Check out the winners in SOL girls’ basketball action on Friday. PW/Upper Dublin photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of action photos…CLICK HERE.
American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 50, UPPER DUBLIN 37
Most high school teams lose players at the end of every season.
Plymouth Whitemarsh was the opposite.
Not only did the Colonials bring back every player from last year's team that made the District I tournament, they added to the roster when Lauren Fortescue transferred in from Norristown.
Fortescue, a junior combo guard, plugged right into the starting lineup. Friday, she turned in the best game of her brief PW career, scoring 16 points as PW handed Upper Dublin a rare loss in SOL American play.
"I found out in late August she was coming and I said 'Great,'" PW coach Dan Dougherty said. "We played a fall league team to get her acclimated, but she grew up with our kids, she grew up playing Whitemarsh basketball so there's no 'new kid' with her."
Fortescue wasn't the only one on for PW. Forward Lauren Coscia scored 14 points, six of them pretty much gift-wrapped by Fortescue assists late in the game after PW broke an Upper Dublin press. Guard Taylor O'Brien dropped in 13 points. The Colonials' defense was also stellar all night, frustrating UD from the start of the game.
“Lauren Fortescue played just tremendous tonight,” Dougherty said. “Taylor O’Brien is outstanding always, and Lauren Coscia had a big game. She scored 14 points and had a couple of big blocks in the second half when they got the ball down low. Between Lauren Fortescue, Taylor O’Brien and Ali Diamond, they were really able to handle Upper Dublin’s pressure.
“Upper Dublin threw some different presses at us, some different fullcourt pressure, and the three of them really handled the pressure very, very well. When we broke the press, the girls were just able to lob the ball to (Coscia), and she was able to finish against it.”
Dougherty lauded the play of Laurel Suchsland on the defensive end for the way she held Nicole Kaiser to four points. Fortescue and Ali Diamond held Josie Barrett and Maggie Weglos to a combined three points and Sarah Putsch came off the bench to provide a big spark of energy by deflecting passes into PW steals.
“Lauren Coscia got into foul trouble, so Sarah Putsch had to come into the game, and she gave us a huge energy lift defensively,” Dougherty said.
Normally a team that loves to play in transition, PW was deliberate on offense Friday.
"We didn't want to be really pressured, so passing back and forth on the press was really important," Fortescue said. "It slowed us down but kept us under control at the same time."
Demi Balasa had a solid game for Upper Dublin, leading the team with 14 points and sinking four 3-point shots. She also had six rebounds and five assists. Freshman Jackie Vargas scored 10 and also had nine rebounds but spent much of the game battling foul trouble, sitting for more than half the second quarter and fouling out with 4:47 to go in the fourth. Kara Grebe chipped in with six points and four boards.
“It was a pick-your-poison type thing,” Dougherty said. “Demi Balasa was shooting the ball very well for them, so we had to adjust to that.
“We really, really tried to focus on shutting down Nicole Kaiser and Josie Barrett. I think it took Upper Dublin a little out of their game. They’re used to getting the ball to those two girls, and Laurel Suchsland and Ali Diamond were guarding them, and they just did a tremendous job.”
Upper Dublin kept it close into the second quarter, then O'Brien made a big play when she threw a cross-court pass to Diamond, wide open in the far corner. Diamond sank the 3-pointer to put PW up 19-12 and the Colonials took off.
"We've been a team for three years," O'Brien said. "Working with these girls through the seasons, you get to know where everyone is at all times on the court so you can all make easy passes."
Dougherty felt like the defense really stepped up after Diamond's shot. PW only hit two 3s, the second one came from Fortescue and was a few feet behind the line in the third quarter. The junior hit another big shot a few minutes later to put the Colonials ahead by double-digits and in position to close it out.
While her coach doesn't consider her a new kid, Fortescue is still getting integrated into the Colonials' system. She has to remind the coaches she's comfortable as a shooter and is still picking up the finer points of PW's numerous defenses.
"It was hard at first, but I did know some of the girls from playing together growing up," Fortescue said. "They just made me feel so comfortable and it's been great being able to work with them. It's awesome to see how they work together."
The word of the week for PW was "execute" and that's what they did down the stretch. They broke Upper Dublin's press, they continued to play defense and they closed out just Upper Dublin's third conference loss in four years. Dougherty owns one of those other losses too, but cautioned it’s far too early for his team to take too much out of this win.
"We have to remind the kids it's the fifth game of the season," Dougherty said. "We still have huge hurdles. We still have never won at Upper Dublin, we have never won at Cheltenham. We don't know anything about Hatboro-Horsham or Quakertown yet so it's just one game at a time."
Upper Dublin (3-2, 1-1 SOL) hosts its Cardinal Classic on the 28th and 29th and Plymouth-Whitemarsh (5-0, 3-0) hosts its own holiday break tournament on the same days next week.
