Lady Colts Eager for Playoff Run

The Chartiers Valley girls’ basketball team is unconventional in its way of success. It features only two seniors, has a regular rotation that includes four sophomores and two freshman and lost only two true road games all season.

And while many people believed the Lady Colts would struggle this season, senior guard Lindsay Richardson said the doubters fueled their team.

“At the beginning of the year, me and Lexy (Herron) heard a lot of things,” Richardson said. “Everyone was doubting us and questioning whether we had good leadership and who would step up. We wanted to prove everyone wrong and prove that we could do it.”

Chartiers Valley (17-5, 8-2) is entering the first round of the Class AAA WPIAL playoffs as the No. 4 seed, and will face Mt. Pleasant at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Canon-McMillan after a winter storm pushed the game back a day. On the surface, the fourth-seeded Lady Colts may seem to be a heavy favorite, although Mt. Pleasant is the only Class AAA WPIAL team to not lose by double-digits to No. 1 seed Indiana.

The Lady Colts now have more to prove going into the playoffs.

The team’s coach, Spencer Stefko, could hardly be considered a doubter, but he was somewhat surprised by his young team’s play this year.

“They came together in some ways a little quicker than we might have expected, but as they were coming together, they were doing it in a simple way,” the fifth-year coach said. “We were getting a little bit better at one or two things.”

Stefko’s prediction was based on the tough schedule Chartiers Valley would have to play. The Lady Colts entered December with the Butler Tip-Off Tournament, where .

Then, the Lady Colts in the home opener before traveling east for a weekend to face State College and Hollidaysburg. Chartiers Valley was able to , but fell to Hollidaysburg the next afternoon.

The Lady Colts were able to in their first games against teams, but hit the unforgiving wall the second time around and at South Fayette.

“Even though we had just lost to Montour and , I still had hopes of getting to the playoffs and making a run,” Herron said. “We played horrendous and seeing us fight back from that just gave me confidence that we could make it in the playoffs.”

Sophomore point guard Alex Coyne, a key contributor to last season’s WPIAL and PIAA semifinals run, put the Lady Colts’ mid-season hiccup into perspective.

“I think a team’s true colors show when you’re down or when you’re on the bottom side of a run,” she said. “If you get too low you can’t fight back and if you get too high that isn’t good either. We have a chance to give any team a good run for their money.”

And while Chartiers Valley enjoys looking back on the excellent season they’ve had so far, Stefko and the players will use their experiences to benefit a playoff run.

“When you go through the playoffs, there’s going to be adversity. Things are going to happen,” Stefko said. “That’s something I’m comfortable with these girls more than any team out there. There’s a lot of teams out there that when things go wrong, they’re just done. I’m glad that isn’t my team.