There weren’t a whole lot of surprises on the SOL’s official opening night Friday.
Several teams put a ton of points on the board – Central Bucks South scored 70 in its win over Quakertown while Souderton and Council Rock South both scored 69.
At the end of the day, the favored teams looked the part, and it’s clear that trips to the top of the standings in the three conferences will once again go through Council Rock North, Central Bucks East and Cheltenham.
Panthers start strong – William Tennent coach Paul Veltre opted to forego a season-opening tournament in favor of some scouting last weekend, and the Panthers took the court for the first time this season on Friday night when they played host to Bensalem in the SOL opener for both teams.
Based on the Panthers’ strong performance in their 49-30 win over the Owls, Veltre’s strategy looked brilliant.
“We’re extremely pleased,” the Panthers’ coach said. “We played very, very physical. We were very aggressive.
“Really, we were pretty worried because we were surprised by Bensalem’s win over Norristown after being down by 17, and they scored 60 points against (Conwell) Egan. We weren’t going in there with the expectation that it was going to be lopsided. We thought it would be a struggle, but we were very, very aggressive.”
The Panthers were just 3-for-13 from the foul line, but they more than made up for that with their aggressive play.
“It was our aggressiveness that won the game,” Veltre said.
Ashley Alden led a balanced attack with 12 points, four steals and three assists. Junior Melissa Wasserleben added 11 points while Sarah Godfrey had nine points. Emily O’Donnell had a team-high five rebounds. Point guard Alison Malatesta had three steals and four assists.
The Panthers led 12-2 at the end of the first quarter and opened up a 28-12 halftime lead. They blew the game wide open with a 17-5 explosion in the third quarter.
“We were worried about their pressure, but we handled it pretty well,” Veltre said. “The goal was to get back, rebound the ball and limit turnovers, and we did all three.
“It was a surprising start. We were not expecting to play that well.”
Ghosts stay perfect – Abington traveled to Neshaminy for a battle of two of the league’s unbeaten squads. It took no time at all for the Ghosts – or more specifically Emily Leer – to take control of this one as Abington rolled to a 52-29 win.
“I was worried about this game,” coach Dan Marsh said. “They had been playing well, and we know how well-coached they are. I saw some tape on them, and they looked really good.
“Emily was just too much for them tonight. She came out right off the bat, hit a couple of threes and was going to the hole. We got up 13-3 and never looked back.”
Leer had 26 points and nine rebounds in a stellar outing. Chynna West added six points, five steals and four assists in a supporting role.
“It was another good defensive effort,” Marsh said. “Everybody played real good defensively. Every shot they took was contested, which really helped.”
Neshaminy’s Kelsey Ryan was held to seven points.
“Emily did a great job on her, and we also ran some double teams at her,” Marsh said. “We know how talented she is and how good she is.”
While the Ghosts improved to 3-0, the Redskins fall to 3-1.
Eagles get in win column – It had been a rough opening week for Norristown, beginning with last Friday’s 49-41 loss to Bensalem in a game the Eagles led by 17 early in the fourth quarter.
“We just went downhill from there,” coach Ashlee Harrison said. “That was difficult for us and for our confidence to have a lead and then not be able to maintain it.
“I think they just got comfortable with it, but Bensalem worked hard. They never gave up. They deserved to win that game.”
That setback was followed by disappointing losses to Chester and Kennedy Kenrick, and just when they needed it most, the Eagles got their first win, downing Upper Moreland 57-22 on Friday.
“This was a morale booster,” coach Ashlee Harrison said. “I think we just went through this drought where – I don’t want to say we were rock bottom, but we really needed to come together.
“Basically, today was our new beginning. We’re going to build from this and move forward.”
Natasha Matthews led the Eagles with 13 points while Cashae Hinton had 12 and Precious Tempson, eight points.
“We took care of the ball,” Harrison said. “We limited our turnovers, which was huge for us because in the games we did lose this past week, turnovers were key. We did a much better job taking care of the ball.
“It was a good effort by everyone tonight.”
Harrison admits she was puzzled by her team’s slow start.
“Even in the fall and summer league, we played extremely well, and that’s part of the reason I put some new teams on our schedule this year – thinking it would be a good experience to play really good teams,” she said. “This was a game we were supposed to win tonight.
