Spartans, minus some key pieces, picking up where they left off last year
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Wyomissing’s girls basketball team garnered a multitude of trophies and accolades last season.
The Spartans went undefeated in Division III of the Berks League, won their first county and district championships, and advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2004. Amaya Stewart was named first-team All-State.
It’s now a new season for the Spartans and Stewart, who will get everyone’s best shot.
That didn’t seem to affect Wyomissing and its 6-1 junior forward Wednesday night in a 47-20 non-league win over Conrad Weiser in Robesonia.
“We hit two out of three levels last season,” said Stewart, who finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals. “We’re trying to make it to the third. We are reaching for more and the only way we can do it is if we get after it at practice and try hard in our games.
“We know we’re going to get everyone’s best game and that’s exactly what we want.”
The Spartans (2-0) jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never trailed.
They forced 25 turnovers with their relentless defense, composed of Stewart in the middle and athletes all around.
Alexis Hardy (eight steals) is a district and state medal-winning track star.
Annie McCaffrey (two steals) is an All-State soccer star and University of Massachusetts commit.
Audrey Hurleman (two steals) is the disruptor at the top of the 3-2 zone; she’s committed to play lacrosse at the University of North Carolina.
Hardy scored most of her 12 points in transition, sometimes taking the ball coast-to-coast after intercepting a pass or collecting a tipped ball by Hurleman or McCaffrey.
The Scouts (1-2) just couldn’t crack the zone and find ways to score. They found themselves trailing by 20 after scoring just nine first-half points.
“Our defense has always been creating our offense,” Stewart said. “If we’re lacking on offense, we’ll get after it on defense, break into transition, and score that way.”
Stewart showed she’s been working on her all-around game as she continues to expand her shooting range and develop ballhandling and facilitating skills. She continued showing her traditional bang-down-low dominance but also displayed a more compact jumper with nice rotation. She hit a 3-pointer and a couple midrange jumpers.
The most impressive play of the night came when she jumped into a passing lane, took the ball down the court, then hit a behind-the-back move to lose a defender before finding a teammate with a no-look scoop pass for any easy layup.
“I want to be versatile,” Stewart said. “Wherever the coach puts me, I want to be the best I can be at that spot.”
The biggest challenge for the Spartans this season — aside from becoming complacent after an historic season — is replacing graduated senior leaders in point guard Maddie Campbell and sharpshooting Lexi Loeb.
That task was exacerbated when fifth starter Abby Zechman and key reserve Lili Marshall went down with preseason knee injuries.
Sophomore Kacey Maggs — another multi-sport athlete, who also plays lacrosse and soccer — slid into the starting lineup Wednesday and had seven points and three steals. Seems like she’ll fit right in.
Wyomissing head coach Aaron Anders said he’ll continue to fill the fifth starter and first-off-the-bench roles by committee. Junior forward Abby Noey, sophomore guard Ella Anders, sophomore forward Izzy Campbell, and freshman guards Karly Hyde and Addy Loeb also received quality minutes Wednesday.
“We have a couple of ‘youngins’ that are ready to go,” Stewart said. “They see the opportunity and they’re taking advantage of it. Sometimes we’ll have some mistakes, but we stick together and with our team chemistry we’ll be just fine.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Conrad Weiser | 7 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
| Wyomissing | 19 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 47 |
| Spartans (2-0) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Stewart | 7-11 | 0-4 | 1-2 | 1 | 10 | 15 |
| McCaffrey | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Hardy | 5-13 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Hurleman | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| Maggs | 3-8 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Hyde | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Noey | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Anders | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Campbell | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Loeb | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Buckley | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeLucas | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Madrak | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 21-51 | 2-6 | 3-12 | 11 | 32/36 | 47 |
| Scouts (1-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Trevena | 1-5 | 1-1 | 1-5 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Grabosky | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| Feliciano | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| McGonigle | 1-4 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Spang | 1-5 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Bossler | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Koch | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gutierrez | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rodriguez | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Snyder | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| McPherson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 5-24 | 7-14 | 3-15 | 2 | 17/18 | 20 |
Turnovers: Conrad Weiser 25, Wyomissing 13. Team Rebounds: Conrad Weiser 1, Wyomissing 4.
