Deadly Duo
JEFFERSON TWP — For Knoch’s girls basketball program, it was a long time coming.
After seeing Madilyn Boyer and Nina Shaw, then a pair of standout middle schoolers, years earlier, Knights coach Chris Andreassi had a feeling that it wouldn’t be much longer.
“I saw them play then and we started planting the seeds for our style of play,” Andreassi said.
The guard tandem – and the team as a whole – fully bloomed this past winter, stringing together an 18-game win streak that continued into a postseason showing unlike any other in the school’s lore.
To go with those team achievements, Boyer and Shaw have been named as the Butler Eagle’s Girls Basketball Co-Players of the Year for 2021-22. The duo’s significance to Knoch was evident not only in the team’s 22-4 overall record, but in the attitude that helped carry the Knights to new heights.
Seneca Valley’s Olivia West and North Catholic’s Alayna Rocco and Dacia Lewandowski were also considered for Player of the Year honors.
“We were definitely very vocal this year,” said Shaw, a junior. “We wanted to make sure that everybody had the same commitment level as we did.”
The Knights began the season by playing four of their first five on the road. Following a defeat to rival Mars on Dec. 22, they didn’t lose again for over three months.
“After Mars, our defense started to kick in,” Shaw said. “It was the reason why we won most of those games … That defense created our offense and I just feel like, after that, we had our run there.”
Andreassi will tell you that the unit started with her.
“She’s one of the best defenders I’ve ever been associated with, just her quickness and intelligence with which she plays defense,” he said. “There’s not too many like her.”
Having netted 13 points and five rebounds per outing, Shaw was featured on the other end of the floor also. Her and Boyer’s tenured playing relationship gave them an obvious edge.
“We kind of just read off of each other, just based on our different knowledges,” Shaw said. “(Maddie) was always where I needed her to be.”
Boyer, a four-year starter, was good for 14.8 points per game this season, as well as 8.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists. In Knoch’s first-round state playoff dismantling of St. Marys, she bucketed her 1,000th career point. She’s only the second player program’s history to reach the milestone.
The feat was even more impressive considering Knoch only played a dozen games in a pandemic-shortened 2020 schedule. Respectable, too, when taking into account Boyer’s compassionate and unselfish nature.
At times, she’d share the ball too much. When up by a decisive sum in what wound up being blowout victories, Boyer didn’t want to embarrass opponents.
“Even in practice sometimes, I would tease her, (saying), ‘Madilyn, you’re never going to score 1,000 points if you don’t shoot the ball,” Andreassi said. “To try to encourage her to shoot more. Because you could see her potential.”
Boyer’s kindness shouldn’t be misconstrued as being a weakness. In a 56-45 WPIAL Class 4A semifinal victory over Southmoreland on Mar. 1, she scored a career-high 27 points. She also topped the 20-point threshold in two other postseason matchups.
“In those situations, she knew she needed to score and she did,” Andreassi said.
Shaw will return as a team keystone next campaign. Having received a verbal offer from Slippery Rock University already, she’ll look to gain more recruiting attention while chasing the 1,000-point mark herself. As it currently stands, she’s tallied 610 points.
“Maddie was at the same point where I (am),” Shaw said. “I feel like, if we do end up getting to playoffs and everything next year, I’ll definitely be able to get that.”
She’ll have to pour in more points next year to fill the void left by Boyer, who will head off to continue her hoops career at Penn State Behrend.
Memories from an extraordinary campaign will remain etched in their minds for a long time.
“Me and Nina have been playing together since fifth grade,” Boyer said. “I knew that, as we’re getting older, that we could accomplish something like this. We just proved to ourselves that we could.”
