Thursday night’s Souderton/North Penn girls’ basketball game is an SOL Featured Game, sponsored by Millennium Administrators. Check back for photos and a game story.
By Mary Jane Souder
Souderton senior Courtney Day has made a believer out of her coach this season. This despite the fact that Lynn Carroll had limited expectations of Day when she assessed her squad at the end of last season.
“As coaches, as soon as one season ends, we’re already thinking about the next one,” Carroll said. “To be honest, at the end of last season, in my mindset, Courtney was not really a part of the equation for this year in terms of contributions in games.”
Day worked hard in the offseason and made it impossible for Carroll to keep her out of the equation. The senior captain is one of the unsung heroes in the Indians’ 7-3 start this season.
“She just earned it,” Carroll said of Day’s playing time. “In the offseason – in spring league and fall league and things we did over the summertime, she just really earned minutes when it came time for the games.
“I’m pretty stubborn, so it can take a while sometimes, but the coaches have a lot of trust in her. She knows where she’s supposed to be. She’s very, very bright, especially on the defensive end. She’s not going to try to do more than she’s capable of offensively.”
Day has not only been a contributor off the bench – scoring 11 points in a recent win over Pennridge, she also is a captain.
“I think it’s cool that the girls see you as someone who can be a leader but not play all the time,” Day said. “People always think the captains are the people who play all the time and contribute the most.
“I try to work just as hard as everyone else, and I really enjoy how people have looked at that and seen you don’t have to play all the time but can contribute.”
Day, according to her coach, understands and embraces her role on the team.
“There are going to be games where she plays two minutes and games where she plays 20 minutes,” Carroll said. “She’s ready to go but is understanding if she doesn’t get as many minutes some games.”
Day is ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
“I could be put in if someone gets a quick foul,” she said. “I’ll go in for 30 seconds, and you just have to hustle when you’re out there.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re on the bench or in the game – you still contribute to the game somehow, whether it’s in practice or actually playing.”
Day uses her time on the bench to observe the game closely.
“I have to be ready for anything to happen,” she said. “You could go in for anyone, you could be any position, and you need to know where you’re supposed to be.
“You should definitely know what the pace of the game is like and where people are, so you have to watch the game and go with the flow of the game. You have to adjust to the way everyone else is playing, which works your brain.”
Perhaps most impressive, according to Carroll, is Day’s ability to control her emotions on the court this season.
“I have always been the type of player that I might show my emotions on the court if I didn’t get a call,” Day said. “I don’t do it anymore.
“I realize there are going to be so many calls in a game, and you just need to get over it. I want (coach Carroll) to know – ‘I can put her in and she won’t freak out because the game is intense or the game is really close.’ Now she can see me as a player and not just be worried that I’m going to do that.”
The Indians’ coach admits she has had many spirited talks with her captain when she was an underclassman, and this year Day is a different player.
“In every way, she’s really come a long way,” Carroll said. “She stepped up almost immediately when last year’s season ended and became a vocal leader. In every facet, she has improved as a student-athlete for us.”
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Katie O’Connor is another player who could easily get lost in the shuffle.
The diminutive junior guard, who has been on the varsity since she was a freshman, measures in at 5-2 and does not find her way into the headlines, but don’t be fooled, O’Connor has quietly been an important contributor.
“She has played behind some very good guards, and as a freshman and sophomore, she was situational, and it was very sporadic,” Carroll said. “I’m guessing she has played all but five minutes this year. She never, ever comes out of the game.”
For the better part of the game, O’Connor finds herself playing on the wing, but with teams keying on point guard Bianca Picard, O’Connor is seeing significant minutes at point as well.
“She’s just doing great,” Carroll said. “Her turnovers are low.
“She’s played at a high level with AAU, so it’s not a surprise to me that she’s able to handle it. If we didn’t have someone right now who could step in at the point position, we would be struggling a lot more, and I think there are a few games we would have lost that we found ways to win. Not to mention her intensity and her desire to play defense.”
