On to Richmond: West Springfield in State Semifinals

April Robinson and Logan Battle came sauntering out of the home locker room Friday night subdued and smiling. Their demeanor suggested they had just wrapped up a regular season game, not a state quarterfinal with a trip to Richmond on the line.

Yet their laid-back attitude belied the fact that the West Springfield Spartans, behind another dominant defensive effort, had just advanced to the AAA state semifinals with a 49-40 win over Woodside (Newport News).

“We took care of the basketball, played really good defense, offense was patient, moved the ball around and took what we had,” said West Springfield coach Bill Gibson.

It was a business-like answer after a business-like win in which the Spartans never appeared threatened, despite leading by just two at halftime.

West Springfield came out hot in the second half, going on an 8-2 run to take control of the game. Amy Berglund scored six of the eight points, and from that point forward, the Spartans lead never dipped below eight.

“I think we’re a second half team,” Robinson, who scored a game-high 17 points, said. “I think that’s when all our energy comes out.”

Even though they had three scorers in double figures, with Battle scoring 15 and Berglund adding 12 to go with Robinson, it was the Spartans’ defense that sent them to their second straight Final Four. West Springfield came out in man-to-man, but when Woodside’s outside shooting faltered, just as the Spartans expected, they fell back into a 2-3 zone and dared the Wolverines to knock down shots from the perimeter.

“We played really good zone today,” Battle said. “We don’t practice it a lot and the fact that we did excellent in it was really [good].”

It was a team effort in the truest sense of the term, but Battle’s nine rebounds and five blocks jump off the stat sheet. Nora Osei also grabbed seven boards.

The Spartans move on to the state semifinals where they’ll play Stonewall Jackson out of the Northwest Region. The Raiders handed West Springfield its only loss of the season, a 52-49 decision in the IAABO Holiday Tournament in December. Stonewall forward and Boston College-commit Joy Caracciolo was huge in that meeting, scoring a game-high 16 points.

“Hopefully this time we’ll come out and make our baskets unlike over winter break, and we have to stop the big girl,” Robinson said. “We just have to come out prepared.”

The semifinals and championship game are at VCU’s Siegel Center in Richmond. West Springfield’s game against Stonewall Jackson is at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.