Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action on Wednesday.
PENNRIDGE 38, WISSAHICKON 34
The Trojans outscored their visitors 16-11 in the opening two quarters of Wednesday’s non-league game, but the Rams owned the third quarter, and that proved to be the difference in the game.
“This was our fourth game in six days, and I just felt they started the first half really flat,” Pennridge coach Mike Elton said. “We changed up the defense a little bit. We had a chat in the locker room. I think a lot of it had to do with effort. I guess it was a wake-up call.”
The Rams outscored the Trojans 19-11 in the pivotal third quarter, turning a 16-11 deficit into a 30-27 lead.
“Rose McCormick had some pretty big buckets in that period,” Elton said. “Gillian Anderson stepped up and made a couple of free throws.”
The Rams’ first-year coach was pleased to see his inexperienced squad rally for the come-from-behind win.
“That’s huge,” Elton said. “You have a young team, and you have some young kids sitting on the bench, and they’re watching. I think it’s great.”
McCormick led a balanced Ram attack with eight points while Brooke Bachtle had seven and Anderson and Claire Podraza had six points each.”
Julianne Griffin led the Trojanes with nine points, Victoria Selverian added seven, and Carly Fadel had six.
Wissahickon coach Rodney Cline credited the Rams for knocking down some key shots.
“We just lost our poise – we didn’t know how to close the game out,” the Trojans’ coach said. “They went on a run. We kept fighting them off, fighting them off. They took the lead, we came back and tied it up. The game sped up. We’re used to speeding the game up, but we just weren’t comfortable with it. We had some unforced turnovers that didn’t need to happen. We have to learn to win.
“This team beat us by 30 last year, and we’re beating them the entire time. It’s tough – it was tough on our girls. They wanted it really bad. It’s a good experience for us. We can compete now. A lot of these games are going to be tight games. It’s a good experience for us. We’ll take the positive from it and look at the things we need to work on. We’ll watch the film tomorrow, learn from it and go from there.”
Elton tipped his hat to Cline.
“I really think Rodney has done a great job with that program,” the Rams’ coach said. “They play hard.”
Pennridge (3-1) will host Central Bucks South in its SOL Continental Conference opener Friday.
“We have to see where we stack up,” Elton said. “We’ve had a couple of interesting games, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Wissahickon (1-1) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday.
Pennridge 4-7-19-8 38
Wissahickon 8-8-11-7 34
Pennridge (38) – Samantha Muredda 2, Brooke Bachtle 7, Gillian Anderson 6, Madison Stolarski 5, Rose McCormick 8, Caire Podraza 6, Emilee Cramer.
Wissahickon (34) – Brianna Tilghman 2, Lexi Carradorini 5, Sydney Ott 5, Julianne Griffin 9, Victoria Selverian 7, Carly Fadel 6.
HARRY S TRUMAN 58, POTTSTOWN 40
It was a good start for the Tigers in Wednesday’s season opener, but according to coach Collette Munford, it could have been even better.
“It was pretty ugly,” the Tigers’ coach said. “To be honest, we could have scored (a lot more) points, but we missed a lot of easy layups, and our shot selection at times was horrible.
“We had too many unforced turnovers – like overthrowing the ball, things like that can really cost you. It’s jitters you’ve got to get out.”
Senior Daeja Moore had an impressive double-double, leading the Tigers with 19 points to go along with 10 steals. Sabria Lytes added 11 points and 15 rebounds with a double-double of her own. Alexis McCoy contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals while Jayda Campbell added eight points.
“I’ve never had that before,” Munford said of her team’s balanced scoring.
Munford has just 12 girls between her varsity and jayvee, and both teams were winners on Wednesday.
“I’m making it work,” the Tigers’ coach said. “The girls that are there – they put in the work, and they’re going to get better. They’re young, and I have a lot of eighth graders that will be coming from our two middle schools that I’ve already talked to, and they’re ready to go. The program is getting better.”
The two teams were deadlocked 7-7 after one quarter.
“I know my girls’ potential, and I know how hard we’ve been working,” Munford said. “It should never have been 7-7.”
In the second quarter, things improved dramatically for the Tigers, who closed out the half with a 23-8 tear to go into halftime with a 30-15 lead. The Trojans cut into that lead in the third quarter, pulling to within six, but the Tigers went back to the press and maintained control of the game on their way to the win.
