Matt Raquet-Wilson

A matchup for first place between two very good teams was tarnished by a fight that resulted in six players being ejected. “It was really unfortunate and kind of ruined a really good league game. Just an unfortunate situation, it should never happen,” said Wilson first-year coach Matt Raquet. The Bulldogs beat Reading 46-45 to claim sole possession of the top spot in Division 1 of the Berks League. Raquet wasn’t sure what led up to the fight with 1:22 left in the third quarter. “I don’t know anything about social media, if anything happened there. I don’t think so. It was just heat of the moment, competitive type stuff that shouldn’t happen,” replied Raquet. As the ball was heading upcourt, Reading senior Elyssa Spring and Wilson junior Janai Tisdale squared off at the foul line. They exchanged punches before wrestling each other to the floor. Spring, Tamyia Collier, Kailani Ocasio, and Nalani Sosa were ejected for the Red Knights. Tisdale and Kailani Hardy were thrown out for the Bulldogs. “They’re kids at the end of the day. They made mistakes and they’re gonna learn from it. That’s the important thing now, the response and making sure it doesn’t happen again,” stated Raquet. Hardy had 18 points and Wilson was up 36-33 at the time of the melee. “She’s just scratching the surface of her potential…The great thing about her is she puts winning first,” said Raquet about Hardy. The 5’9 sophomore is averaging 15 ppg. this season. The Bulldogs trailed 9-8 after the opening quarter and 27-26 at halftime. Reading built a 33-28 cushion midway through the third period. Wilson ended the quarter on a 10-0 run. Laura Crocona, a 5’7 junior, scored eight of her ten points in that period. “She was awesome. She’s great at running the floor, gets a lot of good transition looks…She does it on both ends and a lot of that doesn’t get seen in the stat sheet,” explained Raquet. Sophomore Nyla Nunez, who appeared in just her eighth varsity contest, gave the Red Knights a 41-40 edge on a layup with 3:43 remaining. Jade Lee quickly responded with a bucket to put the (14-6, 9-2) Bulldogs back on top. Ryan Leaman, a 5’7 sophomore point guard, made a tough floater on the left baseline for a 44-41 lead with 2:12 to go. After a Reading turnover, Lee drove down the center of the lane and banked in a shot with 1:34 on the clock. The 5’9 freshman provided six of her eight points in the fourth quarter. “She did a great job in a really crazy environment at keeping her cool, and continuing to rebound and be active,” mentioned Raquet. Yamilex Rodriguez sank a pull-up jumper to get the (14-7, 8-3) Red Knights within 46-43 with 35 seconds to play. Crocona missed a pair of free throws with eleven seconds left. Instead of attempting a tying 3-pointer, Rodriguez drove to the basket and found JilliAnn Laws for a layup. That cut Reading’s deficit to 46-45, but only one second remained. Raquet said he doesn’t believe in fouling with a three point lead late in the game. “My philosophy is guard the 3-point line, contest and don’t foul. Luckily, they drove and took a 2 there,” he replied. Violet Houck then threw a long pass just past midcourt that was deflected as time expired. Houck only had four points, but the 5’11 junior was a shot-blocking machine. Wilson went 5-for-10 from the foul line, while the Red Knights were 6-for-10. Each team only connected once from beyond the arc. Rodriguez and freshman Xiani Beatty finished with ten points apiece for Reading. Spring and Laws each contributed six points. The Bulldogs defeated the Red Knights 65-47 at the Geigle Complex on December 19th. Wilson has won nine of its last ten games. Their spurt at the end of the third quarter was crucial on a wild night in West Lawn. “I don’t think we had any panic at that time and just stayed together as a group,” said Raquet.