Spartans get an ‘A-like’ effort from Kacey Maggs — and another district title
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
HERSHEY — Three months ago Wyomissing coach Aaron Anders and his staff were trying to figure out who would be their fifth starter after graduation and injuries left the lineup in limbo.
The Spartans were gearing up to build on their first county and district titles and a run to the PIAA quarterfinals, their furthest advance in the state tournament since 2004.
Sophomore Kacey Maggs seized that starting role and has become an indispensable part of the Spartans’ perfect season.
She was again Thursday as Wyomissing beat top-seeded Delone Catholic 45-32 for its second straight District Class 4A championship at Giant Center.
Wyomissing will face the District 12 fifth-place finisher, likely Philadelphia’s Engineering & Sciences, in the state tournament March 9.
Maggs and her teammates will be excited to start a run toward a state title.
“It’s pretty crazy that I’m on the floor with people that have been playing together for a while now,” said Maggs, who had all five of her points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high four steals, “and just being able to step up, play well with them, and fit in.”
The four “A’s” were fixtures in Anders’ starting lineup: Amaya Stewart, Annie McCaffrey, Alexis Hardy, and Audrey Hurleman, all starters on Wyomissing’s 28-3 team last season.
Key pieces and frequent backcourt starters Maddie Campbell and Lexi Loeb graduated. Two returning players in line to fill the fifth starter and first-off-the-bench role — Abby Zechman and Lilianna Marshall — suffered offseason leg injuries and have missed the entire season.
That left an unexpected group of inexperienced players competing for the last starting job.
Maggs played in 12 games and averaged 1.3 points per game as a freshman. She has played in every game this season and has averaged 4.2 points.
“Everybody works so hard on this team,” Maggs said. “Anybody could have had that spot. I worked throughout the whole season in practice, outside of practice. I’ve kind of worked my butt off all season.”
“She puts the work in,” Anders said. “She comes early almost every day and works on her craft.”
The sophomore guard fits perfectly into the uber-athletic yet rugged identity of Anders’ 28-0 team. Her top sport is lacrosse, which she plays alongside University of North Carolina commit Hurleman. She’s also a soccer teammate with McCaffrey, a University of Massachusetts commit.
She’s picked up techniques on how Hurleman plays the top of the stingy Spartans zone defense and has become a defensive weapon in her own right.
“She talks to me on and off the court,” Maggs said of Hurleman. “In practice, we communicate. When watching film, we communicate on the mistakes and where we need to be for the next game. We’re always communicating, scouting, making sure we know what we need to do to have success.”
Maggs brings the same toughness as the four “A’s” in hitting the floor with reckless abandon if it means she has a chance at a loose ball or throwing her body in harm’s way if she can get a steal or rebound. The bruises and bandages are just a product of what it takes to win.
Her confidence has continued to grow from her stellar play defensively and translated to the offensive end where she can now hit a momentum-shifting bucket.
“She’s really coming into her own,” Anders said. “We need her defensive energy. The other thing that has happened is she is hitting some big-time shots.”
Wyomissing committed five straight turnovers early in the game Thursday as it began defense of the district crown.
The sharpshooting Squirettes were out for revenge after losing to the Spartans in this game last season, and the Spartans needed the tone to be set early.
Senior sniper Brielle Baughman’s 3-pointer gave the Squirettes (22-3) a 3-2 lead 1:24 into the game. They had drawn an offensive foul on the All-State forward Stewart on the previous possession.
Delone Catholic head coach Gerry Eckenrode surely liked his team’s chances at that point; a good plan in beating Wyomissing is forcing it into turnovers, getting Stewart into foul trouble, and bombarding its zone with 3-pointers.
Maggs ripped the ball out of Baughman’s hands on the next possession and went coast-to-coast with an offhand lefty finish to give the Spartans the lead. Delone never led again.
“Their defense is excellent,” Eckenrode said. “They’re very good and have some very good athletes that take up a lot of space with their movement. That causes some problems.”
Wyomissing’s dominance on the boards also caused problems for the Delone: The Spartans enjoyed a 36-16 rebounding advantage, with Stewart grabbing a game-high 18 and McCaffrey nine.
Baughman hit the second of her two 3’s in the final seconds of the first quarter to pull the Squirettes within 13-8. Delone made 2-of-4 shots from 3-point range in the first quarter but only 4-for-18 the rest of the game.
“We knew they had quite a few shooters and there wasn’t just one (player) to single out,” Maggs said. “We had to guard up on everybody and knew where they were at all times. That was definitely the most difficult part but we pulled together, figured out their offense, and got that win.”
Delone’s Reece Meckley hit a 3 to start the second quarter and Megan Jacoby hit a jumper to tie the game at 13-13 shortly after.
McCaffrey drained a baseline jumper to give Wyomissing the lead for good, starting a 9-0 run to halftime that included Hurleman’s steal-and-score, freshman Karly Hyde’s 3-pointer and two free throws from Stewart that made it 22-13 at halftime.
Jacoby hit a 3 to begin the third but Hurleman responded with two straight buckets and Stewart with two made free throws.
Jocelyn Robinson hit a 3 for the Squirettes to make it 28-19 with 3:37 left in the third before McCaffrey converted a layup off a Hurleman assist and the Spartans started to run some clock.
Hardy swished a 3-pointer with 1:07 left in the quarter to give Wyomissing its biggest lead of the game at 33-19.
Kaitlyn Schwarz and Jacoby tried to spark a Delone comeback in the fourth but were met with Stewart, McCaffrey, and Hurleman, each of whom scored four points to seal the back-to-back championships for the Spartans.
