To view photos of the pre-game ceremony as well as game action photos, visit the photo gallery and click on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
FORT WASHINGTON – They unveiled Upper Dublin’s brand new Cardinals’ Nest on Thursday night, and the state-of-the-art gymnasium drew rave reviews.“Oh my god, look at this,” Upper Dublin senior Kristen Fuery said. “I don’t know what else to say.
“Welcome to the Cardinals’ Nest. I love it, I love it. Out of all the gyms I have played in and called my home, this is by far my favorite.”
Athletic director Hope Donnell looked around the beautiful gym and smiled.
“It couldn’t be better,” she said. “Our student body is excited. Our athletes and coaches are thrilled with the facility.
“It has generated such energy amongst the swimmers and the basketball programs, and the wrestling team for the first time will have its own wrestling room. It’s exciting.”
A pre-game ceremony that included numerous school and community officials was capped by a ribbon-cutting at midcourt with members of both the boys’ and girls’ squads participating.
Then came the Lady Cardinals’ SOL opener against the Cheltenham Lady Panthers.
For a while, the momentum of the pregame festivities seemed to carry over as the Flying Cardinals jumped out to a 14-10 lead over the defending American Conference champions at the end of one quarter.Freshman point guard Cutrena Goff stole the show in the opening frame, scoring six points and dazzling Cardinal fans with her fearless play.
“”It was very exciting,” she said. “It was fun. I wasn’t nervous – I just didn’t want to mess up, and I got used to it after a while.”
Unfortunately for Goff and the Cardinals, they had to play a second quarter, and as quarters go, this was not a good one for the home team.
Granted, when Upper Dublin senior Kristen Fuery scored on a post-up move at the 3:30 mark of the second quarter, the Flying Cardinals led 16-11, but things went downhill from there.
The Lady Panthers – an abysmal 0-for-8 from three-point range to that point – misfired on another long range shot, but in a hustle play that seemed to turn the tide, Tiffany Johnson came up with the rebound and immediately hit teammate Monet Constant, who converted a three-point play.
Goff sank one-of-two from the foul line, but Shayla Felder buried a pair from the foul line, and the Panthers made it a one-point game after Liz Taliaferro converted an offensive rebound into a bucket at the 2:35 mark.
Sophomore Ciara Andrews pulled down the rebound of an Upper Dublin miss, and moments later, she buried a trey to put the Panthers on top 21-17. The gifted sophomore scored a game-high 16 points, which included three treys.“She has been a fourth quarter spark up until this game, but she’s working her way in there, and she’s going to be playing more and more if she’s awake and alert and doing what we need her to do,” Cheltenham coach Bob Schaefer said.
An Upper Dublin turnover was followed by a Cheltenham miss, but Constant pulled down an off-balance rebound and immediately passed the ball to Taliaferro, who completed a three-point play.
A five-second violation on the inbounds – one of numerous five-second calls against Upper Dublin – gave the Panthers possession, and Andrews buried another three-pointer.
“I had to treat it like any other game and go out there and prove I can play varsity,” Andrews said. “If I play as hard as I can, everything else will come.
“He (Schaefer)told me, ‘You’re a shooter, so if you’re open, I want you to shoot the ball. If I’m open, I’ve got to shoot.”
The Panthers took a 28-17 lead into halftime.
A simple defensive switch, according to Felder, made all the difference.
“At first we played a three-up where we just played halfcourt defense,” she said. “That’s when Schaefer told us to stay up on our man, pressure the ball, don’t let them get it inbounds.”
In a deadly three-minute span to close out the half, the Lady Panthers outscored their hosts 17-1.
“That’s the way we should be playing,” coach Bob Schaefer said. “That’s the game we have to play because we’re not going to out-rebound many teams, although we got our share tonight.”
During Cheltenham’s late run, the Flying Cardinals turned the ball over five times, succumbing to the Panthers’ relentless defensive pressure.
