Upper Dublin & CB South came up short in Wednesday’s District One AAAA semifinal games, but Abington clinched a berth in states. Check back for Lisa Henderson’s photo galleries of the CB South/Downingtown West and Upper Dublin/Perk Valley games as well as Keith Clemens’ photos of the North Penn/Neshaminy game…CLICK HERE.
It was a rough night for the SOL in the District One AAAA semifinals.
Upper Dublin came up one point short of pulling off the upset of second-seeded Perkiomen Valley, and Central Bucks South struggled to find its rhythm in a loss to 12th-seeded Downingtown East.
Abington delivered a dominating performance in its bid for a state berth, earning the win over Bishop Shanahan. Council Rock North came up one point short in its playback game against Penn Wood in a battle for the final state spot.
North Penn showed no ill effects from its district quarterfinal loss to CB South, earning a decisive win in its playback game against Neshaminy.
#2 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 30, #6 UPPER DUBLIN 29
Perspective.
Allison Chernow found a way to give perspective to a heartbreaking loss that saw the Flying Cardinals with the ball and a chance to win it in the game’s closing seconds, but they never managed a shot.
“Like I said before – if you ask anybody, nobody thought we would get here,” the UD senior captain said. “If you asked anybody, nobody thought we would win this game, but we were here.
“I said to the girls, ‘We’re here, we can do this. Let’s show them why we’re here.’ We didn’t come out on top, but I think we did that. We were down seven with 1:10 left, and we just fought so hard.
“A couple of calls maybe that shouldn’t have gone our way did go our way, and we just didn’t capitalize, but I’m proud of my team. We don’t give up.”
The Flying Cardinals appeared to be down for the count, trailing by seven with two minutes left in regulation after a putback by the Vikings, but Chernow completed a three-point play with 1:09 remaining to make it a 30-26 game.
The Vikings, who struggled mightily against the Cards’ pressure, turned the ball over on four straight possessions in the final 69 seconds, and after the second of those turnovers, Demi Balasa buried a three-pointer from the top of the circle to pull the Cards to within one with 37 seconds remaining.
The Vikings turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds, and after the Cardinals misfired, the Vikings turned it over yet one more time with 25.2 seconds showing on the clock. The Cardinals never got a shot off, and the Vikings celebrated their program’s first trip to the district title game.
UD coach Morgan Funsten, who keeps devising defensive schemes to stifle the most potent of offenses, did it again on Wednesday. The difference in this game was PV’s multiple shot opportunities. No one created more second, third and fourth shot attempts than sophomore Megan Jonassen, who finished with a game high 14 points to go along with 17 rebounds.
“This hurts,” Funsten said. “It hurts a lot. The girls are pretty upset.
“I’m proud of what we did defensively against them. Obviously, the effort the girls put forth can never be questioned. It felt like – if we had to blame ourselves for anything – it’s hard to blame yourself for this, but we gave up too many offensive rebounds in the first half. Our girls are tough. In the second half, we were so much better on the defensive glass, and you could see the amount of points they scored in the second half.”
The two teams exchanged baskets in the first quarter, battling to a 12-12 tie. Chernow, who scored a team high 12, accounted for seven of those. The shots stopped falling in the second quarter, and the Vikings went into halftime with a 20-16 lead.
The Cardinals limited the Vikings to just 10 second half points and came within a shot of earning a trip to Temple.
“They’re such a tough matchup, and they just keep coming at you,” Funsten said. “You can do everything right sometimes, and they’ll still get an offensive rebound.
“We found ways in the second half to limit their offensive rebounds, so we were happy with that, but this one hurts.”
The Flying Cardinals connected on just 11-of-40 shots from the field, which translates to 27 percent.
“We have to make some shots,” Funsten said. “The shot making is never something you just need to try harder at and it’s going to happen.”
The Cards were 2-of-7 from the foul line.
“You have to take advantage of those,” Funsten said. “With our games being as low scoring as they’ve been lately, everything is magnified.
“Our girls, in the big picture – they deserve to make more shots with what they do on the defensive end. In practice, we try to build our confidence back up and make ourselves a little more efficient on the offensive end.”
Josie Barrett added seven points for the Cardinals while Ashley Barber had five rebounds to lead UD.
Upper Dublin (21-6, 14-0 SOL) will host Central Bucks South in a battle for third place on Friday night.
Upper Dublin 12-4-5-8 29
Perkiomen Valley 12-8-4-6 30
Upper Dublin: Allison Chernow 12, Josie Barrett 7, Ashley Barber 4, Demi Balasa 3, Maggie Weglos 3.
