No. 1 vs. No. 2 went to No. 2.
Cumberland Valley, the second-ranked AAAA girls’ basketball team in our PennLive preseason state rankings, knocked off No. 1 Wilson 67-50 on Monday afternoon in an early season nonleague mega showdown in CV’s Dome.
Wilson returned three Division I recruits from last season’s District 3-AAAA champion team: point guard Avery Marz (St. Joe’s) and low-post threats Jessie Wallace (Rider) and Carley Brew (James Madison).
CV returned four starters from last season’s PIAA-AAAA state runner-up team.
Kelly Jekot dropped a game-high 20 points, and Maddie Torresin sparked a 17-6 second-quarter blitz by scoring 9 of her 19 points during the run for the Eagles, who improved to 7-1 overall.
Wilson, which had won its last four games in a row, including a 72-63 triumph over fifth-ranked Cardinal O’Hara on Saturday, slipped to 4-2 overall.
WATCH VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS from Cumberland Valley's win over Wilson
RECAP
Wilson grabbed an early 10-8 lead before CV seized control with a dizzying second-quarter spree. Torresin started the run with a 3-pointer, Jekot splashed a 3 of her own, Jen Falconer and Jekot scored on consecutive trips, and Torresin scored in the lane and the Eagles led 24-16 with 1:32 to go in the first half — and took a 25-16 lead into the locker room.
In the third quarter, Taylor Sneidman — on the bench for a good chunk of the first half because of two early fouls — had back-to-back breakaway layups off steals as CV stretched its lead to 35-22.
Eagles’ sub Katie Jekot capped CV’s 23-point third-quarter binge with a buzzer beater and the Eagles led 48-31 heading into the fourth.
Undaunted, Wilson opened the final quarter on a 15-4 run, slicing CV’s lead to 52-46 with 3:30 to go. Wallace scored 11 of her team-high 19 points in the fourth for Wilson.
CV’s Meghan Rhoades converted a pair of post buckets and Kelly Jekot drained another 3 as the Eagles answered the Bulldogs’ run with a game-closing 15-4 clip of their own.
CV'S MADDIE TORRESIN CHATS ABOUT EAGLES' VICTORY:
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
CV out-rebounded Wilson 35-29; Kelly Jekot plucked a game-high 13 boards for the Eagles while Brew had 9 rebounds and Wallace 8 caroms for the Bulldogs. … Turnovers: Wilson 17, CV 15. … Brew chipped in with 12 points for the Bulldogs and Rhoades added 10 points — 6 in the fourth quarter — for CV, which hit the holiday break tied for second place behind State College in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth standings.
THEY SAID IT
“We’re excited. Ultimately it’s these kinds of games in February and March when they really, really matter. But this one really mattered to us, even though it’s December. … We wanted to come out and play well against one of the top teams in the state — a team maybe we’ll face in Districts and maybe in States somewhere. So it was a big game, even though it might not have been a quote-unquote big game for December. But we came out ready to play. … I think our depth was the difference. We had pretty much fresh kids out there most of the time. So I think we wore them down with our press and with our depth. And I think we did the best job that we could have with their bigs (6-1 Wallace, 5-11 Brew and 5-10 Kelly Ebner). They’re all really good; you can only contain them because you’re not going to stop them. And I thought we did a pretty nice job at least containing them. … It was one of those games where you leave the gym feeling really good. That’s one game and we’re not going to hang our hats on it. But we feel really good about it.” — Cumberland Valley coach Bill Wolf
“This is one of our most talented teams, but at this point in the season, we’re still working on becoming a better defensive team. We keep having some defensive breakdowns. … Hey, it’s only December. So hopefully if we can learn from this moving forward, this loss won’t hurt for very long.” — Wilson coach Doug Myer
UP NEXT
CV is hosting its own holiday tournament on Friday and Saturday; Eagles play Warwick (0-7) and Shippensburg (0-7) plays Dallastown (5-2) in first-round games Friday night. Play resumes Saturday with the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the title tilt at 2:30 p.m.
Wilson is heading to Delaware to play in the Diamond State Classic Friday through Monday. The Bulldogs will play three games. Central Dauphin is also playing in that tournament.
RAPID REACTION
For CV, an early season signature win over a team it very likely will have to go through to win District 3-AAAA top honors come February. Eagles played with plenty of drive and motivation, and won their third game in a row since falling to CD East for the seventh time in a row last Wednesday. When CV gets it cranking, they’re mighty, mighty tough.
Better days ahead for Wilson, especially with three DI kids roaming around. Marz can really push from the point and Brew and Wallace are matchup nightmares in the lane. And Wallace stepped back and drilled a pair of 3s on Monday, showing her flexibility. Not the greatest Berks League schedule awaits, but Myer and crew are playing a vicious nonleague slate to toughen up for the postseason. And if the Bulldogs get back Ivory Bailey, a Berks all-star pick last season who has yet to suit up the season, they’ll only get better.
Safe to say we’ll see both of these squads well into March.