“You have to trust each other,” Constant said. “Everybody knows where each other is going to be so we all work together.
“You have to trust that the person you were guarding – your teammate is going to pick them up. The whole thing is just about trusting.”
Constant was assigned the task of containing Fuery, who was limited to just nine points.
“She just did a great job on defense – never stops hustling, and she made some nice plays on offense,” Schaefer said.
“I kind of studied her game, and I know she’s a shooter,” Constant said. “She really doesn’t like to drive a lot. I played her tight.
“I had to keep working hard and hustling. I tried to make it tough for her to get the ball and followed her around.”
Fuery is familiar with being the focal point of opposing team’s defenses.
“The beautiful box-and-one,” she said with a laugh. “Coach Schaefer does a great job drilling those kids on defense. I don’t really think we’ll play another team that’s as disciplined as they are.
“We could throw anything we wanted at them. We could throw screens, we could throw V cuts, we could flash through the middle, and at the end of the day, they know exactly what the rotations are. Coach Schaefer did a great job. He did exactly what he wanted to do, and he came out with a win.”
The Panthers extended their lead to 35-20 after Kiera Ogden – who finished the game with 11 points and 12 rebounds – scored on a putback.
“We got a good game out of Kiera,” Schaefer said. “That’s what we need from her. We need her to get her share of rebounds and points.”The Cardinals pulled to within seven (40-33) after a baseline drive by Fuery early in the fourth quarter. Taliaferro answered with a pair of foul shots, and after an Upper Dublin turnover, Christina Coleman scored, and the Panthers once again had a double-digit lead (44-33).
The Flying Cardinals would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
“When you play Bob’s team, the intensity is at the top – it doesn’t get any higher,” Catanzaro said. “To come out and hold a lead for that long – you could see a lot of the girls grew up, but some of them still have to find themselves.
“It was a good game, it was a good battle. I think it’s going to make for better competition.”
Felder, who averaged over 20 points a game through three games, was held to just 13 points and Constant had only five, but Andrews more than picked up the slack.
“That’s a big help,” said Constant. “Last year, there was a lot of pressure on me and Shayla, and it’s good we have young players who are developing, and I can do other things – I can play defense and rebound for my team.”
Goff led the Flying Cardinals with 14 points in a gutsy performance.
“Our biggest thing is keeping her in the game head-wise,” Catanzaro said. “I can’t even tell you how proud I am of the way she has been playing at this level and doing just about everything correctly.
“This is the night she came out to play. From the get-go, she set the tone – she’s not backing down to any of these guys obviously. When you do those cross moves she’s doing and breaking people’s ankles, especially at that level over there – you’re talking some top-notch guards, and she wasn’t letting any of that bother her.”
The Lady Panthers improved to 3-0 while the Flying Cardinals fell to 1-2.
CHELTENHAM 57, UPPER DUBLIN 41
Cheltenham (57) – Monet Constant 2 1-1 5; Tiffany Johnson 1 0-1 2; Kira Ogden 4 3-3 11; Shayla Felder 4 4-6 13; Austin Hamler 0 0-2 0; Ciara Andrews 6 1-2 16; Liz Taliaferro 2 4-5 8; Christina Coleman 1 0-0 2; Artavia Sheffield 0 0-0 0; Jiana Clark 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20 13-20 57.
Upper Dublin (41) – Cutrena Goff 6 2-4 14; Taylor Bryant 2 6-8 10; Sarah Hallowell 1 0-0 2; Kristen Fuery 3 3-4 9; Tori Waters 1 0-0 2; Samira Strand 0 1-4 1; Jennifer Myers 1 0-0 2; Curtrish Goff 0 0-0 0; Siobhan Brady 0 1-2 1; Jamie Black 0 0-0 0; Leah Ellert 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 13-24 41.
Cheltenham 10 18 11 18-57
Upper Dublin 14 3 13 11-41
3-point goals: Cheltenham – Ciara Andrews 3, Shayla Felder.
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