Westtown girls, Perkiomen boys win PAISAA titles

For Westtown girls’ basketball coach Fran Burbidge, the secret to success isn’t complicated.

Sunday afternoon at St. Joseph’s University, his master plan worked almost to perfection during Westtown’s 74-54 victory over Penn Charter in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association championship game.

The win was the second consecutive PAISAA title for the Moose, who also won the Friends Schools League title.

”I’ll give you Fran’s top three rules to winning championships,” Burbidge said Sunday afternoon. “No. 1: have good players. No. 2: have good players. No. 3: have good players who know how to play hard and compete and play with each other.”

Burbidge’s bunch has no shortage of those.

Junior guard Zahra King led all scorers with 21 points. Eighth grader Jordyn Palmer added 13 points, 11 of which came during Westtown’s stifling defensive first quarter.

The Moose stampeded to a 21-4 lead by the end of the first frame, holding the Quakers to just four made free throws.

”I think we knew that in order to win we needed to be aggressive on the defensive end,” King said.

Penn Charter coach Joe Maguire said he didn’t have his team prepared for the pressure of the moment.

The Quakers, who went undefeated in the Inter-Ac en route to a league title, bounced back in the second half. Westtown foul trouble certainly helped. Aggressive play from sophomore Kaylinn Bethea, who led the Quakers with 19 points, did the rest.

Penn Charter cut its 36-12 halftime deficit to 18 points in the fourth quarter after Palmer fouled out with five minutes left and Westtown senior Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick also fouled out about 30 seconds later.

Westtown, however, quickly regained control.

”We told them in the locker room that we’re so proud to be a part of this group and how they represent not only the community, but us as coaches,” Burbidge said. “We wouldn’t trade them for any team in the country.”

In Game 2 of the doubleheader at Hagan Arena, the Perkiomen School boys’ team outlasted George School, 79-77, in overtime thanks to senior guard Bobby Rosenberger’s two free throws with one second remaining.

Perkiomen, which lost to Westtown in last year’s finale, won its first PAISAA championship.

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”Really proud of our group,” coach Thomas Baudinet said. “I thought it was a really gritty performance the whole state tournament.”

After the teams battled to a 68-all tie at the end of regulation, the game seemed headed for another extra frame tied at 77 with two seconds left.

George School had used its final timeout to strategize for one last offensive play.

Coach Ben Luber said it was made clear in the huddle that the team had no timeouts left.

When play resumed, however, one of his players called a timeout as the ball advanced past midcourt.

”It’s unfortunate,” Luber said postgame. “It’s a lesson I guess for the kids, but it was a hard way to end it.”

George School junior guard Christian Bliss led all scorers with 31 points.

Perkiomen’s bench immediately alerted referees to the infraction, which resulted in two technical free throws.

Baudinet said there was little doubt who would shoot the free throws, but he did ask his team.

”I wanted to see who wanted to shoot them,” he said. “It was good. Like three guys wanted them. But the choice was Bobby. They were his to take. He’s been here for four years. That’s his moment.”

Rosenberger, who led his team with 20 points, held back tears in the postgame press conference.

”It was almost like a storybook ending to my career here,” he said. “Just to get to the playoffs, and then in the last moments get to shoot free throws like that, it’s very emotional. It means a lot to me with how much time I put into this program and how much I love this team, coach, and everyone in the program.”

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