Check out the results for SOL teams in action on Saturday.
HARRY S TRUMAN 47, CONWELL EGAN 43
The fourth time was the charm.
For three straight years, the Tigers finished second in their own season-opening tournament, but on Saturday, they walked away with the tournament title.
“I said to them before the game, ‘Are you tired of being in second place? You’ve gone to the championship, and you’re always coming up short. Why are you coming up short?’” coach Collette Munford said. “We almost came up short because of layups, foul shots and not boxing out and that’s all basic stuff.
“They were so excited. I said, ‘You girls are a part of history. This is the first time the Truman girls have ever won this tournament, and you girls were part of it.’”
Senior Khristaijah Jackson scored a game-high 20 points and was named tournament MVP. One night earlier she had 25 points and 20 rebounds.
Daeja Moore added seven points, Alexis Bookard had six, Jayda Campbell had five points and Taylor Gasperi had four points.
The Tigers took a 17-16 lead into halftime, but Munford was not pleased with her team’s first half performance.
“What killed us in the first half were layups and foul shots,” the Tigers’ coach said. “We couldn’t make a foul shot, and we weren’t boxing out. We were standing there, giving them second and third chances.
“I have two freshman starting, and I’m trying to get them to jell. It’s a whole different system coming from middle school to high school. Even though they know how to play and know the game, you can tell they’re nervous.”
The Tigers responded to Munford’s fiery halftime speech with a strong third quarter that saw them outscore Egan 21-15 only to watch Egan rally to make things interesting in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers are 2-0 on the young season.
“Those freshmen are good,” Munford said. “Once they start jelling and getting all these jitters out - I think this tournament did it for them. They’re seeing now – we have to step our game up.
“We’ll be all right. I really believe it.”
Conwell Egan 6 10 15 12-43
Harry S Truman 9 8 21 9-47
QUAKERTOWN 42, CATASAUQUA 24
A young Panther squad made coach Brittany Remmey a winner in her debut at the helm.
“It was an exciting game for Quakertown,” the first-year coach said. “It was a one-point game at the half, and the girls came out with a lot of energy in the second half, causing a lot of turnovers and steals.”
Ashlee Ruzicka was a presence in the paint with 11 points and six rebounds. Meghan Klee had five steals, six rebounds and 10 points. Remmey credited Makenna Kressley and Megan Lynn for causing a lot of turnovers with their on-ball defense.
“The team is making great efforts and improving,” Remmey said.
UPPER DUBLIN 53, ST. HUBERT’S 37
It’s a new world for a Flying Cardinals squad that lost four-year starting point guard Curtrena Goff to graduation, but so far, the Cardinals have not missed a beat, rolling to their second win in as many days and capturing the championship of the Upper Darby Tournament.
“It’s definitely a different team,” coach Morgan Funsten said. “We’re searching for our own identity, doing a lot of stuff over the summer and in the fall.”
One player who is turning more than a few heads is senior Kayla McAneney, who had her second 18-point outing in as many days in Saturday’s win.
“I said to the girls a couple of weeks ago and I said to the girls before the game today – after her performance yesterday, people said, ‘Kayla had a great game,’ but I’m not surprised,” Funsten said. “The easiest way to describe her is to say she really has taken her game to the next level.
“It didn’t just happen over the last two games. It happened in the summer and it happened in the fall. She’s exactly what we need this year. We need somebody to step up. We know teams are going to be keying on Regan (Gallagher) because of the season she had last year. Kayla’s game is very simple but very effective, and she is exactly what we need right now.”
Gallagher also had another big game for the Cardinals, contributing 16 points and 10 rebounds. Taylor Linus had seven points and five assists, and the senior guard has also elevated her game.
“She had five assists in both games,” said Funsten of Linus. “She’s our defensive stopper. She’s what Lauren Rothfeld was last year. She gets the responsibility of playing the toughest guard on the other team. She’s got a simple game also. She doesn’t try to do too much.
“She was a very effective role player on our team last year. She played a lot of important minutes. It didn’t always show up in the boxscore, but she was a major part of our team last year. She’s stepping up big time. She was voted as one of our two captains, and she’s certainly filling that role effectively so far.”
Julie Cross added four points and 10 rebounds in a solid outing as the Flying Cardinals improved to 2-0.
“I really couldn’t ask for a better start,” Funsten said. “We have a couple of key players out right now, and we’re probably not as deep a program as we were last year, but the girls have really responded.
“I’m not surprised by Kayla, and Regan continues to improve. Julie Cross has had double-digit rebounds in both games so far. We’re clicking right now. I hope we continue to click. It’s not that important to click right now, but I’m very proud of how we’ve started.”