O’Connor is thriving in her new role.
“It’s been a very big opportunity for me,” she said. “It’s great to be able to have such a role on this team, and it’s exciting because I’ve never had this role before. It’s teaching me a lot, and I have to learn to step up and learn when to contribute to the team.”
O’Connor admits she’s been told she’s too small to play basketball. But not from anyone who’s seen her play.
“Being so small is definitely a disadvantage and people don’t think I can hang with them,” she said. “The average guard is probably about 5-6, so I’m shorter than the people I’m playing against, but I’ve been living with it my whole life.
“I just try to be one of the hardest workers on the court at all times. I try to work on my speed. Since I’m not tall, I can be fast, so I really try and push myself to sprint as fast as I can, to get on the ground (after loose balls) as much as possible.”
O’Connor is leading the team in assists, averaging 3.3 per game, and she handed out a season-high six assists in the Indians’ win over Central Bucks East. She’s also averaging close to three rebounds and can also put points on the board.
“She does it all,” Carroll said. “The kid could run forever. She never needs a sub.
“She is really, really undervalued – not by us. The coaches know, and we are very, very appreciative of what she brings to the team. She’s not the one who’s going to be written about, but her contributions are really invaluable.”
While Katie O’Connor and Courtney Day might not be household words to area basketball fans, they are major contributors on an Indian squad with its sights set high.
Just the facts:
This year’s record: Souderton 5-2 SOL (7-3 overall); North Penn 6-1 SOL (12-1 overall)
Last year’s record: Souderton 7-7 SOL (11-11 overall); North Penn 11-3 SOL (21-7 overall)
Last meeting: Dec. 14, 2012 – North Penn 56, Souderton 54 (OT) (North Penn: Lauren Crisler – 19 points, Vicky Tumasz – 18 points; Souderton: Bianca Picard – 17 points, Sara Derstein – 10 points, Allison Gallagher – 9 points, Courtney Day – 8 points)
Last game: Souderton 71, Quakertown 22 (Bianca Picard – 15 points, Allison Gallagher – 14 points, Libby Wetzler – 8 points, Sarah Derstein – 8 points, Katie O’Connor – 7 points)
North Penn 78, Pennridge 44 (Lauren Crisler – 19 points, Vicky Tumasz – 17 points, Mikaela Giuliani – 9 points, Tehya Daneker – 7 points, Brianna Cullen – 7 points, Erin Maher – 6 points)
Souderton
Projected starters:
#3 – Allison Gallagher (5-8, Jr.)
#10 – Katie O’Connor (5-2, Jr.)
#21 – Libby Wetzler (5-10, Sr.)
#25 – Bianca Picard (5-5, Jr.)
#31 – Sarah Derstein (5-10, Soph.)
The rest of the Indians:
#5 – Hannah Bergey (Jr.)
#11 – Devon Boehm (Jr.)
#12 – Jessica Kraus (Sr.)
#14 – Noelle Noble (Soph.)
#22 – Courtney Day (Sr.)
#23 – Marissa Sandone (Soph.)
North Penn
Projected Starters:
#2 – Erin Maher (6-0, Jr.)
#4 - Jenn Halcovage (5-7, Sr.)
#13 - Mikaela Giuliani (6-0, Fr.)
#20 – Lauren Crisler (6-2, Sr.)
#22 – Vicky Tumasz (5-6, Jr.)
The rest of the Maidens:
#5 – Sierra Simon (5-7, Jr.)
#11 – Laura Kane (5-4, Sr.)
#13 – Mikaela Giuliani (6-0, Fr.)
#14 – Jackie Bilotti (5-5, Soph.)
#15 –Tehya Daneker (5-10, Sr.)
#21 – Brianna Cullen (5-7, Jr.)
#24 – Leiana Dean (5-6, Fr.)
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