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RADNOR – What a difference a year ma
kes.
kes.When the final horn sounded on Springfield’s 38-27 win over St. Pius X in Saturday’s District One Class A title game at Villanova University, the players leaped into each other’s arms in celebration.
“This team – they’re the hardest working girls, and they are just all heart,” Springfield coach Sarah Constable said. “We set this as a goal at the beginning of the season – to get back to the district championship and not just getting there like we did last year but actually winning it.
“They wanted this banner in our gym that will forever be a mark of what they’ve accomplished and how far they’ve come. I’m so proud of them, I’m so proud to have been able to coach them, and I’m so lucky to have a team of girls that are this hard working and full of heart. They really wanted to win it.”
The jubilant scene was a far cry from a year earlier after the Spartans – who found themselves staring at a 40-12 halftime deficit – fell to the Winged Lions 73-49.
After that lopsided loss, Morgan Smith – then a junior - made a prediction.
“If they’re back, we can get them,” Smith said of the Winged Lions.
The Spartans certainly ‘got’ the Winged Lions, breaking a string of seven consecutive district crowns for the program and giving the Spartans their very first.
“Last year was awful,” said Smith, now a senior captain. “I’m not going to lie. “Just watching them run all over us after we had worked so hard all season, and it was awful to watch them get the medals we had worked so hard for.”
“That was our first time here,” senior captain Briana Scafidi added. “It was really heartbreaking to see them take it away from us like that, but this year we came back and won it back.”
The emotions were decidedly different this time around.
“This is what I dreamed of,” said Morgan, still clutching the team trophy. “For the past two weeks while we were waiting for this, all I could think about was the feeling of winning this game.
“It’s amazing. I’m so happy – I couldn’t be happier.”
“It’s the most amazing feeling ever as a senior,” senior captain Molly Wheatley added.
The Spartans seized control of this one from the outset, opening up a 14-7 lead at the end of one quarter. Junior Elise DiFilippo scored eight of her team-high 14 points in the quarter. The Spartans added to that lead in the second quarter, limiting the Winged Lions to just two points and going into halftime with a 21-9 lead.
“We just came out and played our hardest,” Scafidi said. “We played man, and we made sure we were in the lane helping as much as we could on the drives.
“Number five – Emly Pufnock – was our main focus. She likes to drive to the basket a lot and get fouled.”“Whenever they would drive, we would always step (in),” DiFilippo said. “Our main thing was stepping in and always contesting their shots.”
Pufnock finished the game with just six points.
“We have really been working on our defense,” Constable said. “We have been living by the quote, ‘Defense wins championships.’ We have been thinking about it, talking about it every day.
“We knew St. Pius had Pufnock – an outstanding player who had 21 points in the semifinal game. We knew we had to have a plan for her and work for everything they got defensively.”
The two teams played to a draw in the second half, but it didn’t matter as the Spartans had taken care of business in the opening half, ensuring that the program’s first district title would be theirs.
“This is the best feeling in the world,” DiFilippo said. “After all those hard practices, especially after last year – they beat us by so much, and we just wanted it so bad.
“We pick each other up all the time, and at practice, we constantly push each other to the next level, making us better every day.”
When did the reality set in that the district championship was theirs?
“I don’t want to say at the beginning of the game when we were up by a lot – I didn’t want to be like, ‘We won it’ because usually that’s when they come back and you lose it,” Wheatley said. “We played to the end.
“The last eight seconds I looked at Bri – she had the ball, and I knew we had it.”“It’s an incredible feeling,” Scafidi said. “Especially being here at Villanova winning a championship like this – being from a really small town, we don’t win championships much.
“I have dreamed about this since I was a freshman – getting a banner up on the wall for basketball since we definitely don’t have any of them. The most important thing is we played as a team, and that’s what got us here.”
Interestingly, this year’s squad changed its pre-game cheer from ‘Team’ to ‘We want it,’ a testament to the team’s determination.
“We had worked so hard, and we wanted to get here again,” Morgan said. “Because of the loss and getting blown out last year – we wanted it that much more.”
“We learned from that loss, and we knew what we had to work on to get better,” Scafidid said. “That’s how we got here.”
“I think at the beginning of the season we struggled,” Wheatley said. “But as we played more and more, we learned how to play better as a team.
“Defensively, we stepped up so much better. Each person individually helped out, and I think our defense was incredible this year.”
The players insist they are more than just a team.
“These are my best friends,” Smith said.
“We’re all sisters,” Wheatley said. “Even out of season, we’re always together,” Scafidi said.
Constable credited her five seniors – Scafidi, Smith, Wheatley, Molly Tustin and Constance Upright - for playing such a prominent role in the program’s turnaround.
“The seniors have truly changed the way that Springfield looks at basketball,” Constable said. “They came in freshman year ready to work, ready to get better.
“They have been working so hard to get better every day, and they have really become the peer pressure to help the underclassmen feel the same way. They really have been leaders for us in that way.”
SPRINGFIELD 38, ST PIUS X 27
St. Pius 7 2 7 11-27
Springfield 14 7 7 10-38
St. Pius (27) – Rauh 4, Pufnock 6, Weiss 8, Proud 2, Mesaros 7.
Springfield (38)- Scafidi 5, Smith 6, Crudele 9, DiFilippo 14, Wheatley 4.
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