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 72, PENN WOOD 48
The Titans sprinted to a 34-26 halftime lead and then endured a foul-plagued second half in a game that turned decidedly ugly, rolling to the big win and capturing the Springfield-Delco Tournament title.
“It was not pretty,” coach Beth Mattern said. “It was a physical game, and they definitely had 20 fouls in the second half and two technical fouls.
“It got ugly quickly through no fault of any of my players. It wasn’t even fun.”
Senior Alysha Lofton turned in a magnificent 26-point performance that included a 14-for-16 effort from the foul line. Sophomore Chloe Entenberg added 12 points – all from the foul line where she buried 12-of-17 attempts. She was 10-for-12 in a fourth quarter that saw the Titans outscore Penn Wood 26-13. Lauren Mosher and Jordan Vitelli both had 10 points.
“I was pleased with the effort,” Mattern said. “It was a tough situation, and they really kept their composure.
“At times when they were really trying to pressure us in the end, we were able to step up and make foul shots and really finish the game and control it from the get-go.”
The Titans are 2-0 on the young season.
NORTH PENN 47, GWYNEDD MERCY 33
Bri Cullen measures in at 5-7, but the senior guard doesn’t mind banging under the basket.
“I started as a post, and a couple of years ago when I started high school, that’s when I went to the guard spot,” she said. “I know how to play the post spot and use my body, and I think it’s helping me become a more all-around player. I know as a senior I have to step up.”
Cullen finished with eight points and - along with teammate Mikaela Giuliani - had a team-high seven rebounds.
“I am really pleased with the way she’s playing,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said of Cullen. “Last year transferring from GA – she’s much more comfortable this year, and it’s showing. Last night she played really good defense on (Pennsbury’s) best player, and tonight I ended up putting her on 22 (Bridget Coleman), who was killing us.”
Senior Vicky Tumasz led all scorers with 15 points, which included three three-pointers. Her first – in the closing seconds of the opening quarter – gave the Lady Knights a 13-7 lead. Three players – senior Erin Maher and freshmen Sam Carangi and Jess Huber – finished with six points.
Huber scored all of her points in a brief stint off the bench in a second quarter that saw the Lady Knights outscore the Monarchs 11-6 on their way to a 24-13 halftime lead. All three buckets came on baseline moves.
“Those were big plays,” deMarteleire said. “That definitely was a spark for us.
“We really have a nice mesh of seniors and Mikaela kind of taking the freshmen under their wings. I pretty much told them – the quicker they come along, the better we’re going to be.”
Tumasz buried her second three-pointer of the game in closing seconds of the second quarter.
“We were talking more, we were communicating, our defense was better, and we were hitting our shots,” Tumasz said of her team’s second quarter surge. “We’re being smarter with our shots.
“We can’t just live and die on the three. We’re starting to look in the post with Mikaela and Bri down there doing their post moves.”
Carangi connected on a pair of three-pointers in the opening moments of the third quarter, allowing the Lady Knights to open up a 32-17 lead.
The Monarchs, under former Central Bucks East coach Tom Lonergan, did not go down quietly, rallying to make it a 10-point game late in the final quarter.
“Any Tom Lonergan team is always well coached and fundamentally sound,” deMarteleire said. “They always play good defense. They rebounded very well, and they drove around us a lot.
“We have some things we need to work on, we need to fix.”
Lonergan received eight-point efforts from Bridget Coleman, Erica DeCandido and Christa Giordano.
“There were some positives to take out of this,” the Monarchs’ coach said. “We didn’t commit a lot of fouls, which we really preach hard to them because we want to be able to put a lot of pressure on without fouling.
“They only went to the line four times, which was a plus for us because we know how great of foul shooters they are. We, unfortunately, didn’t do as well from the line. We were 4-for-12, which is a lot different than yesterday when we were 26-of-28. Those things make a big difference. They’re a very good team with a lot of weapons you have to defend.”
While Gwynedd fell to 1-1, the Lady Knights – who won their tournament each year since it began two years ago – are 2-0 and looking forward to another successful season.
“I’m so excited,” Cullen said. “It feels great especially to be as close a team as we are – I love it.”
WILLIAM TENNENT 45, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 28
The Panthers sprinted to a 13-1 lead at the end of one quarter and took a 27-13 lead into halftime. Any doubts about the outcome were put to rest in a third quarter that saw Tennent go on a 14-6 tear.
Nikki Alden led a balanced Panthers attack with 13 points to go along with five rebounds. Angie Pomponio added 10 points. Both earned spots on the all-tournament team. Kyla Gibson added eight points, and Alyssa Christiansen, five points. Rachel Ebert had four points for the Panthers, who evened their record at 1-1.
