Spartans, Saints could collide in district semifinals if each wins Friday night

By  Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Two Berks Girls League teams remain alive in the District 3 Tournament and could potentially face each other in the Class 4A semifinals.

Berks champion and third-seeded Wyomissing (23-2) hosts No. 6 Middletown (17-5) in the quarterfinals Friday at 6. 

No. 2 Berks Catholic, which fell to Berks runner-up Reading High in the BCIAA semifinals, hosts seventh-seeded Bishop McDevitt (17-6) Friday at 7.

The Crusaders defeated No. 10 Bermudian Springs 58-37 in the first round while the Spartans, Saints, and Blue Raiders each had byes.

The winners will face off in the semifinals Monday at the home court of highest seed; the losers will meet in a playback semifinal Tuesday, also at the home court of the highest seed.

The top six District 3 finishers qualify for the PIAA Class 4A tournament.

The Blue Raiders are one of the two losses on the Spartans’ record this season; Middletown defeated Wyomissing 40-33 Jan. 14.

The Blue Raiders held the Spartans nearly 20 points below their season average and limited Berks Player of the Year Amaya Stewart to 11 points, four below her average.

Middletown’s 5-11 freshman wing Jayla Koser had 15 points in the win and will be key in helping slow down the 6-0 Stewart once again.

The Spartans have won seven in a row on their way to their first Berks title after losing two of four in the middle of the season. 

Stewart, who has an offer from Temple, has been the key to that big finishing run because of her scoring prowess, rebounding, and blocking shots defensively.

Sophomore guard Alexis Hardy (8.6 points per game), junior forward Annie McCaffrey (7.9), and senior 3-point specialist Lexi Loeb (6.4) are 0top offensive contributors.

Sophomore Audrey Hurleman is key defensively in the Spartans’ zone, senior point guard Maddie Campbell is experienced and poised as the primary ballhandler, and junior forward Abby Zechman and sophomore guard Liliana Marshall are important bench pieces.

The guards and role players will need to take care of the ball and find ways to contribute offensively whether it’s scoring themselves or helping Stewart get easy buckets. 

The Blue Raiders typically start two other freshmen next to Koser (15.8 per game) in 5-7 guard Emma Cleland and 5-4 guard Syncere Matthews.

Sophomore 5-5 point guard Addison Huber (11.4) is the second-leading scorer and has hit 39 3’s on the season.

The Blue Raiders are young but play fearlessly up-tempo and like to get out and score points.

Koser is the sixth-leading scorer in the Mid-Penn Conference and has the ability to get into the paint and either score at the rim or hit midrange jumpers. Huber, Cleland (15), and Matthews (15) aren’t scared to let it go from deep.

Wyomissing will need a concerted effort on the boards, which will largely fall upon Stewart, McCaffrey and Hurleman. Koser averages 10.2 rebounds per game — third most in the Mid-Penn — and gets help on the boards from Huber (5.8) and Cleland (4.6).

The team that gave Wyomissing its other loss? Bishop McDevitt, which beat them 48-45 Jan. 21.

Berks Catholic will have its hands full with the Crusaders as — much like Reading High — they also like to get out in transition and force teams into mistakes. The Saints will need to learn from that BCIAA semifinals loss in which they were forced into uncharacteristic turnovers, 28 percent shooting from the field, and 22 percent shooting from deep.

The Saints wore down and were outscored by 12 in the fourth quarter, eventually losing by six.

Berks Catholic was iron-clad before that, riding a seven-game winning streak. The Saints also played tough against top competition such as Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Delone Catholic, and Lancaster Catholic in the regular season.

The Saints defeated fellow Class 4A bracket mates Eastern York and Trinity and 3A stalwart York Catholic in the regular season. BC isn’t to be taken lightly. 

Senior guard and Chestnut Hill College commit Caraline Herb and sophomore guard Madison Langdon are the primary ball handlers. Herb (14.6 points per game) and Langdon (11.1) are also the leading scorers. Junior guard Gianna Roberts also has ball handling duties.

Sophomore forwards Molly McFadden (8.4) and Sydney Corado (8.3) are other offensive contributors who are also tasked with rebounding and defensive responsibilities in the paint.

Herb will likely be tasked with slowing down  McDevitt junior guard Sophia Formica, who averages 13.8 points and  leads the Crusaders in assists. She scored 26 against Wyomissing.

Junior guard Olivia Grella is a defensive menace with 4.8 steals per game, tops in the Mid-Penn. Grella also averages 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Senior forward Kamya Jenkins is second on the team with a 7.6 scoring average and grabs 4.5 boards per game. Junior guard Kayla Culver averages 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds and sophomore guard Maya Dickerson 4.9 points.

In short, if the Saints and Spartans want to advance, they’ll have to contain aggressive, fast, balanced teams each with an alpha in Middletown’s Koser and McDevitt’s Formica.

Here are the other games in the top of the bracket, which are all at the higher seed: 

• No. 1 Delone Catholic vs. No. 8 Trinity. The Shamrocks defeated No. 9 Northern Lebanon 38-33 in the first round.
• No. 4 Eastern York vs. No. 5 James Buchanan.

Delone Catholic won the District 3 4A championship last season with a 33-27 win over Berks Catholic.

Bishop McDevitt last won a district championship in 1985. Berks Catholic, Middletown, and Wyomissing have never won a district championship.