The Springfield Spartans find themselves in some pretty lofty company.
After winning just two games in SOL play this season, the Spartans (10-15 overall) are showing their mettle with a remarkable post-season run in Class AA action. They are one of four SOL teams to earn berths in the prestigious PIAA State Tournament, joining perennial state and district powers Cheltenham, Central Bucks East and Council Rock North.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” Spartans’ coach Sarah Gibbs said. “It’s a dream come true. Each and every game presents a new challenge to them, and I think they’re learning so much about basketball. They’re learning so much about themselves and what they can accomplish as a team.”
The Spartans’ magical run through the district tournament ended with a lopsided 73-49 loss to seven-time defending district champion St. Pius X in Friday night’s district title game at Villanova University, but Gibbs helped her players put the loss into perspective.
“I told them at that game, ‘Just enjoy where you are, have fun with this game and just be proud of being here because we’re going to move on,’” Gibbs said. “That’s exactly what they did and bounced right back and came up with a big win.”
The Spartans came back from that loss to win Tuesday’s play-in game against Imhotep Charter at the High School of the Future, downing the Panthers 47-37 to earn a berth in this weekend’s state tournament.
Sparked by eight points from sophomore Elise DiFilippo and seven from Briana Scafidi, the Spartans opened up a 23-18 halftime lead, but the Panthers began to creep back into the game in the third quarter.
“We were just kind of out of control, and we weren’t settling,” Gibbs said. “We kind of panicked, and they made a really nice run and hit some big shots.”
It was 31-29 game heading into the final frame where the Spartans took charge en route to a win that officially vaulted them into the state tournament.
“It’s great recognition for the program, and hopefully, they’ll keep building and make this something that teams set as their goal each year,” Gibbs said. “It can be a realistic goal.”
Answering the call - As Springfield coach Sarah Gibbs was watching Imhotep stage a third-quarter rally, she looked down her bench and gave the call to sophomore Annie Crudele, who had scored just two points in a tough first half.
“The first half she struggled offensively,” the Spartans’ coach said. “She just wasn’t getting into her rhythm with her drives, and she was frustrated. We took her out and let her settle.
“We told her, ‘You’re fine. You have to get back in there, see what they’re giving you, and don’t think about it. Just take it.’ The last thing I said to her before she went in was ‘Annie, we need you.’ She just put us on her back and carried us to a win.”
Crudele scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half as the Spartans used a 16-8 third-quarter surge to seal the win.
“The first play when she went in – she got the ball and drove straight to the basket,” Gibbs said. “She beat them off the dribble and took them to the basket almost every play.
“It was exciting to see. This is her first year of getting a lot of minutes on the varsity. We tried to get her in to give a little exposure last year. She really saw minimal minutes, but we knew she’d have to have a big role this year.
“It was just really great to see after she struggled in the first half that she was able to pick herself up that same game.”
Crudele also had eight rebounds and three steals.
Also coming up huge was Briana Scafidi, who had 12 points and seven boards.
“Briana had a great game,” Gibbs said. “In the first half of the New Hope (district) game, she carried us, and she did the same thing again.
“She got into a little bit of foul trouble in the third quarter, but every other quarter, she hit huge shots at the right time. She really came up big for us.”
In addition to scoring eight points, Elise DiFilippo set the tone for the offense.
“She was doing a great job of getting the ball up the floor and getting the offense going,” Gibbs said.
Morgan Smith added six points and drew a pair of timely charges for the Spartans.
Ready to rebound – The Cheltenham Lady Panthers weren’t very happy when they left the court after Friday night’s 51-33 loss to archrival Downingtown East in the District One AAAA title game.
“I could tell when I walked into the locker room, there was a lot of jawing going on, not necessarily with each other but to each other probably about me or whatever,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “I sat them down and said, ‘Look, nobody likes losing, but I know you tried your hardest out there. We have to just settle down, let go of this game and regroup for next week. We’re starting a one-and-one deal.’
“And as I’ve always said (after the district title game), win or lose, ‘We’re not going to practice tomorrow. Just take the day off. Relax and recharge, so we can come back on Monday and be ready to go and get back into the flow we were in.’”
As the team was leaving, one of the players approached Schaefer with an unusual request.
“Monet (Constant) said, ‘Can we just come in and shoot around tomorrow?’” recalled Schaefer. “I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘A few of us would like to come in and shoot around a little bit.’”
The veteran coach announced to the rest of the squad that he would hold a voluntary open gym on Saturday morning. Nine varsity players showed up.
“I pulled Monet aside, and I said, ‘I really felt bad about losing that game, but when you asked if you could come in Saturday and practice after I said we weren’t going to have a practice, you rescued me from really being depressed. I felt a lot better after that, and I want to thank you because that really meant a lot that you asked me if you could still come in,’” Schaefer said.
