Belle Vernon no match for Hopewell in 60-24 defeat
BRIDGEVILLE — After the Lady Leopards beat Indiana on Saturday in a WPIAL Class AAA preliminary playoff game, Belle Vernon became the sixteenth seed and faced top-seeded Hopewell Wednesday night. The Lady Vikings (21-2) showed why they were co-section champs and sprinted to a 60-24 win at Chartiers Valley High School.
“It was no secret Hopewell was a very talented team,” Belle Vernon head coach Lisa Fairman said. “We had a tough time.”
The Leopards (12-12) faced a pressing, aggressive defense almost the entire game and were forced into committing 29 turnovers.
“Credit Hopewell for playing intense defense,” Fairman said. “They applied so much pressure, they prevented us from getting into our sets.”
The Vikings were led by junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. She is one of the best players in the WPIAL and scored 36 points and had seven steals. She took six of the steals coast-to-coast for uncontested layups and dished a seventh to setup an easy layup.
After neither team could get the ball to go in from point blank range early on Walker-Kimbrough took over the game. She broke the ice two minutes in with a short jumper in the paint giving the Vikings a 2-0 lead.
She stole the ball and scored the fast break bucket to give the Vikings a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter then stole it again on the next possession and scored the another fast break bucket to push the Vikings lead to 8-0 midway through the first.
She scored eight points in the first quarter to power the Vikings to a 13-4 first quarter lead and scored ten points in the second quarter as Hopewell led 28-9 lead at the break.
“Walker-Kimbrough is just a phenomenal player,” Fairman said. “We tried to defend her with a zone, a man-to-man, and a box, and nothing worked.”
She scored eight of the Vikings’ twelve points in the third quarter as they opened up their lead to 40-16 and added another ten points in the fourth quarter.
Junior Jessica Slagus led the Leopards with 12 points including all four of Belle Vernon’s points in the first quarter and four of the Leopards’ seven points in the third quarter. She was five points below her average but the Vikings’ defense had a lot to do with that.
“Their defense knew about Jessica [Slagus] and that made it hard for us to get the ball to her,” Fairman said. “She is a tremendous leader and never gives up. She’s a great player to coach.”
Hopewell will face the winner of Elizabeth Forward-Hampton on Saturday in the quarterfinals. Belle Vernon will now look forward to next season.
“This was tough for our seniors but they were very valuable this year in sparking enthusiasm for our team,” Fairman said. “We’re looking forward to next year. We have a lot of starters and experienced players coming back.”