North Penn and Abington advanced to the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament on Tuesday.
NORTH PENN 52, 3-7 LEBANON 41
Seven days after capturing the district title, the heavily-favored Lady Knights took the court to do battle with an upstart Lebanon Cedars squad that was making its first trip to the state tournament.
Any thoughts that it would be a cakewalk were put to rest early as the Cedars were unfazed by an early 9-0 hole and battled to the end.
“We were coming off such a high, and it was a game to bring us back down to reality and see that we’re going to have some great competition coming up, and we have to work as hard as we can,” senior Bri Cullen said.
It took a team effort to down the pesky Cedars. Mikaela Giuliani had a huge game under the backboards, pulling down 15 rebounds, nine offensive. She also had eight points. Teammate Erin Maher, who had a game-high 14 points to go along with four assists, hauled in 10 rebounds, and it was the Lady Knights’ ability to control the paint that allowed them to seize early control of the game.
North Penn led 4-0 when Sam Carangi (11 points) buried a three-pointer on her team’s fifth shot of the Lady Knights’ second possession of the game. It was an omen of things to come as the Lady Knights outrebounded the Cedars 13-5 in the opening quarter and led 14-8.
“We saw our shots weren’t going in – recently they’ve been falling all the time, and Erin and I had to step up and get those offensive rebounds and just keep feeding them out so they could get their shots,” Giuliani said.
Carangi turned a steal into a layup early in the second quarter to put the Lady Knights on top 16-6. The Cedars trimmed that lead to 16-12 and still trailed by just four (18-14) late in the quarter. Cullen buried a pair from the foul line, and after a Lebanon miss, the senior captain completed a three-point play to send the Lady Knights into halftime with a 23-14 lead. Cullen scored eight of her 10 points in the opening half.
“I saw that Sam and Vicky weren’t hitting as many shots as they usually do, so the paint was opening up more for me to attack, and I was taking advantage of that,” said Cullen, who also had four assists and three steals.
While Cullen had a big half offensively, Giuliani and Maher dominated the paint, combining for 15 rebounds.
“Mikaela was just a crazy woman out there – she did a great job,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “Bri Cullen scored some points at the end of the second quarter that opened up the gap a little bit.
“Everyone did something right at different times because they just kept coming at us. I knew on paper we should beat them, but when I saw them on film, I was afraid of them.”
The Lady Knights looked to be in complete command after Maher deflected a miss to Carangi, who buried a three-pointer to give her team a 28-19 lead less than two minutes into the second half. A Lebanon miss set the stage for a baseline jumper by Giuliani that extended the Lady Knights’ lead to 30-19.
“I said to Mikaela, ‘If people are going to play off you and protect the basket, you need to knock down the 15-foot jumper,’ and she did – she has a nice shot,” deMarteleire said. “She has a nice touch on the ball.”
Lebanon answered with a 9-0 run that featured three consecutive three-pointers, and suddenly it was a 30-28 game. Carangi brought the Cedars’ impressive run to an abrupt halt with a three-pointer of her own.
“She hit very timely threes on a night when 23 (Brittany Ulrich) did a very good job defending Vicky,” deMarteleire said of her senior sharpshooter, who was limited to seven points and just one field goal. “She didn’t get many open looks.”
After a Lebanon miss, Maher scored on a putback, and the Lady Knights led 35-28. A three-pointer by Maher sent North Penn into the fourth quarter with a 41-32 lead.
“A big thing was we kept our composure when they started coming back because they made a great run,” Cullen said. “They don’t quit.”
Another baseline shot by Giuliani put North Penn on top 43-32, all but sealing Lebanon’s fate.
“Coach has been telling me that I need to be more offensive-minded because I know if I do start shooting – even if it doesn’t go in, it will help the team,” Giuliani said. “The goal is to win, and if that’s going to help the team, that’s what I’m going to do to help us win.”
North Penn (25-3, 12-2 SOL) will face Northampton in a second round game on Tuesday at a site to be determined. District 11’s third place team upset District 2 champion Lake Wallenpaupak 52-46.
Lebanon 6 8 18 9-41
North Penn 14 9 18 11-52
1-6 ABINGTON 55, 11-2 POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST 36
When looking at Abington box scores this year, two names regularly showed up among the high scorers – Deja Rawls and Michael Harris.
But when junior Bre Bermel put up 16 points for the Lady Ghosts on Friday night, it came as no surprise to Abington coach Dan Marsh.
“Bre was absolutely huge for us and had a great game,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “She always has the potential to score that many, but she wasn’t always finishing. Tonight, she finished.”
Bermel helped Abington to a 55-36 win over Pocono Mountain West in a PIAA Class AAAA first round playoff at Stroudsburg High School, putting the Lady Ghosts into the second round for a Tuesday night meeting with Wilson West Lawn.
