Wyomissing avenges loss to Middletown, advances to District 3 semifinals
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Here’s a scary thought: The Berks Player of the Year and the Berks League champion might be playing their best basketball of the season.
Sophomore sensation Amaya Stewart and the Wyomissing Spartans avenged one of their two losses on the season and defeated Middletown 51-38 Friday night in a District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal at Wyomissing’s hot, jam-packed gymnasium.
Stewart scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and swatted away three shots to lead the third-seeded Spartans (24-2) with her imposing two-way game. The sixth-seeded Blue Raiders (17-6) held her to 11 points in a 40-33 victory over Wyomissing Jan. 14, the Spartans’ first loss after a 14-0 start. It’s difficult to do that twice.
“It was absolutely an extra motivating factor,” Stewart said of avenging that first loss. “We wanted this game. We want to make it to the next level. We want to play at the big place.”
Wyomissing is one step closer to playing at the big place — Hershey’s Giant Center — for the district championship. They move on to face second-seeded Berks Catholic, which defeated Bishop McDevitt 52-28, in the semifinals Monday night.
The Spartans’ second loss was to Bishop McDevitt, which dropped them to 16-2. Now they’ve won eight in a row, appear to be hitting a different gear, and seem to have learned from their losses.
The question after Wyomissing’s second loss was if it had faced enough adversity and if it had enough scoring behind Stewart to be players come March.
The answers to those questions are yes; the Spartans clinched a spot in the first round of the PIAA Tournament with the win. There’s still business to take care of in districts.
“This is an example of how these kids are growing as a group under the pressure,” Wyomissing coach Aaron Anders said. “They’re not folding. That’s what the true mark of a team is. They figure out what they need to do, move forward, and do it.”
There are many ways to react to an opponent taking its first lead of the game with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
Stewart smiled, then converted an ‘And-one’ to give the Spartans the lead for good at 34-32 lead with 31 seconds left in the third quarter. No sweat.
“The smile just comes from my teammates’ success,” Stewart said. “Always. I just love when my teammates succeed. I see it in their eyes when they are pushing harder. It just makes me happy and then I match their energy.”
Stewart had seven of her 18 points, Annie McCaffrey four of her 10, Audrey Hurleman three of her seven, and Maddie Campbell three of her six in the fourth quarter as the Spartans outscored the Blue Raiders 17-6 to put the game away.
Wyomissing came out firing, unlike the first game against Middletown in which it trailed by eight after the first quarter. The Spartans pressed right away Friday and jumped out to 9-1 and 11-2 leads before settling on a 15-5 first quarter.
Not much changed in the second as the Spartans continued to distribute the scoring load and play stingy defense. They led 25-16 at halftime.
The third quarter was all Middletown, which never appeared frazzled even in a loud, SRO gymnasium. The Blue Raiders start three freshmen and a sophomore. They give ample minutes to six freshmen.
Freshman 5-11 forward Jayla Koser leads that bunch with 15.8 scoring and 10.2 rebounding averages; she had six of her team-high 13 points in the third quarter as the Blue Raiders went on a 16-6 run to take the lead with under a minute to go.
Koser finished with seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block for Middletown, which is still alive for a state playoff berth. The Blue Raiders need to beat Bishop McDevitt in a consolation semifinal Tuesday. McDevitt has beaten Middletown twice this season.
One Berks team is guaranteed to be playing in the district final against either defending champion and top-seeded Delone Catholic, which defeated Trinity 39-25 Friday, or fourth-seeded Eastern York, which defeated James Buchanan 59-57.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wyomissing | 15 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 51 |
| Middletown | 5 | 11 | 16 | 6 | 38 |
| Blue Raiders (17-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Koser | 4-13 | 4-8 | 1-4 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
| Huber | 2-9 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Cleland | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Matthews | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Serrano | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Jo. Stover | 3-6 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Ja. Stover | 4-6 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| Gassert | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 14-42 | 5-10 | 5-19 | 7 | 24-27 | 38 |
| Spartans (24-2) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Stewart | 7-15 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 13 | 18 |
| Hardy | 1-6 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| McCaffrey | 4-7 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Loeb | 2-7 | 0-0 | 2-7 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Hurleman | 2-6 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Zechman | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Campbell | 2-5 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Totals | 19-49 | 11-20 | 2-9 | 11 | 27-34 | 51 |
Turnovers: Wyomissing 21, Middletown 23.