Perkiomen Valley: K.T. Armstrong 7, Hanan Richmond 3, Megan Jonassen 14, Taylor Hamm 4, Tori Walter 2.
#12 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 57, #8 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 47
Four days after their greatest triumph – a magical 57-54 overtime win over top-seeded North Penn, the Titans never could rediscover the offensive rhythm that made them so effective in their win over the Lady Knights.
Downingtown East took a lead 40 seconds into the game when Laura Ochsner converted a putback. The Cougars led the rest of the way.
“All of a sudden we went from the away jersey to the home jersey, and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it,” coach Beth Mattern said when asked about the pressure of entering the game as the higher seeded team. “We lost to North Penn twice – they’re a league opponent. There’s a lot at stake there.
“I’m proud of them. I thought my team played hard, and at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for.”
The Titans trailed 4-2 after Jordan Vitelli scored midway through the opening period, and it was still a two-point game after Mackenzie Ehresman connected late in the frame, but the Cougars led 12-6 after one quarter and upped their advantage to 15-6 after an Aryah Aungst three-pointer to open the second.
Paige Warfel, who would haunt the Titans all game, scored to put the Cougars on top 23-12 with 2:25 remaining in the opening half. Baskets by Vitelli and Alexa Brodie pulled the Titans to within seven at halftime (23-16).
Any thoughts of a comeback took a serious hit when the Titans scored just three points – thanks to a Vitelli three – in the opening three-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter and found themselves staring at a 29-19 deficit. A Courtney Dietzel steal resulted in a pair of Vitelli foul shots, and after Brodie came up with a theft and found Haley Meinel for a basket, it was a 29-23 game.
The Cougars took a 34-23 lead into a fourth quarter that saw Warfel – whose game high 24 points included an 18-for-24 effort at the foul line – bury 12-of-16 from the charity stripe.
“We knew coming in that the foul line is how she scores her points,” Mattern said. “Unfortunately, we sent her there more times than we wanted to.
“I thought the girls who played her played really hard, but she’s really aggressive, and if you’re not in the correct position to take a charge, it’s rough. She’s a strong player.”
Vitelli led the Titans with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Brodie and Meghan Kuypers each added seven points. No one else had more than four.
“We just talked about not letting them get a rhythm at the three-point arc and running them off the line,” said Downingtown East coach Tom Schurtz, who saw the Titans bury 10 three’s in their win over North Penn. “We wanted to feed them in to where I thought we had the advantage, which was our longer guards out front.
“Aryah Aungst – I know she made three three’s, but the effort she did on the defensive end to hold one of the best three-point shooters I’ve seen in the last five years – to keep her bottled up and under control, that was the difference for us. Vitelli is a tremendous shooter.”
Central Bucks South will travel to Upper Dublin for Friday’s third place game at 7 p.m.
“We had a great game Saturday (against North Penn),” Vitelli said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold that up to tonight, but we’re going to come out Friday knowing we need to win. I think this loss will definitely motivate us.”
Downingtown East 12-11-11-23 57
Central Bucks South 6-10-10-21 47
Downingtown East: Danielly Tyrell 1, Lindsay Kent 5, Laura Ochsner 8, Aryah Aungst 11, Paige Warfel 24, Erin Phelan 4, Tori Barretta 4, Katelyn Crum 4.
Central Bucks South: Chloe Entenberg 1, Taylor Dunn 4, Jordan Vitelli 15, Courtney Dietzel 2, Mackenzie Ehresman 4, Tricia DeCesare 4, Meghan Kuypers 7, Alexa Brodie 7, Haley Meinel 3.
#1 NORTH PENN 57, #13 NESHAMINY 29
The Lady Knights served early notice that while they lost their chance to play for a district crown after their overtime loss to Central Bucks South in the quarterfinals, they still have plenty to play for in the post season.
“I was really pleased,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “Obviously, Saturday’s game was extremely emotional. It was draining, and I was concerned how the kids would respond.
“I thought they responded just like the champions they are, and I was really pleased with how the kids played tonight.”
Sparked by 11 points from Mikaela Giuliani, the Lady Knights opened up an 18-11 lead after one quarter and took a 32-23 lead into halftime.
“When I watched film of the game before, we left them push us outside, and we were playing far away from the basket,” deMarteleire said of her team’s 44-39 win over the Redskins in the SOL Tournament. “We were committed to getting the ball inside, and the kids did a good job of that.
“In the first half tonight, we didn’t do a great job of stopping their drives to the basket because they have a lot of kids that can attack the basket, but in the second half, our kids just did an outstanding job of stopping their drives to the basket.”
The Redskins managed just six points in the second half while the Lady Knights added to their lead with 25.
The Redskins were led by the 12-point effort of freshman Brooke Mullin while Devon Storms added eight.
