Dec 18, 2017 3 min read

When Chartiers-Houston’s girls basketball team plays, it’s more like watching chess.

The Bucs almost always have the best player on the floor in Alexa Williamson, and both coaches and the other nine players are either trying to get her the ball or keep it away from her.

For C-H head coach Laura Montecalvo, it’s much easier to get the Temple University commit the ball if other players can score to spread out the opposing defense.

“If other people aren’t offensive threats, then we won’t have success getting the ball to (Williamson),” Montecalvo said after her team’s season-opening loss to Canon-McMillan.

On Monday night against Section 1-AA foe Wash High, the Bucs had that extra scoring threat in Madison Simpson, who helped lead the Bucs to a 47-28 road win.

“I felt like it was a little bit more of a team effort tonight,” Montecalvo said. “That’s where we’re trying to go.”

Simpson, a senior guard, scored 10 points on five buckets, a couple of which came in transition after Simpson stole a pass on defense.

“I think that Madison Simpson really stepped up tonight, and we also got some real critical minutes from Kirah Lindsey off the bench,” Montecalvo said. “They both helped out a lot, playing good defense and doing a good job with the ball.”

While Simpson took the pressure off Williamson a little, the senior forward still fought through double and triple teams to score several of her baskets. Williamson ended the day with a full statistics sheet: 24 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks and six steals.

“We saw tonight that she can be pretty intimidating under the hoop,” Montecalvo said. “We want her to play that role, because we would like to keep people out of the paint, which allows us to put perimeter pressure on players. When she blocks shots like that, the next kid thinks twice before going in there.”

Wash High (1-1, 3-3) head coach Mike Maltony said Williamson “isn’t one of the best players in the WPIAL for nothing.”

“We tried to double down on her, if possible, and let the other girls hurt you,” he said. “She’s going to get her points.”

The start of the game was a turnoverfest with Chartiers-Houston (2-0, 3-1) leading 11-8 after the ugly first quarter.

“Our game plan was to try and be patient,” Maltony said. “We knew that we had to control the ball, and we couldn’t do that tonight.”

The Bucs went on an 11-0 run to start the second quarter before Torri Finley, who ended the night with 13 points, hit three straight three-pointers in the last two minutes of the first half to bring the Prexies within six points.

The Bucs took away the three-pointer, keeping the Prexies to 11 total points in the second half. C-H didn’t allow more than 10 points in any quarter, while the Bucs eclipsed double digits in every quarter themselves.

“We focus a lot on (defense). Tonight we felt like we played pretty good defense, seeing that they have some pretty powerful slashers,” Montecalvo said. “They’re able to get to the basket, and Torri Finley shot fantastic from the outside there at the end of the second quarter. We felt pretty good in the second half holding them (to 11 points) in the second half.”