North Penn saw its season end in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game against West Chester Rustin. To view photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
PLYMOUTH MEETING – The ending began even before the final horn sounded for the North Penn Lady Knights.
It officially began when the Lady Knights – after gamely trimming a once 16-point deficit to eight – came away empty on a pair of opportunities to creep even closer to West Chester Rustin in Friday night’s PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game.
If the North Penn faithful needed an additional reminder that a magical season was coming to an end, they got it when senior standout Vicky Tumasz left to an appreciative ovation after picking up her fifth foul with 1:52 remaining and her team trailing by 10.
The final reminder came in the game’s closing seconds when seniors Bri Cullen and Erin Maher walked off the court together for the final time, their team trailing by the 55-40 final score.
As the players emerged from a lengthy postgame meeting, it was clear they were saying good-bye to more than just a remarkable season.
“A lot of teams will talk about they have team chemistry and they’re all good friends, but it’s not like we’re even friends,” Maher said. “We’re family. That’s that. We’re family, and just knowing it’s the last game I ever played with those (girls) – it’s upsetting, but I enjoyed every moment.”
The Lady Knights – usually so proficient on offense – struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm on Friday.
“We just didn’t make shots,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “We just did not hit shots. It’s just that simple. Shots we normally make, we didn’t hit.”
It was more than just missed shots that plagued the Lady Knights, who struggled under the backboards against center Adashia Franklyn.
The St. Joe’s-bound senior – like her teammates – hadn’t forgotten the Golden Knights’ 74-59 loss at the hands of North Penn in the district semifinals. Nor had any of the Rustin players forgotten how the Lady Knights had torched them from beyond the arc, burying 11-of-21 from three-point land.
“We knew they had shooters, and we knew had to close out on their shooters,” Franklyn said. “We knew they were talented, we knew they were a good team, so we had to play hard because in the end hard work beats talent.
“We really were set on going to Villanova (for the district title game), but it’s in the past. We can’t think about that now. We’re trying to get a state title, and we’re going to keep working hard. We’ve worked too hard to stop now.”
The game started on a promising note for the Lady Knights, who took their first lead (5-4) when Sam Carangi buried a trey. A Maher bucket put the Lady Knights on top 10-9 and sparked a 6-0 North Penn run that included back-to-back buckets by Tumasz.
The Lady Knights’ 14-9 lead was short-lived, and by the end of the first quarter, the Golden Knights had trimmed it to one. Franklyn – with four rebounds and four points in the frame – had served notice that she would be a force to contend with in the paint.
“We had a lot of regrets after that (last) game,” Franklyn said of Rustin’s district semifinal loss to the Lady Knights. “We didn’t do things, and it was a shoulda, coulda, woulda situation. Today we wanted to leave everything on the floor, so we knew if we played hard enough and we fought hard enough, we would be successful.”
A Franklyn putback to open the second quarter gave the Golden Knights a lead, and the Lady Knights suffered a setback when sophomore Mikaela Giliani was whistled for her third foul just seconds later.
“She’s been really smart with her fouls, but there were a couple of questionable calls,” Maher said. “(Franklyn) is such a big force in the paint. I tried to keep her off the boards, but with Mikaela out, it was tough. She just did what it took to win.”
Franklyn had a monster second quarter, adding 10 points and seven rebounds to go into halftime with 14 points and 11 boards and her team on top 28-21.
“We needed to keep her off the boards, but we needed Mikaela in the game to do that,” deMarteleire said. “Erin can’t do everything.
“As far as rebounding goes, we needed another big body in there, and when she got in foul trouble, that hurt us.”
A pair of Maher foul shots to open the third quarter made it a five-point game, but that was followed by a scoring drought of five-plus minutes for the Lady Knights, who trailed 34-25 after Cullen broke the dry spell with a bucket. It was a 38-25 game at the end of three quarter.
“You wanted to come out in the third quarter and knock down some shots and get some stops on defense, and we just didn’t do it,” deMarteleire said.
The Golden Knights stretched their lead to 42-26 after a Franklyn basket early in the fourth quarter, but Maher – who finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds – willed her team back into the game.
Her string of six straight points was capped by a pair of foul shots that made it a 48-40 game with 2:40 remaining.
“She just worked her tail off to the very end,” deMarteleire said. “I said, ‘We have to attack the basket because our shots weren’t dropping, and she took it to heart.”
Giuliani gave her team a chance to get closer when she came up with a steal, but the Lady Knights turned the ball over. After yet another Rustin turnover, the Lady Knights misfired. They would not score the rest of the way, bringing a memorable season to a disappointing end.
“Nothing really went our way,” Maher said. “It was just the constant theme of the night.”
“But I’m proud of us. We hustled, and we tried to make things happen to the best of our abilities. We had some obstacles in our way obviously, but we never stopped trying.”
When asked if her team’s shooting woes could be attributed to Rustin’s defense, deMarteleire had an immediate response.
“We just weren’t making shots,” she said. “We got open looks that we normally knock down, but we just weren’t making shots.
“We got to the point where we needed to attack the basket more. Erin Maher did a good job of that, but we needed more girls to do that. I’m not saying we live by the three, but we make a lot of three’s, but we certainly took way too many tonight.”
Making North Penn’s successful run unique was the fact that the team’s seven-player rotation included three seniors, one sophomore and three freshmen.
“From the summer to now, I think we’ve been with each other every single day for six months, and just the improvement the we’ve seen individually and as a team – it’s incredible,” Maher said. “I’m so proud, especially of the freshmen and Mikaela for how young they are - just the level that they play at is crazy, and I couldn’t have asked for more this year.”
The Lady Knights closed out their season with a 26-4 record and an SOL Continental Conference and District One AAAA title to their credit.
“It’s been awesome,” Maher said. “As sad as it is to think about that it’s over, you can’t help but just put a smile on your face and be proud. Everybody said in the locker room how proud they were just to be together as a team this whole year.
“We were the first team to win districts. Right now that doesn’t seem like much, but in a couple of days when I look back on it, I’ll say, ‘Wow, that was really special.’ It felt like this was our year, this was our moment, and it sucks that it’s over.”
West Chester Rustin 55, North Penn 40
West Chester Rustin 13 15 10 17-55
North Penn 14 7 4 15-40
West Chester Rustin (55) – Casey Warley 1 5-8 8; Courtney Warley 1 3-8 5; Noelle Powell 5 8-10 18; Katie O’Hara 0 0-0 0; Adashia Franklyn 9 1-4 19; Annie Pitts 1 0-0 2; Emily Walls 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 18 17-30 55.
North Penn (40) – Erin Maher 6 7-10 20; Mikaela Giuliani 0 1-3 1; Bri Cullen 2 0-0 4; Vicky Tumasz 4 0-0 10; Sam Carangi 1 0-0 3; Jess Huber 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 14 8-15 40.
Three-point goals: Rustin – Casey Warley, Emily Walls; NP – Vicky Tumasz 2, Sam Carangi, Erin Maher.
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