“Jess Huber did a great job defending (Allison) Harvey,” deMarteleire said. “She scored the first three points of the game. She scored all (five) of her points in the first quarter and then didn’t score the rest of the game.”
Giuliani led all scorers with 19 points to go along with seven rebounds. Huber added 13 points, Bri Hewlett, 11 points, and Sam Carangi, eight points and four assists.
North Penn (25-3, 14-0 SOL) will host third-seeded Garnet Valley in Friday’s fifth place game. Neshaminy (20-7, 14-0) will travel to seventh-seeded Conestoga for the seventh place game.
Neshaminy 11-12-2-4 29
North Penn 18-14-14-11 57
Neshaminy: Morgan Goldenbaum 3, Devon Storms 8, Fiona McDonald 1, Allison Harvey 5, Brooke Mullin 12.
North Penn: Irisa Ye 2, Mikaela Giuliani 19, Jess Huber 13, Bri Hewlett 11, Sam Carangi 8, Mia Melchior 4.
#18 ABINGTON 60, #11 BISHOP SHANAHAN 49
It’s mission accomplished for the Ghosts, who earned one of the district’ s final spots in the state tournament with their win at Shanahan in a playback game on Wednesday night.
“I always forget how difficult these playbacks are – to be playing one and done for these past couple of games, there’s been a lot of pressure,” coach Dan Marsh said. “I’m really proud of the kids. We expected to be in states. It’s like (Sammy) Lochner said – ‘It’s taken us a little longer this year, but we still got there.’ I’m very proud of them. We were a lot younger and inexperienced in key spots than we had anticipated coming into the year. For us to still go out and accomplish this goal makes me very proud of these kids.
Senior Sammy Lochner led the Ghosts with 18 points and six assists while Lizzie O’Leary added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sam Brusha had 13 points and Britney James, eight. Senior Leah Simmons had seven points and 10 rebounds.
“Lochner was really the story – she just refused to lose,” Marsh said. “She wants to extend her season, and she’s been playing really well.
“To make states three years in a row with these kids is a compliment to Lochner and Simmons and to our other kids who have been a part of the program.”
The Ghosts trailed 29-25 at halftime but outscored their hosts 15-6 in the third quarter to go on top 40-35. They added to that lead with a 20-14 fourth quarter.
“I wasn’t too uncomfortable at halftime,” Marsh said. “I felt like we could make the proper adjustments, and I felt like we could win.
“I just told them, ‘The third quarter has got to be the quarter when you set the tone,’ and we went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter and then a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter. I thought we made some good defensive adjustments in the second half, and Brusha hit a couple of big three’s. She hit one big three in the third and another one in the fourth.”
Abington (19-7, 12-2 SOL) will travel to Penn Wood for the ninth place game on Friday.
“Friday is a gravy game – it doesn’t really matter,” Marsh said. “We’re going to go in and play Penn Wood, do the best we can, and then we’re going to get into states and see what happens.”
Abington 16-9-15-20 60
Bishop Shanahan 13-16-6-14 49
Abington: Britney James 8, Sammy Lochner 18, Lizzie O’Leary 14, Leah Simmons 7, Sam Brusha 13.
Bishop Shanahan: Ciara Forde 22, Sam McCarter 6, Grace Phillips 5, Sendi 2, Kelly Basile 3, Courtney Warley 11.
#17 PENN WOOD 44, #28 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 43
The Indians came up just short in their bid for a state berth. They took a 33-27 lead into the final quarter when the Patriots closed it out with a 17-10 tear.
Earlier, Rock North and Penn Wood exchanged baskets – it was 10-10 after one quarter and 20-20 at halftime.
Mackenzie Tinner led the Indians with 10 points, six rebounds, two steals and two assists. Megan Haggerty added seven points, which included a pair of three pointers. Samantha Saifer contributed six points, five rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist. Becca Margolis had four rebounds, three steals, three assists and five points.
The two teams combined for 45 trips to the foul line. The Indians converted on 10-of-21 chances while the Patriots buried 14-of-24.
Council Rock North (10-4 SOL) closed out its season with a 14-11 record.
Council Rock North 10-10-13-10 43
Penn Wood 10-10-7-17 44
Council Rock North: Becca Margolis 5, Camryn Polinsky 2, Megan Haggerty 7, Dana Bandurick 2, Samantha Saifer 6, Olivia Boyle 3, Mackenzie Tinner 10, Hannah Weiler 2.
Penn Wood: Dahyne Redd 20, Samantha Dillon 4, Gabrielle Hairston 11, Joy Morton 4, Carle Andrews 3, Kahlia Gordon 2.
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