Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Rustin, Henderson roll in openers
Golden Knights knock off the rust, cruise into second round
WESTTOWN » Playing a team that was starting three freshmen, it was important for West Chester Rustin to jump out early in its District 1 Class 5A opener Tuesday.
The second-seeded Golden Knights didn’t just jump, they soared.
Rustin bounded out to a huge first-quarter lead en route to a convincing 66-28 triumph over No. 15 Pottsgrove.
“One down,” said Rustin coach Jim Powers. “Didn’t want to take any chances. Just wanted to get out, do what we had to do. Work on some things, polish up some things we were struggling at and just wanted to play our game.”
Rustin moves into the quarterfinals, where it will host No. 10 Upper Merion on Friday.
With a team as young as the one the Falcons (11-12) had on the floor, the Golden Knights (21-4) took full advantage. Pottsgrove turned the ball over seven times and made just one of seven shots from the floor in the opening eight minutes.
“They’re a very nice team,” said Pottsgrove coach Michael Brendlinger. “We thought we could play with them a little bit better than we did, but they came out and just hit shots early and put us in the hole. We tried to press and they handled our pressure. They did a really nice job.”
Riley Simon scored to make it 4-2 Rustin with 6:10 left. It would be the only field goal for the Falcons until three minutes into the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights scored 14 consecutive points to build an already commanding 18-2 lead after one.
Sophomore Grace Plona had four points and Maggie O’Hare had eight of her 14 points during the run. Plona tied her season high with 12 points.
“Real excited to move on,” said Plona. “I started to hit some shots and I was just on it today.”
“She’s been doing that all year,” added Powers. “She’s been solid all year long.
She just cashed in more tonight.”
The game was a little scrappier in the second quarter as the Golden Knights tried to keep to the task at hand. They would take a 33-13 advantage into the break.
“I did try to change my zone up, going to a 1-3-1 just trying to keep them focused,” said Powers.
Erin Gallagher had 10 of her gamehigh 16 points in the third as Rustin took a 53-19 lead into the fourth, before the subs saw the game out.
The Falcons completed their season at 11-12, and were thankful for the postseason experience.
“We had two goals for the season — being top six in our league, and making the districts. We fell a little short of the final six, but we got into districts, so I think we had success, our kids grew and we got better,” said Brendlinger.
Now, Rustin will gear up to face Upper Merion, a team Powers admitted is a mystery to him.
“I don’t know anything about Upper Merion,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the game.”