{"id":65193,"date":"2025-12-19T12:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/65193\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:31:09","slug":"wilson-takes-care-of-business-at-home-beats-reading-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/65193\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson takes care of business at home, beats Reading High"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wilson defeated Reading High 54-44 at West Lawn on Thursday night in a Berks County Division 1 matchup.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs (4\u20130, 7\u20131) held the lead for the entire 32-minute game despite being without their defensive leader, Kailani Hardy, who has been averaging 12.7 points per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got such a huge impact on the game, and in a lot of ways that don\u2019t even show up on the stat sheet,\u201d Bulldogs coach Matt Raquet said. \u201cWe ask her to guard the other team\u2019s best player. She talks, she rebounds, she can obviously score and do all those things that do show up in the stat sheet, but her presence is missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But others stepped up in her absence due to injury, led by Violet Houck, who recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\"Wilson'sWilson\u2019s Violet Houck battles for two of her 13 points against Reading High in a 54-44 Bulldog victory over the Red Knights on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at West Lawn. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a big impact when we have her here,\u201d Houck said of missing Hardy. \u201cSo going in, we knew that other people would have to step up, and it was definitely a little bit of a slow start to find our pace, but then we definitely found it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading (2\u20131, 5\u20133) got within striking distance, at least three points, multiple times throughout the game. The closest came late in the second quarter, when the deficit was 18\u201317, but each time Wilson responded with a run to pull away.<\/p>\n

Laura Crocona ended a 5\u20130 Reading run by converting an and-one opportunity, followed by a basket from Ryan Leeman to close the half, giving Wilson a 24\u201317 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

Whenever the two squads meet, it\u2019s a guaranteed battle, scrappy until the very end, with each team looking to dominate its Division 1 rival. This time, the Bulldogs got the best of the defending Berks County champions, forcing double-digit turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key was the stuff we talk about every day, our standards of staying together, being a good teammate, and competing,\u201d Raquet said. \u201cOne of our keys to the game was just staying composed. We knew it was going to be a hectic, full court, full speed, They were throwing a lot of different defenses at you. That\u2019s a great defensive team that throw a lot of defensive pressure on you, so you\u2019re going to have the turnovers. It\u2019s just moving on to the next play, and staying together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wilson'sWilson\u2019s Laura Crocona gets two of her 10 points against Reading High in a 54-44 Bulldog victory over the Red Knights on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at West Lawn. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

In the third quarter, Nalani Sosa and Jillian Laws hit back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a layup from Xiani Beatty, to cut the deficit to 32\u201329 with plenty of time left.<\/p>\n

But once the Red Knights had the lead in sight, the Bulldogs quickly closed the door.<\/p>\n

Laila Jones, who finished with a game-high 14 points, swung the momentum back in Wilson\u2019s favor almost single-handedly.<\/p>\n

She assisted Houck on a layup, then came up with a steal on the defensive end. Dribbling up the court 1-on-1, she stepped back from the 3-point line and knocked down a clutch deep shot.<\/p>\n

The senior added one more basket before diving out of bounds to save a loose ball, which turned into another Houck basket on the opposite end.<\/p>\n

The 9\u20130 run gave the Bulldogs a 41\u201329 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we play Reading, it\u2019s always a pretty scrappy game,\u201d Houck said. \u201cWe knew that we had to go in focus, play our game, and we\u2019d come out fine. We have to keep doing what we\u2019re doing. Stay focused as a team and just keep showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs maintained at least a nine-point lead for the remainder of the game, as Reading was unable to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

For Wilson, Ryan Leeman scored 12 points, while Laura Crocona added 10.<\/p>\n

\"ReadingReading High\u2019s Xiani Beatty goes for two of her 11 points against Wilson in a 54-44 Bulldog victory over the Red Knights on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at West Lawn. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

For Reading, Jillian Laws had 13 points and five rebounds, and Xiani Beatty finished with 11 points and six boards.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs\u2019 next game is Saturday at home against Cedar Crest, and they will once again be without Hardy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just focusing on the things we do every day, our daily standards,\u201d Raquet said, explaining how the Bulldogs need to maintain their hot start. \u201cOur goal every day is to get better, to work, and keep improving. We\u2019re really focused on the process and continuing to get better. It\u2019s a long season, with a lot of tough opponents coming up, so we have to take it one day, one game at a time. I know that\u2019s coach talk, but that\u2019s really what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Reading, they\u2019ll have the weekend off before returning to action Monday, when they travel to York Suburban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wilson defeated Reading High 54-44 at West Lawn on Thursday night in a Berks County Division 1 matchup.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,305,28,128,130,129,726,706],"class_list":["post-65193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-high-school-sports","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}