Bulldogs find a way back to championship game
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Chris Gallo figured his Wilson basketball team wasn’t going to score a bunch of points Wednesday in its BCIAA semifinal against Berks Catholic.
The Bulldogs didn’t score much when they faced the Saints earlier this season; they had 43 points in a home win in December, 39 in a road win in January.
“Guarding is what it was gonna be tonight,” Gallo said.
Indeed, it was defense – and a ton of rebounds — that carried the top-seeded Bulldogs past the fourth-seeded Saints 41-24 at Santander Arena.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Gallo said, “but at this time of the year it’s about finding a way.”
The Bulldogs (22-1) found their way back to the championship game for the second time in three years. They will face unbeaten Wyomissing in the championship game Friday at 6 back at Santander.
It’s a game most were expecting this season and one the Bulldogs wanted very much. They saw their season end last year at Santander against the Spartans in a 43-35 semifinal loss.
“We took a tough loss against them last year,” said Wilson sophomore Laila Jones, who scored a team-high 12 points, “so we’re ready to compete with them.”
The Bulldogs were more than ready for the Saints (12-11). Defensively, at least.
They allowed just two first-half baskets and seven points.
The key was containing BC scoring leader Madison Langdon, who dropped 22 on Exeter in the quarterfinals.
Wilson stuck to its man-to-man defense but rotated three players on Langdon: Jones, Jasilyn Moncada and Janai Tisdale.
They were all effective in denying her good looks at the basket; Langdon had just two shots in the first half and seven overall. She still scored 12 points but wasn’t allowed to go on a shooting spree that might’ve threatened Wilson’s 15-game winning streak.
“She completely took over the Exeter game in the second half,” Gallo said. “She’s very, very good. We know she’s capable of that. We didn’t want her to get going.”
“We knew we had to come out and play defense tonight,” Jones said. “BC’s always a tough team to compete against; we knew we had to come out tough. Langdon’s a very good player, but so am I. It was my job to lock her down, so I had to do my job.”
Wilson’s defense led to 14 Berks Catholic turnovers in the first half and 20 overall.
When they did get shots off the Saints got few second chances. Wilson’s Violet Houck grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to help her team to a 40-21 advantage.
More than half of those boards came on the offensive end. Houck had 10 and freshman reserve Kailani Hardy had seven, to go with 10 points.
The Bulldogs needed a lot of second-chance points.
“I can’t give BC enough credit,” Gallo said. “Their match-up zone gave us fits. They played it really, really well. We tried running everything that we’ve worked on against it; we couldn’t really find any gaps. So, we had to (win) it defensively.”
Langdon hit a teardrop with three minutes left in the third quarter to cut BC’s deficit to 22-14. The Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run, Tisdale scoring twice on runouts to make it 28-14.
Wilson extended its lead to 34-17 in the fourth quarter, holding Berks Catholic without a point for nearly five minutes.
Wilson last appeared in the championship game in 2022, losing 47-34 to Gov. Mifflin. The Bulldogs last won a title in 2014, which completed a three-peat. Wilson has won nine titles and appeared in the championship 21 times — the most of any Berks team.
Championship No. 10 will be tough to come by against a Wyomissing team that has a Division I player in the middle in Amaya Stewart and championship athletes at several other positions.
“You’re not 24-0 without being really good,” Gallo said. “We’re gonna do our best and play the way we can play and see if we can knock ‘em off.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 6 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 24 |
| Wilson | 12 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 41 |
| Saints (12-11) | FG | FT | 3s | A | R | Points |
| Roberts | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mad. Langdon | 4-7 | 3-7 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| McFadden | 1-7 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Mirenda | 0-3 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Corado | 2-5 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| E. Linderman | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| K. Linderman | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Mac. Langdon | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Esterbrook | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Newswanger | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wolf | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Pegram | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8-27 | 4-11 | 4-8 | 1 | 18/21 | 24 |
| Bulldogs (23-1) | FG | FT | 3s | A | R | Points |
| Jones | 5-17 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| Moncada | 0-5 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Crocona | 2-5 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Williams | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Houck | 3-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 16 | 6 |
| Hardy | 4-11 | 2-3 | 0-2 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Tisdale | 3-8 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Leaman | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evans | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Waibel | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peacock | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17-55 | 5-7 | 2-11 | 3 | 37/40 | 41 |
Turnovers: Berks Catholic 20, Wilson 10. Team rebounds: Berks Catholic 3, Wilson 3.
