For the fourth year in a row, the W.F. West girls basketball team lost its Regional Round matchup. And for the third time in those four years, the Bearcats were defeated by an Archbishop Murphy team that was the lower seed entering the matchup.
This season’s matchup felt very similar to last year’s, as No. 4 W.F. West couldn’t stop down the duo of Ava Marr and Brooke Blachly. The duo combined for 44 points to hand the Bearcats a 53-41 loss and send them back to the 2A State Tournament Round of 12.
“It’s emotional, and it’s frustrating,” W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski said. “You wanna win your Regional Round at home with your seniors in their last time on this court. It all adds up. It really is tough.”
Early on, it didn’t seem like the Wildcats would ever have the chance to get going. They scored just two points in the first seven minutes of the game and had just seven midway through the second.
The Bearcats weren’t able to take advantage of the strong defensive start, though, as they also struggled early on the offensive end.
Julia Dalan scored six quick points, Rhylee Beebe hit a three, and a couple of others combined to hit some free throws to help build a 14-7 lead. But three second-quarter threes from Blachly and a scoreless first half from Dilyn Boeck left W.F. West trailing 19-17 at the break.
Marr took the torch from Blachly in the third in the third, hitting three threes of her own, and the Wildcats led by nine entering the final frame.
Boeck got going in the third, scoring nine before adding a three-point play to start the fourth. After a Dalan bucket, the Bearcats were back within four. Blachly hit another three moments later to re-extend the lead, and she hit her fifth three of the night to ice it with one minute to play.
“Some of them that they made were tough ones,” Karnofski said. “To hold them shooting like what we did, it gives you a chance. It comes down to us making shots and having that gut-check time … I thought that was a struggle for us.”
Boeck and Dalan combined for 30 points, while Grace Simpson added six, Beebe scored three, and Kaitlyn Chloupek finished with two.
W.F. West (23-2) will now line up against No. 12 North Mason in the Round of 12 on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m.
“We’ve been in this situation before, and we’ve trophied out of this,” Karnofski said, referring to the 2022 team’s run to finish fifth after losing its opener. “That’s kind of how we’re trying to look at it now.”
This group’s seniors — Dalan, Simpson, Amanda Bennett, and Ellie Clinton — were part of that run three years ago, and Karnofski is hopeful that they can end their high school careers with another trophy.
“I told them, ‘you’ve got a week left’” Karnofski said. “‘You gotta own that leadership role. You’ve done a great job all year. You just gotta keep moving forward from that.’
“I still think we have a great shot of doing some stuff over there and making some noise,” he continued. “I’m really proud of them, and I think they’re gonna be hungry when they come out.”
