The Lady Wizards’ defensive skills have established their dominance on the court heading into the championship race.

By Charles Lane

Defense – with a splash of offense when needed – has the Prospect Hill Academy Lady Wizards positioned to play in this year’s girls basketball championship of the 2016 Massachusetts Charter School Athletic Organization set for 6:00 p.m. on Friday, March 11, at U Mass Boston’s Clark Athletic Center.

Defense keyed the Prospect Hill squad in the two basketball challenges this past weekend. Every player who stepped onto the court to represent the Lady Wizards between the lines slapped the floor with her two hands, got into athletic stance and then fanatically moved her feet, legs, arms and hands individually and collectively to a chant of “Defense! Defense! Defense!” from their teammates, the coaching staff and the many supporters and fans in attendance.

Hyde Park’s Academy of the Pacific Rim ended its season with a quarterfinal setback to PHA by a score of 62-38 on Friday evening. On Saturday afternoon, Everett’s Pioneer Charter School of Science exited the tournament semi-finals falling to PHA on the low side of a 42-24 score.

Prospect Hill’s three usual suspects – Junior guard Agar Felix, Freshman guard Ashley Cadet and Freshman center Kaleesha Joseph – provided the needed offense. In the quarterfinals, the trio combined for 54 points. They added 38 more points in the semi-final affair. Cadet led all scorers in Friday’s game with 21 points, while Joseph scored 21 to pace PHA on Saturday.

Felix, the Lady Wizards’ outstanding floor general, played consistently in both contests scoring 16 in the first game followed by 13 in the second. As effective as the three were on offense, they performed as well, if not better, on the defensive side of the ball. All three players were MSCAO league all-star candidates last year and have again been nominated for the same honors this season.

Supporting the three, most particularly on defense, were fellow starters Senior power forward and team captain NiahCarvalho and Sophomore small forward Fabiana Paul. Coming off the bench to spell the frontcourt starters when needed were Senior forward and center Sara Blaise, Senior forward KarenahHarewood, Junior forward Tracy Beauvois and Sophomore forward Katelynne Quinones.

Felix and Cadet owed any rest that they could get in the back-court to the efforts of Paul who also played a couple of rotations on Saturday at guard, and to Junior guard Marley Durham, Sophomore guards SemharHabtom and Thais Valesquez, and Freshman guard Fatima Benmimoun.

On Friday in the quarterfinals, the Pioneer Panthers faced off against Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School Panthers from Holyoke and escaped with a 43-30 victory behind the play of Senior guard Kirsten Fiote who is the leading scorer at 20 points per game in MCSAO Division I.

Fiote is also Pioneer’s team captain, a 2-year all-star and a MCSAO Division I Most Valuable Player nominee this year. The Panthers were not as fortunate in the semi-finals due in large part to the stellar defensive play of PHA’s Durham who was charged with the task of covering Fiote 1-on-1 for a majority of the game. Durham excelled in the “mano a mano” challenge holding Fiote to a season low total of 7 points.

Prospect Hill Academy (12-0 League, 20-3 Overall) will square off against the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers Huskies from Boston (12-0, 20-3 with no losses to MCSAO teams in either division) in this Friday night’s championship clash. Kennedy is led by Senior shooting guard Ana Marcelin, Sophomore shooting guard and captain Ashlee Montgomery and Sophomore guard Tyalie Campbell. Marcelin leads MCSAO Division II in scoring averaging 19.6 points per game. Montgomery and Campbell average 7.6 and 12.9 points per contest respectively. Prospect Hill leads Division I in team offense and team defense. Kennedy leads Division II in the same categories.

Two well-prepared teams will face off on March 11 in the MCSAO title tilt. The team with the most points on offense will raise the championship trophy at the end of the unprecedented battle of undefeated MCSAO teams. How many point that team will score will be determined by the other team’s defense.