Cold Night, Hot Rustin Spell 55-29 Loss for GV Girls

 There's an old basketball adage ... if you don't put the ball through the hoop, you don't win many games.

That's exactly what happened Monday night to the Great Valley girls basketball team when they faced West Chester Rustin in the most important game of the Ches-Mont League season. Staring at  an uphill climb for the Final Four and hanging onto a District 1 tournament spot by a thread, the Patriots needed to turn back the Golden Knights.

It didn't happen.

Great Valley had a woeful night almost from the start in both shooting and handling the basketball, and saw Rustin run away with the contest, 55-29.

The loss left the Pats with a task and lots of hoping to finish second spots in the division. Sun Valley leads with a 9-1 record. Rustin is second at 8-2 and the Patriots third at 6-4. Great Valley needs to beat Oxford on Tuesday, have Rustin lose to Kennett, then beat the Golden Knights on Thursday. That would make GV and WCR even at 8-4 which would mean a host of tie-breakers would set in because the teams would have split head-to-head meetings.

The top two teams from the American Division will face the top duo from the National at Oxford on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. in the semi-finals of the Final Four. The winners play for the league title next Tuesday at Coatesville at 6 p.m.

How bad of a night was it for the Patriots? Consider:

• Great Valley trailed from the start of the game and never tied or went ahead.

• They were down 10-3 less than 5 minutes into the game.

• They only scored 3 field goals in the second quarter.

• They only scored 2 field goals the entire second half.

• Rustin rattled off 16 straight points in the fourth quarter, including four on steals that turned into baskets.

For a while, after falling behind early, it appeared the Pats were going to make a game of it. Down 10-3 at the 3:35 mark of the first quarter, Karen Davison hit a three-pointer and Tiffany Govan connected on a foul shot to get GV within 10-7 with 1:10 still showing. Emily Hubley scored for Rustin at 5:26 (12-7) and Govan hit another free throw with 17.3 seconds left and things were still managable as the Knights led 12-8 at quarter's end.

Davison and Logan Curley canned back-to-back baskets, and there were the Patriots, trailing 14-12 at 6:02 of the second quarter. WCR countered with a foulshot from Amanda Chobany then a bucket from Mariah Powell to make it 17-12 at 4:55.

Amanda Germer gave the Patriots a lift with a three-pointer at 4:26, getting Great Valley closer at 17-15. But Rustin would add a trey from Hubley (23 points on the night) and the senior ended the scoring for the half with a layup at 29.6 while GV could counter only with a free throw as the Golden Knights took a 22-16 lead at halftime.

Then things started to go south for Great Valley, quickly.

Rustin threw in five straight points to start the third quarter, and, in a blink, the Pats were staring at a 27-16 deficit with still 5:48 left. That's when the scoring drought set in as Curley's field goal at 4:19 got the Pats within 27-21.

Hubley hit a three and a two-pointer, Powell added a three and with Great Valley only able to respond with three free throws, Rustin moved ahead 35-23 with 2:35 left in the quarter. That blossomed to a 39-25 advantage as the eight minutes ended as Sam Zang and the ever-present Hubley scored with 5.2 seconds.

The fourth installment is one Great Valley head coach Alex Venarchik will relive in nightmares for weeks. It was all Golden Knights, all the time as they threw home 16 unanswered points to make it 55-27 with 33.4 seconds to play. Daniele Strang broke the streak by making a layup at 14.2 for the Patriots that made the final score 55-29.

Great Valley went over 11 minutes of the second half without a field goal.

Information on upcoming games

The Pats will travel to Oxford on Tuesday night for a 7:30 meeting with the Hornets, then travel to Sun Valley on Thursday to meet the Vanguards at the same time to end the regular season.

The District 1 seeding meeting will be held Sunday. Thirty-two teams will participate based on a complex rating system that encompasses wins, records, opponents records and schedules.