Springfield’s Alexa Abbonizio puts up a basket in the fourth quarter as the Cougars pulled away from Harriton, 46-39, to win the District 1 Class 5A Championship Wednesday. Abbonizio scored all 14 of the Cougars’ fourth-quarter points. (PETE BANNAN/MEDIANEWS GROUP)
By Matt Smith
Alexa Abbonizio has made a high school career out of making clutch baskets.
The Springfield senior did it again (and again, and again) Wednesday night in the District 1 Class 5A championship.
Abbonizio’s torrid fourth quarter, in which she scored all 14 of her team’s points, carried No. 1 Springfield to its second straight district title, a 46-39 decision over Central League rival and second-seeded Harriton.
Earlier in the year, the All-Delco became the program’s all-time leading scorer. She’s been padding her record ever since.
“Alexa’s put this team on her back for four years and she’s been a dominant part of this program for four years,” said coach Ky McNichol, who has guided the Cougars to district championships in three of her first six years at the helm. “What she did tonight was basically say, ‘I’m going to finish for my team, I’m not going to let us go down.’ I told them during a timeout that all we needed was to bury one 3 and we would be OK. So, once she buried the 2 and then buried the 3, I knew we were OK.
“Big players step up in big moments and she’s been a big player for us, game in and game out for four years.”