“Even if they were upset with something I said during the game,” he said, “they were looking beyond that, or if they were upset about the game, they still wanted to come in and work on their shots, and that really showed a lot of character on their part.”
According to the veteran coach, it was the first time he’s ever held a practice the morning after the district title game.
They’re back – Central Bucks East has had itself quite a district playoff run.
The Patriots played eventual district champion Downingtown East tough before falling in a district quarterfinal game. The Patriots bounced back from that loss to notch a pair of impressive wins.
Last Wednesday, the Patriots upended SOL rival Council Rock North 41-36.
“That was huge,” coach Tom Lonergan said. “Us and Council Rock North have been very competitive over the last several years.”
Two years ago, the two teams were co-champs of the SOL National Conference, and last year, the Patriots split with the Indians but won the conference outright. This year Rock North won the National Conference while East laid claim to a Continental Conference crown in its first year in the new conference.
It was hardly a surprise that the Patriots were pumped up for last Wednesday’s consolation game against the Indians, and after trailing 19-15 at the half, they outscored the Indians 25-17 in the second half.
“It was kind of low scoring for both of our teams, but I think that had more to do with the fact that both teams know each other,” Lonergan said. “It wasn’t easy to get good looks at the rim for either team, and that made for a very competitive game.”
A key to the game was the Patriots’ defensive effort on junior center Sarah Kiely, who scored just four points – well below her average of 16 points a game.
“Our posts did a tremendous job, and with Rock only having one post, we basically can rotate three with the Martins (Liz and Sarah) and (Melissa) Remmey off the bench,” Lonergan said. “We were able to keep fresh bodies on her.
“Give credit where credit is due. Sarah Pullar played an absolutely monstrous game. She was doing a tremendous job on help (defense). She did a lot of doubling down and across. She gave as much help as she could and limited the player she was covering. She played extremely well on the defensive end of the court.”
Caitlin Vasey led the Patriots with 15 points while Juliann Fricke topped the Indians with 13.
Reining in Evans: CB East style – Chante Evans has been the undisputed star of the district playoffs. The West Chester Henderson senior torched Spring-Ford for 41 points in the opening round and then managed ‘just’ 28 in a win over Abington. She lit up the net for 31 points against top-seeded Cheltenham and then saved her biggest performance for a 91-80 win over Upper Darby in last Wednesday’s consolation game.
Evans, who is bound for Hofstra, had 44 points in that high-scoring affair, a performance that left Central Bucks East coach Tom Lonergan scrambling for a game plan to keep the ball out of the gifted center’s hands.
“Our goal going in was to keep her in the mid to lower 20s if possible,” East’s coach said. “We wanted to make sure the players around her didn’t have big games like they did the game.
“I thought we did that fairly well, although their point guard did end up with 11, but a lot of those were late at the game from the foul line.”
Evans finished the game with 28 points and point guard Katie Armstrong, 11.
“We tried to take her (Armstrong) out of the game by playing her fullcourt, trying to make somebody else handle the basketball and have somebody else trying to get the ball to Evans,” Lonergan said. “She’s a phenomenal player. Our back line did a good job of being disciplined.”
The Patriots did what no other team has been able to do in districts – they sent Evans to the bench with five fouls.
“We weren’t intimidated to go at her,” Lonergan said. “We went at her and were very fortunate to get her to foul out with 1:55 left in the game.”
Senior Liz Martin contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds in a strong performance in the paint. Jordan Seiz, who is coming back from a car accident, contributed eight points and standout defense. Caitlin Vasey added 12 points and seven rebounds in a game that saw the Patriots hold a 38-26 rebounding advantage.
“We were very pleased,” said Lonergan, whose team finished fifth in the playoffs with a 4-1 mark.
“Our only loss was to the eventual district champion, and we, by far, gave them the most competitive game they’ve had in the tournament,” he said. “
Ross answers the call – Madge Ross has never been a headline player for Central Bucks East, but she certainly has come up big in the post-season. She helped key a strong second-half effort against Downingtown East, and she had 16 points in East’s win over West Chester Henderson, scoring 14 of those in the pivotal second half.
“She and Jordan Seiz were alternating on Henderson’s point guard, and they did a tremendous job defensively,” coach Tom Lonergan said. “From an offensive standpoint, Madge was really able to take it strong to the hoop and really did a tremendous job offensively.”
Lonergan admitted it’s nothing new to see a player step up when called upon to deliver.
“That’s the thing I like about our team,” he said. “We don’t rely on one or two players to really dictate how well we end up doing.
“On a lot of teams, if one or two players have a bad game or have an off day, they can’t really rebound from it. We’re pretty fortunate. We have some players who haven’t had the best post-season, but others have taken advantage of their opportunities. Madge has done that. She did that last year when Jaime (Donovan) went down.”