“We definitely needed this. I hope we continue. We have the potential. It’s just a matter of getting the right five girls who will give that effort the whole time.”
Indians’ offense comes alive – Souderton struggled putting points on the board in its first two games of the season, scoring 67 points in two games combined. All that changed on Friday night when the Indians exploded for 69 points in their 69-43 win over Hatboro-Horsham.
“We just played really, really well,” coach Lynn Carroll said.
In their first two games, the Indians shot 25 percent from the field. In Friday’s win, the Indians shot 50 percent from two-point range and 30 percent from three-point land.
“They were good shots, they were intelligent shots, they were high percentage shots,” Carroll said. “Some of our shooters were struggling the last two games, and they kind of came alive today.”
Emily Price was one of those players who came up big, contributing a team-high 14 points on a near-perfect 6-for-7 effort from the field. Price was two-for-two at the foul line.
“She played great,” Carroll said. “She was really, really frustrated earlier in the week. She couldn’t make anything against (Christopher) Dock, and she went and shot for an hour and a half after practice last night. How she shoots is going to be an important part of our success this season.
“It seemed to be a momentum starter for us. The girls knew she had been frustrated, and they jumped on board. We just really played well up and down the court in transition, and we played well defensively. We have been playing well defensively, but it was the offensive piece that had been missing.”
A pleasant surprise for the Indians so far this season has been the consistently strong performances of sophomore Carley Kendall, who contributed 11 points and nine rebounds in yet another standout effort.
“She’s close to a double-double every night and just gets hustle rebounds, hustle points,” Carroll said. “She gets fouled a lot and gets to the line and is kind of setting the tone in terms of intensity for us.
“For a 10th grader to do that in her first year of varsity is pretty impressive.”
Brittany Sandone added 12 points for the Indians, who improved to 2-1 on the young season.
CR North cruises to big win – Council Rock North led 48-10 at the end of three quarters in its league opener at Pennsbury and coasted to a 59-29 win over the Falcons.
Lauren Gold led the Indians with 17 points. She also had seven steals, six rebounds and four assists in three quarters of action.
“I expect Lauren to do things like that,” coach Lou Palkovics said. “Lauren can give us whatever we need in a game.
“If we need her to score, she scores. If we need her to set people up, she sets people up. I’ve had a lot of good guards, and I’m one of those coaches that like to run an offense. Sometimes we don’t have to because she can break people down.”
Also in three quarters, Kelly Scull added 10 points while Sarah Keily had nine points and Devin Gold, seven, for the Indians, who improved to 2-1 overall.
Patriots just about perfect – Central Bucks East buried 19-of-22 shots from the foul line – 11-of-12 in the fourth quarter – in Friday night’s 46-36 win over North Penn.
The Patriots are 2-0 on the season while the Maidens continue their December struggles, falling to 0-3.
“We’re the Dallas Cowboys of girls’ basketball,” Maiden coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “We can’t wait for January.”
The Patriots opened up a 20-13 halftime lead and extended that to 31-17 heading in the final quarter when the Maidens came to life, outscoring the Patriots 19-15.
“We finally got a sense of urgency,” deMarteleiere said. “I knew we could play a lot better offensively. Hopefully, that will give us some confidence going into our next game.
“Defensively, we played well, holding them to 12 field goals.”
Melissa Remmey led the Patriots with a game-high 16 points. She scored 12 of those points in the second half. Liz Martin added 14 points and Kristina Pogue, eight points. Sarah Martin chipped in with seven.
Steph Knauer led the Maidens with 11 points. Dara Nelson added nine, connecting on three treys in the fourth quarter.
Around the league – Upper Merion improved to 3-1 with its 37-29 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh. Alex Galdi led the Vikings with 13 points while Cassidy Koenig added eight.
Central Bucks South notched a convincing 70-56 win over Quakertown, and Council Rock South rolled to a 69-26 win over Harry S. Truman. Pennridge – led by the 19-point effort of Sam Simononis – defeated Central Bucks West 50-41.
On Thursday night, Cheltenham downed Upper Dublin 57-41 (For a complete game story, click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/content/lady-panthers-down-cardinals-sol-opener.
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