(Butler, PA) Sophomore All-American Aslyn Pry on Saturday led the Butler County Community College women’s basketball team to the program’s sixth Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship in eight years and to its ninth victory by 30 or more points this season.
Pry began the Pioneers’ scoring with a 3-pointer and ended it with a reverse layup that finished a 28-point performance in BC3’s 72-42 victory over Westmoreland County Community College.
The 5-foot-10 forward received the prestigious postseason award from the National Junior College Athletic Association following her freshman season. BC3’s other All-Americans in women’s basketball, Julia Baxter in 2017 and Mackenzie Craig in 2019, were honored after their sophomore and final seasons.
"I love winning. I love putting numbers on that banner” in BC3’s Field House.
Ranked third in the NJCAA Division III in rebounding average and seventh in scoring average, Pry on Saturday scored at least 25 points for the eighth time this season and led BC3 with 19 rebounds.
BC3 guards Emma Johns added 17 points and Emma Monteleone 13 for the Pioneers (18-5). The 18th victory of the season was the program’s most since the 2010-2011 team finished 17-12.
“A program that plays at a very high level”
The Pioneers’ Lydia Roth, in her first season, was selected Saturday as the WPCC coach of the year, and Pry, Monteleone and Hailey Metzger were named to the WPCC all-conference team for a second consecutive year. Metzger, a guard, was injured and did not play Saturday.
The sixth WPCC championship since 2016 is “really impressive for the program and for BC3 in general, that the women’s team can be that successful in such a short period of time,” Pry said. “I’m ecstatic. I love winning. I love putting numbers on that banner” in BC3’s Field House.
The Pioneers will seek the program’s fourth National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Region 20 championship Feb. 25-26 at Westmoreland County Community College, Youngwood.
“We have the reputation of a program that plays at a very high level,” Roth said. “That’s the culture that started with (former) coach (Dick) Hartung that I have been able to keep going with the group this year.”
Hartung retired in March 2022 after coaching the squad for 12 seasons.
“I know that I can come back here years from now and know what I have accomplished. This will always be something to look back on, being a champion with this team."
BC3’s No. 11-ranked men’s team later Saturday won the program’s seventh WPCC title since 1980 with a 91-62 victory over Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in BC3’s Field House.
Saturday marked the second time that BC3’s women’s and men’s basketball teams won WPCC championships in the same season and the first time at home.
“On pace to do very, very well”
“It’s just been so much fun to bring this to the community,” Roth said. “The players know they have the community behind them and they can do something positive in the community. We talk about that a lot.”
The WPCC championships follow those won by the college’s softball, golf and volleyball squads since May 2022.
Johns on Saturday scored 17 points or more for the eighth time this season, and Monteleone, 13 or more for the seventh.
“I think we are on pace to do very, very well this season,” Johns said, “and in the future as well.”
Monteleone, Metzger, Pry, Zoey Hillwig and Taylor Yost also won the WPCC championship in February 2022.
“I know that I can come back here years from now and know what I have accomplished,” Monteleone said. “This will always be something to look back on, being a champion with this team. … It means a lot to me. I have been playing for so long. This is finally where I am getting to.”
Westmoreland County’s Angel Kelly and Mercedes Majors were also named to the WPCC all-conference team. Kelly scored 13 points against BC3 and Majors 12.
Pry as of Saturday was seventh among players on 73 Division III teams with a scoring average of 21.2 and third with a rebounding average of 16.1. Saturday marked the 10th game this season in which she has had 19 or more rebounds.
The Region 20 player of the month for December and for January, and the Division III player of the week Feb. 8 has averaged 27.8 points in her past eight games.
“Everything flows through (Pry),” Westmoreland County coach James Brymn said. “We just don’t have the height to guard her. We try to double (team) her on the inside and then she kicks out to the guards, including (Metzger), who did not play today.
“Today we tried a little bit of a different defense. We thought we would guard the perimeter and let (Pry) kill us. That way it is one killing us instead of four. And that didn’t work either.”
BC3 last won a Region 20 championship in 2016.
The Pioneers will be seeded No. 2 and face No. 3 seed Anne Arundel, Arnold, Md., at noon Feb. 25. The winner faces No. 1 seed Prince George’s, Largo, Md., in the championship at noon Feb. 26.
Members of BC3’s 2023 WPCC championship team are Hillwig, a guard and Moniteau High School graduate; Johns, Karns City; Brooke Manuel, forward, Karns City; Metzger, Butler; Monteleone, Butler; Zoe Morley, forward, Portersville Christian; Megan Pennington, guard, Butler; Pry, Moniteau; Sara Soltis, guard, Mars; and Yost, forward, Seneca Valley.