New Hope-Solebury 1 12 6 9-28
William Tennent 13 14 14 4-45
PENNSBURY 52, PERIOMEN VALLEY 43
Sajanna Bethea was unstoppable in Saturday’s consolation game of the Lady Knights Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. The senior standout finished the game with 30 points and 15 rebounds. The only thing stopping Bethea on this day was fouls – she ended up fouling out in the closing moments of the game, but the Falcons held on for the win.
Senior Kaitlin Kelly added 13 points in a solid outing.
“I’m real happy,” coach Keith Gabor said. “To come out and play North Penn in our first game – they’re a good team, and it’s a good measuring stick for us.
“Today coming out and being down at halftime, our seniors – Kaitlin and Sajanna – stepped up.”
Bethea had 14 points in the third quarter – 19 all told in the second half. Kelly had a pair of big baskets, including a three-pointer, in the fourth quarter.
Sarah McDonald and Maggie Kane both had three points for the Falcons, who evened their early season mark at 1-1.
SOUDERTON 46, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 37
Allison Gallagher and Bianca Picard combined to score 29 points, including all 16 of their team’s points in a pivotal fourth quarter that saw the Indians outscore the Golden Hawks 16-2.
“We were down the whole game,” said Souderton coach Lynn Carroll, whose team trailed 35-30 heading into the final frame. “Nothing was really going our way.
“We’re not really doing much well yet. We have the potential to do everything well, but there’s a lot of things we did poorly in both games.
“In the fourth quarter, they scored two points within the first minute, and those were the only points they scored in the fourth quarter. We made great defensive stops.”
A key in the quarter, according to Carroll, was the defensive play of Gallagher on Rock South’s Taylor Dillon, who led all scorers with 18 points.
“She was really hurting us,” the Indians’ coach said of Dillon. “She was making plays. She really, really stepped up for them and made some big plays.”
Shannon Boyle added nine points while Payton Spadaccino had six for the Golden Hawks.
Gallager led the Indians with 15 while Picard had 14 points.
“Allison and Bianca had all of our points in the fourth quarter, including making foul shots down the stretch,” Carroll said. “We went up midway through the fourth quarter on a huge three by Bianca, and we kept that lead the rest of the game. With two minutes left, we were still up only one possession and then we made foul shots.
“It was a good way for us to win at this point in the season – to have to really work and earn it and execute down the stretch, and we did all of those things. Not for 32 minutes, but we did it enough.”
Saturday’s win came on the heels of a loss to Mount St. Joseph Academy and evened the Indians’ record at 1-1.
“In both games, we had Allison and Sarah (Derstein) sitting pretty much the whole second quarter in foul trouble,” Carroll said. “Those were the quarters we struggled to score in both games.
“We do have four returning starters. I think maybe we felt we were going to be further along than we are, but we’re not, so we have a lot to work on this week. We have a tough one next Friday against North Penn, so we have four practices to get better at a lot of things, but we have tremendous potential.”
ABINGTON 57, MARTIN LUTHER KING 18
The Ghosts took out any frustration they may have been feeling after Friday’s loss at the hands of Norristown with a rout of Martin Luther King in the consolation game of their own tournament.
Michael Harris finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Deja Rawls also had 14 points while Gabbi Nolan had 12 points and six steals.
The Ghosts even their record at 1-1.
CHRISTOPHER DOCK 50, BENSALEM 29
Bridget Watson scored 18 points, and the Owls - dealing with illness and what coach Don Bogan referred to simply as ‘in-house problems - were ‘out-manned’ in Saturday’s consolation game at the Pennridge Tournament.
“We had only eight players and played with all guards and no player over 5’6”,” Bogan said. “The team played hard and never gave up.
“The Owls will regroup and get ready for our league opener on Friday at Pennsbury.”
MASTERY CHARTER 59, PENNRIDGE 39
Devon Rink scored 13 points while teammate Devan Rimmer added seven to lead the Lady Rams in Saturday’s championship game of their own tournament. Shelby Schonover and Alex Villella each had five points while Kaeli White and Ashley George both added four for the Lady Rams, whose record fell to 1-1.
CONESTOGA 54, UPPER MERION 25
The Pioneers opened up a 16-8 lead at the end of one quarter and extended that lead to 29-10 by halftime on their way to the win in the championship game of the Upper Merion Classic.
“They were more physical up front,” coach Tom Schurtz said. “They had a really nice defensive game play, and they executed in all facets of the game.
“They shot tremendous. I think they only missed five shots in the first half.”
Regie Robinson led the Vikings with eight points while Anna Davis had five points and Jessie Michael, four points.
The Vikings saw their record drop to 1-1.
Conestoga 16 13 14 11-54
Upper Merion8 2 8 7-25
WISSAHICKON 33, POTTSTOWN 17
BONNER-PRENDERGAST 66, NORRISTOWN 41
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