Spartans seeing stars after bringing first championship back to Wyomissing

By  Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Amaya Stewart said she is going to feel like a celebrity when she goes back to school on Tuesday. 

The sophomore doesn’t have to wait until then: She’s a star right now. 

Stewart scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead second-seeded Wyomissing to its first Berks Girls League championship Friday, defeating fourth-seeded Reading High 46-28 at Santander Arena.

“I’m still in shock,” said the 6-foot sophomore, “but it feels great that we just made history for our school.”

The Spartans (23-2) never let the underdog Red Knights (14-11) believe they were in this game. Wyomissing’s zone gave the Red Knights fits; they shot 13-for-62 from the field, including 2-for-20 on 3-pointers.

“(Force poor shots) is what we do to teams,” Wyomissing coach Aaron Anders said. “Anybody I have been coached by has said defense wins championships; it’s an old saying but it’s true. These girls buy-in and sell-out every single night. This is the result of working hard.”

The Red Knights trailed 25-9 late in the second quarter before putting together a 7-0 run capped by an Ashanti Chapman 3-pointer. They had the ball down nine points with the clock running down in the first half when Wyomissing got a steal and Annie McCaffrey hit Stewart in stride for a layup right before the horn.

Any momentum that Reading had seized was lost heading into halftime down 27-16. McCaffrey, who had a team-high three assists, was part of a strong supporting cast. She scored seven points, as did Alexis Hardy and Madeline Campbell. 

The efficient offense continued in the third quarter as the Spartans put the game away, opening an 18-point lead. They scored their 46 points on 43 shots, with assists on 10 of 17 field goals. They utilized their forwards to generate clean looks from beyond the arc for their guards or drives to the basket that resulted in fouls. 

“(Amaya) and Annie McCaffrey and Audrey (Hurleman), all our bigs work really well together,” Hardy said. “A lot of our halfcourt sets work off that high-post motion. Our bigs are a big part of our game and if one is being guarded then the other is open.”

Rashida Suber’s Reading squad came into this final an underdog, just as it was in the semifinals against Berks Catholic. The Red Knights’ season ended with the loss but they continued to push defensively and forced Wyomissing into 23 turnovers.

“We aren’t going to give up, we aren’t going to just roll over,” Suber said. “We are going to continue to fight. Wyomissing played a great game.”

While it was the first championship for the Spartans they were in the position of being a heavy favorite in the finals. Playing against a team with nothing to lose can sometimes be a difficult task. Stewart, who is being recruited by Division I schools, has no issue with being the hunted. 

“Somebody asked me: “Do we have a target on our back?’ ” Stewart said. “There are no worries because I have faith in my team and I believe in my team 100 percent.”

Because of that belief all of the Spartans will walk into school on Tuesday as celebrities.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Reading High	5	11	4	8	28
Wyomissing	14	13	11	8	46

Red Knights  (14-11)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Chapman	3-14	0-0	1-5	3	7	7
Collier	0-3	0-0	0-0	0	3	0
Rodriguez	3-12	0-0	1-4	1	4	7
Hopkins	0-0	0-2	0-0	0	3	0
Franklin	3-7	0-2	0-0	0	7	6
Spring	1-5	0-1	0-1	0	3	2
Seabury	1-8	0-0	0-4	0	3	2
Pimental	0-6	0-0	0-5	0	2	0
Bradley	2-6	0-1	0-0	0	1	4
Hernandez-Albino	0-1	0-0	0-1	1	3	0
Totals	13-62	0-6	2-20	5	36-44	28

Spartans (23-2)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Hardy	3-8	0-0	1-1	2	6	7
Campbell	1-2	5-8	0-0	2	5	7
Hurleman	1-5	0-2	0-0	0	5	2
Stewart	7-11	4-6	0-0	0	15	18
McCaffrey	3-8	1-4	0-0	3	3	7
Zechman	0-2	0-0	0-1	0	2	0
Alexis Loeb	1-5	0-0	1-5	2	0	3
Brunner	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Marshall	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	2
Bailey Loeb	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Maggs	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Anders	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Noey	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Totals	17-43	10-20	2-7	10	37-43	46

Turnovers: Reading 19, Wyomissing 23.