C-H goes cold in loss to Bishop McCort
Chartiers-Houston had a scoring drought of almost six minutes in the first half and that’s all Bishop McCort needed to take control of the PIAA Class 2A second round girls basketball playoff game.
Zoey Ferguson scored a game-high 19 points, Kaline Bailey added 15 and Bishop McCort, last year’s state runner-up, defeated Chartiers-Houston 62-36 Tuesday night at Norwin High School.
Chartiers-Houston’s stellar season ends with a 22-5 record, a section championship, third-place finish in the WPIAL and four postseason victories.
Bishop McCort (19-8), the District 6 champion, advances to play District 10 champion Wilmington in the quarterfinals on Friday. Wilmington beat Winchester Thurston 68-48 in the second round.
The key in the game was Chartiers-Houston’s scoring drought that started late in the first quarter and extended to the midway point of the second quarter. It enabled Bishop McCort to score 12 consecutive points and extend a 12-8 lead to 24-8. The Bucs were never able to recover.
The Crushers scored the final eight points of the first quarter and led 20-8 at its close. It was 24-8 when the Bucs finally ended their scoring drought.
Bishop McCort took a 35-16 lead and plenty of momentum into halftime.
Chartiers-Houston managed to swing the momentum briefly during the third quarter, closing to within 39-26 as the Bucs’ pressure defense gave the Crushers problems.
The C-H surge, however, was short-lived as Bishop McCort closed the third quarter with an 11-0 run to extend its lead to 50-26 heading to the fourth quarter.
Ava Zuko gave Bishop McCort three players in double figures as she finished with 11 points.
Senior Allison Wingard was the only Chartiers-Houston player to score in double figures. She netted 16 points. Sophomore Ava Kolovich scored nine points before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.