | 1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Norman | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Maletto | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Robinson | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Asplen | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17 | 6-10 | 42 |
Turnovers: Twin Valley 15, Wilson 18.3-pointers: Knight; Nguyen, Borelli.