Rock is reeling – Council Rock North entered the post-season as the district tournament’s third seed. The Indians had just two losses in 22 outings, and some were predicting that it could be an all-SOL final with Rock North facing top-seeded Cheltenham.
The Indians, however, were upset by Downingtown West in the quarterfinals and never recuperated. They followed that with a 41-36 loss to Council Rock North, and three days later, they suffered a disappointing 51-45 loss to Upper Darby in the seventh place game.
Making the loss particularly disheartening was the fact that the Indians led 17-11 at the end of one quarter and still led 29-19 three minutes into the third quarter.
“I thought after the first quarter when we were shooting the ball well, we would shoot ourselves out of the funk we’ve been in the last three games, but we didn’t,” Rock North coach Lou Palkovics said. “It’s not the same team we had most of the year these last three games.
“Tonight we had a lot of foul trouble. When you have four starters with four fouls, it’s tough to shuttle them in and out, but when you’re up by 10 in the third quarter, you should be able to put a team away. We just haven’t had that intensity that I saw the first three quarters of the season.”
The Indians’ shooting woes are underscored by the fact that they shot 26.5 percent in their loss to Central Bucks East.
“We haven’t played well in a while,” Palkovics said. “I think we could have run this team out of the gym, but they just let them keeping hanging around and hanging around, and it finally caught up to them.”
The Indians take a three-game losing streak into the upcoming state tournament.
“I can’t tell you the last time this program had a three-game losing streak,” Palkovics said.
The players are as perplexed as their coach.
“I don’t know,” senior Juliann Fricke said. “We had two really good days of practice, but lately we have been coming out flat. I don’t have an explanation.
“My last season – this is not the way we wanted it to end and go out. It’s disappointing because we have so much potential.”
Sarah Kiely led the Indians with 14 points while Devin Gold had 11.
A look ahead: Springfield (10-15) will face the second place team from District Three in Friday night’s state opener. The Spartans will take on Lancaster Mennonite (25-3) at Hempfield High School in Landisville at 6 p.m.
“They’re a real nice team,” coach Sarah Gibbs said. “They’re not a super deep team, but they have nice players. They have two girls with some size that are a definite offensive threat, so we really need to focus on how to contain those two girls.
“We’re going to have to have a really great team effort and play a great defensive game and really limit their points.”
Springfield’s players have said on more than a few occasions that they don’t want to see their season end.
“The best part about it – every single girl on the team means it,” Gibbs said. “So why stop now?”
In Class AAAA competition, Cheltenham, the second seed from District One, will face Reading in a 7 p.m. game at Wissahickon High School.
Reading, the fifth place team out of District Three, boasts an impressive 24-2 record.
“They’re not a gigantic team, but they have overall good size, and they’re fast,” Schaefer said. “Their tallest kid might be 5-11.”
Defense will be a key, and the Lady Panthers, who will once again have the services of senior co-captain Dayna McCrewell, will have to contain Reading’s top player, Leola Pinkney, who averages close to 15 points a game.
Central Bucks East (24-3) will play District Three’s third place team, Red Lion (19-7). Coach Tom Lonergan had the luxury of actually sending someone to scout Red Lion since the third place game was played last Thursday night. Since then, he’s been studying game film.
“They’re very quick, and they’re going to pressure you the whole game,” he said. “They’re not real big – their biggest kid is 5-10, a freshman who comes off the bench.
“They’re similar to us in that they play nine players. The key to them offensively is to get you to turn the ball over. For us, obviously our major key is taking care of the ball. We’ve been reminding them to stay aggressive. When they’re aggressive on us, we have to be in our attack mode and take it to them. It has potential to be a high-scoring game.”
Check back for game wraps of all the SOL teams in action.
The game will be played at Dallastown High School at 6 p.m. Dallastown is located 2.8 miles from Red Lion.
“Not that we looked it up,” Lonergan said with a laugh. “We do understand you usually play in the backyard of your first round opponent. You do what you have to do in states. Everybody has to travel.”
Council Rock North, which is District One’s eighth seeded team, has the most daunting task of any of the SOL teams in Friday night’s state opener. The Indians will take on the state’s top-ranked team, Cardinal O’Hara, on Friday at Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill at 8 p.m. O’Hara, District 12’s top-seeded team, is 23-2 on the season.
The Indians will have to contend with Stephanie Holzer, O’Hara’s star 6-4 center, who is bound for Vanderbilt on a basketball scholarship.
“We have to have the game of our life the next game or we’re done,” Rock North senior Juliann Fricke said. “We know that, and that’s got to be our mindset going into the game.
“We’ll have to play incredible to beat that team. I know these girls. I’ve played with them since I was little, and we’ll be alright.”
- Log in to post comments