“We knew a little about (Pocono Mountain West) and we knew they had a great player (Jackie Benitez),” Marsh said. “But we thought that we could dictate the pace both offensively and defensively, and we were able to do that. We played well.”
Abington, which is now 20-8 overall, was led by senior Michael Harris who had game highs with 22 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Abington led by six after one quarter, and increased its lead to nine (27-18) before the half. In the third quarter, the Lady Ghosts’ lead went up to double digits before Abington was able to easily close things out in the fourth.
“We were still a little bit nervous early, but once we settled in, we were able to play our game and we pretty much rolled. It was nice,” Marsh said.
Pocono Mountain West, which won the Mountain Valley Conference this season, had its season end with a record of 21-8. Benitez led the Panthers with 20 points, while the team was held to single-digit scoring in three of the four quarters.
“Defensively, it was just a complete, good team effort,” Marsh said.
Bermel’s 14 points were second to Harris, while star junior Deja Rawls added 12 points, five assists and four steals.
“It was really nice to get to play that much,” Bermel said. “We’ve been practicing really hard lately and I haven’t been scoring that many, so I knew I needed to help myself and help the team and score as much as I could.
“We told each other in the locker room that we wanted to play and win this one, and it was a good boost to get us up and hopefully help us to make a run at states.”
Abington 15 12 13 16—55
Pocono Mountain West 9 9 11 7—36
11-2 PARKLAND 32, 1-8 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 30
With 35 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock, East trailed by six after the Trojans connected on one-of-two from the foul line. The never-say-die Patriots battled back and put themselves in a position to win it only to watch a three-pointer at the buzzer fall just short.
“It was in and out,” coach Liz Potash said. “We had the ball with six seconds to go on our sideline – they kicked the ball out of bounds. We had no timeouts left, and they called a timeout.
“We didn’t set up for a three. We were pretty much looking to get the ball inside to Courtney (Webster) if we could, but we were going to take whatever good shot was available. She (Katelyn Miller) had a great shot. She was at the three-point line on the sideline, which was the same shot she hit against Abington to send it into double overtime.”
The game was, in many ways, a microcosm of East’s season. The Patriots – who closed their year with a 16-11 record – have lost by 10 on three occasions, but they have never lost by more than 10 points.
“We have been in every game this year,” Potash said. “We know we have to defend because we have trouble scoring. When you hold a team to 32 points, you should win the game, but we didn’t score enough points. That’s the frustrating part of the season. There’s not one game we haven’t been in, so that does make it hard.”
The Patriots, who were in the game from the outset, found themselves in a position to win it, thanks in no small part to a clutch three-pointer by Kyra Scailiti.
“There was 35 seconds left in the game, and it was a five-point game, and they were going to the line to shoot two,” Potash said. “I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll pull my seniors out. The game’s over,’ and before you know it, they make one-of-two, we come down and hit a three, and all of a sudden it’s a three-point game.
“That’s kind of been the story of the season. They don’t give up, they don’t stop playing. They give you everything they have until the end, and we just fell short tonight.”
Parkland led 11-10 at the end of one quarter and took a 17-13 lead into halftime. It was a 22-19 game heading into the final quarter.
Courtney Webster led the Patriots with 12 points and seven rebounds. Miller added nine points. Point guard Karoline White had eight assists.
“Every team at this point knows to try and take Courtney away,” Potash said. “She played really well tonight.
“We have to hit some shots in order to have a chance to win.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Potash had no complaints about a season that saw the Patriots advance to the state tournament.
“That was their goal from the beginning,” the Patriots’ first-year coach said. “They fell short on it last year, and two years ago, they were the ninth or 10th team in, and they had a rough first round game.
“It was a goal all along to get to this point. They faced a lot of obstacles. It was a tough road they took to get here. I’m proud of them. I’m happy for them. They accomplished what they wanted to, and they’re a basket away from making it past the first round. They’re the District 11 champs. They were not 15 minutes from their school, but the kids don’t make any excuses. They battle, and even with 35 seconds to go, it was a six-point game, and we had a chance to win it at the buzzer.”
Central Bucks East 10 3 6 11-30
Parkland 11 6 5 10-32
3-3 CUMBERLAND VALLEY 46, 1-5 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 43
In a battle of two of the state’s top-ranked teams, the Bucks found themselves staring at a 12-8 deficit at the end of one quarter but outscored Eagles 16-10 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 24-22 lead. That lead disappeared in a hurry in a third quarter that saw the Eagles go on a 16-5 tear. The Bucks battled back and had the ball with the chance for the tie but came up empty.
Junior Nicole Munger led the Bucks with 18 points, which included four three-pointers. Mackenzie Carroll added 13 points, including a pair of treys. Peyton Traina had a pair of three’s in a contest that saw the Bucks bury eight three-pointers.
West closed its season with a 21-7 record (10-4 SOL).
Central Bucks West 8 16 5 14-43
Cumberland Valley 12 10 16 8-46
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