Harry S Truman (1-0) will take on Bristol in an opening round game of the Bristol Tournament on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Pottstown 7-23-19-9 58
Harry S Truman 7-8-20-5 40
Harry S Truman (58) – Daeja Moore 19, Daisha Campbell 5, Jayda Campbell 8, Roneisha James 3, Brianna Ciney 2, Alexis McCoy 10, Sabria Lytes 11.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 54, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 33
The visiting Colonials led 11-7 after one quarter and took a 24-14 lead into halftime. They outscored the Golden Hawks 30-19 in the second half.
“It was a team effort,” coach Daniel Dougherty said. “We shook off a little bit of nerves to start the game.”
The Colonials got big contributions from a lot of players. Lauren Fortescue, a Norristown transfer, led a balanced attack with 15 points, which included three of the Colonials’ six three-pointers. Taylor O’Brien added 14 points and six assists. Ali Diamond had nine points, Laurel Suchsland added eight and Lauren Coscia had six. Suchsland had a pair of three’s.
“Ali Diamond and Laurel Suchsland played tremendous defense,” Dougherty said. “Lauren Coscia, Victoria Betterly and Sarah Putsch played great interior defense and did a great job on the boards.”
Faith Turner led the Golden Hawks with 11 points, and Allison McGowan added eight points, which included a pair of three-point baskets.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-0) will travel to Wissahickon for Friday’s SOL American Conference opener, and Council Rock South (2-1) will be on the road at Council Rock North for a 5:45 p.m. contest in a girls/boys doubleheader.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 11-13-16-14 54
Council Rock South 7-7-10-9 33
Plymouth Whitemarsh (54) – Taylor O’Brien 14, Lauren Fortescue 15, Ali Diamond 9, Haley Zygmunt 2, Laurel Suchsland 8, Lauren Coscia 6.
Council Rock South (33) – Kasey Schlupp 5, Payton Spadaccino 5, Allison McGowan 8, Faith Turner 11, Hannah Binder 3, Claudia Steinmetz.
NORTH PENN 78, MOUNT ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 50
The Magic trailed by just three points at halftime (35-32), but things changed in a hurry in the third quarter. The suddenly inspired Knights came out of halftime and outscored their visitors 30-5, turning a three-point lead into a 28-point lead (65-37).
How good were the Knights in the third quarter?
“I’m not sure if I have ever seen one of our teams play as well as we did in the third quarter,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “The kids played just outstanding,
“We just played really good defense, we were very unselfish, we ran our transition offense the way it’s supposed to be run. We made good decisions, and we attacked the basket. Everybody contributed. It was really good.”
Irisa Ye scored nine of her game-high 22 points in the pivotal third quarter while Bri Hewlett had eight of her 18 points in the frame.
“We were playing solid defense, we were scoring transition buckets, and we were just making really good decisions,” deMarteleire said. “We were just being really unselfish.”
Sam Carangi – despite picking up her second foul four minutes into the game – filled the stat sheet with 13 points, seven assists and six steals. Jess Huber added 12 points, and Mia Melchior contributed seven.
North Penn (3-0) will host Central Bucks West in Friday’s SOL Continental Conference opener.
Mount St. Joseph 14-18-5-13 50
North Penn 16-19-30-13 78
Mount St. Joseph (50) – Glowacki 2, Hoover 11, Smith 4, Routhenberg 18, Digiovanni 11, Dodaro 4.
North Penn (78) – Irisa Ye 22, Jess Huber 12, Alaina Mullaly 1, Sam Carangi 13, Jess McKenzie 5, Mia Melchior 7, Bri Hewlett 18.
UNIONVILLE 48, CHELTENHAM 10
The Lady Panthers never could find their offense in Wednesday’s non-league game at Unionville. The Indians opened up an 11-3 lead after one quarter and led 25-5 at the intermission on their way to the convincing win.
Cheltenham (0-2) will travel to Springfield Township for its SOL American Conference opener on Friday.
Cheltenham 3-2-4-1 10
Unionville 11-14-10-13 48
Cheltenham (10) – Caitlin Wallace 1, Courtney Murray 2, Danielle Brown 2, Kai Williams 3, Nashira Brown 2.
Unionville (48) – S Detweiler 4, M Shanahan 13, G Schrof 9, S Covert 2, O Budow 8, M Dunn 5, S Ciccarelli 2, E Towler 5.
About the Author
