Destiney McPhaul reaches 1,000 career points, West Catholic advances in PIAA Class 3A tournament

It was quite a night for the West Catholic girls’ basketball team.

Junior guard Destiney McPhaul scored the 1,000th point of her career, junior guard Daziyhana Montgomery-Wilson dropped in 7 of West Catholic’s 12 three-pointers and the Burrs opened the PIAA Class 3A state championship tournament in impressive style with a 91-38 rout of Susquenita at Archbishop Wood Friday night.

The Burrs (18-9) actually trailed the Blackhawks, 3-0, at the start of the game. But that would be the high water mark for Susquenita (20-8), the fourth-place team from District 3. West, the District 12 champions, went on a 22-0 scoring run over the next six minutes to essentially end any ideas the Blackhawks may have had of winning the game.

As impressive as the Burrs were in the first quarter, they stepped it up even more in the second quarter. Montgomery-Wilson rained 4 three pointers on Susquenita in the period. She opened the quarter with a pair from the right side to give West a 30-6 lead, added another from the left side with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the quarter, then added an NBA-range trey from the right side to boost the Burrs to a 51-10 advantage with 2:40 remaining until halftime.

“We’ve always said that we have the kind of team where any kid can go off for 30 [points] and I think that shined through tonight,” West coach Beulah Osueke said. “We have a very selfless team, so anytime a player has a hot hand, we’re going to give her the ball and Daisy proved that aspect of our system. So all of my kids have the green light and she shot.”

So with a huge lead, all that was left was to get McPhaul her 1,000th career point. That came with 6:12 left in the game on – what else – a three-pointer from the top of the key. When she nailed it, her team and a few fans swarmed the court to celebrate.

“I think Destiney is an amazing player and I think she’s only scratched the surface of where she’s going to be,” Osueke said. “I’m really proud that she was able to get that accomplished and out of the way and we can now focus on the opponents that we have ahead of us.”

Reaching the career milestone meant a lot to McPhaul, but the guess is that she would be just as content to win a PIAA championship.

“We want to win the championship,” McPhaul said. “This is one step. We’ve got to win four games to get us to the Giant Center [in Hershey]. But we’ve got to keep working.”

That work continues in the second round on Tuesday night.

Susquenita 6 11 13 8 - 38

West Catholic 24 32 23 12 - 91

S: Alana Boyer 16, Hally Sherman 6, Elizabeth Jones 6, Mandi Armstrong 4, Madi Blyler 2, Kelsey Jacobo 2, Samantha Wechsler 2.

WC: Destiney McPhaul 26, Daziyhana Montgomery-Wilson 23, Tamiah Robinson 12, Amina Reid 11, Kaori Saunders 6, Lemarah Sampson 6, Amina Fowler 3, Safara McIntyre 2, Ti’Eisha Walker 2.