HERSHEY, Pa. – When you have the best player, you are never out of the game and you always have a chance to win.
If there was any doubt that Kennedy Catholic’s Layke Fields is the best small-school girls’ high school basketball player in Pennsylvania, heck maybe the best high school girls’ basketball player regardless of classification, there shouldn’t be now.
Fields dominated the PIAA Class 2A championship game, a 42-40 Kennedy Catholic win over Marion Center, Thursday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey, scoring 29 points, grabbing 17 rebounds, and blocking four shots while going 14 of 21 from the field.
If that wasn’t enough, she also hit the game-winning shot while completing an old-school 3-point play with 5.1 seconds left to give the Golden Eagles their second straight title.
Watch Fields’ game-winning shot
“I knew I had to come through for my team,” Fields said. “I knew what I had to do to win the game. That’s what I did.”
What Fields did came as no surprise to her teammates.
“I just had total confidence in her,” fellow junior Monique Vincent said. “She has always been our biggest player and our biggest supporter as well. Even when she is having a game, she is still like hey guys you guys are with me. I am only doing this because of you. That is really important.”
The double-double was the 23 in 29 games for the 6-foot fields, with the 29 points being her second-highest total of the season and the 17 rebounds ranking as the third-most she had this season.
On the year, Fields averaged 20.6 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game while shooting 68.9% from the field (250 of 363).
Layke Fields lifts the PIAA championship trophy. Photo by Paul Burdick
“Layke scored every night,” Kennedy Catholic head coach Justin Magestro said. “The only way she is not going to score is if they score five girls on her.”
Fields will go into her senior year with 1,503 points and 896 rebounds and has a chance to become a rare 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound player.
“She’s like our security blanket,” Justin Magestro said. “You guys have a security blanket? We have a security blanket, her name is Layke Fields.”
Photo by Paul Burdick