EXTRA SHOTS: PW’s win broke a 30-game UD conference winning streak, dating back to Feb. 4, 2014, when the Colonials defeated the Cardinals 36-35. Heading into Friday’s game, Upper Dublin was 55-2 in conference play under coach Morgan Funsten. “We had two great days of preparation, and the girls came out from the tip ready to play against them tonight,” Dougherty said. “We have such tremendous respect for them. It’s a rivalry for the girls. Yesterday when we were trying to talk about every different play they run, we spent an hour-and-a-half on just their man offense. That’s how good they are. You can’t take any plays off, and the girls knew it. The last couple of years, we’ve been there for a quarter or two, but then we’d make a mistake, and our heads would start to hang. This year, they didn’t crack under the pressure. I was telling the girls – ‘You just have to win more possessions than they do. They’re going to make shots, they’re going to steal the ball sometimes, and they’re going to get offensive rebounds. We’re going to have to just roll with it and keep playing. The girls did an awesome job of it tonight.”….Fortescue, Diamond and Suchsand all played the entire game. “They played just glue man defense the entire game,” Dougherty said.
UPPER DUBLIN 10 4 11 12 – 37
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 14 7 12 17 – 50
Upper Dublin: Demi Balasa 14, Jackie Vargas 10, Kara Grebe 6, Nicole Kaiser 4, Josie Barrett 3. Maggie Weglos 0, Meghan Barbera 0, Becky Browndorf 0.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Lauren Fortescue 16, Taylor O'Brien 13, Lauren Coscia 14, Ali Diamond 7, Laurel Suchsland 0, Sarah Putsch 0
3-pointers: UD – Balasa 4, Barrett; PW – Diamond, Fortescue
HATBORO-HORSHAM 40, WISSAHICKON 31
Bergen Sims scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds to lead the Hatters to the come-from-behind win on Friday.
The Hatters found themselves staring at an 11-5 deficit after one quarter but threw some defense at the Trojans in the second quarter, limiting their visitors to just one point. They took a tenuous 13-12 lead into halftime.
“They only had two field goals in the first half – all the rest were free throws,” Wissahickon coach Rodney Cline said.
The Hatters outscored the Trojans 14-8 in the third quarter to go on top 27-20 and edged their visitors 13-11 in the final quarter.
“We don’t know how to win yet,” Cline said. “We don’t have the poise and patience we need, and we get away from what we do.
“Our defense creates turnovers, but sometimes we don’t have enough patience to run our stuff. At the very beginning, we were poised and patient, but in the second quarter, we weren’t poised and patient. They knocked down a couple of shots, and the momentum swung that way. We have to learn how to settle, learn when to take a shot and when not to take a shot. We’re close, but we’re not there yet.”
Also for the Hatters, Lexie Brett scored nine points, Kylie Halko had eight and Julia Thornton added six points.
Wissahickon was led by Brianna Tilghman’s nine-point effort. Sydney Ott and Julianne Griffin each added seven points.
Hatboro-Horsham (4-4, 3-1 SOL) will compete in the Boardwalk Classic at Wildwood, and Wissahickon (1-4, 0-3) will play in the Upper Merion Holiday Tournament on Tuesday, taking on Council Rock South at 5 p.m.
WISSAHICKON 11 1 8 11 – 31
HATBORO-HORSHAM 5 8 14 13 – 40
Wissahickon: Brianna Tilghman 9, Lexi Carradorini 4, Sydney Ott 7, Julianne Griffin 7, Victoria Selverian 2, Carly Fadel 2.
Hatboro-Horsham: Bergen Sims 14, Julia Thornton 6, Katie Fisher 1, Kylie Halko 8, Nikki Williams 2, Lexie Brett 9.
CHELTENHAM 42, QUAKERTOWN 34
Mia Leonard and Danielle Brown dominated play in the paint. Both finished with impressive double-doubles. Leonard had a game-high 13 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Danielle Brown added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Caitlin Wallace once again contributed scoring from the outside, burying a pair of three-pointers and finishing with 10 points.
The Lady Panthers led 11-6 after one quarter and took a 19-11 lead into halftime. Quakertown played them even in the second half but never could make up the ground it lost.
Maggie Garlick led Quakertown with eight points. Caitlin Rosenberger added seven, and Jill Martin had six.
Cheltenham (4-3, 3-0 SOL) will host Northeast High School on Thursday, and Quakertown (1-4, 0-2) will compete in the William Tennent Tournament.
CHELTENHAM 11 8 12 11 – 42
QUAKERTOWN 6 5 10 13 – 34
Cheltenham: Mia Leonard 13, Caitlin Wallace 10, Taylor Johnson 2, Danielle Brown 12, Kai Williams 1, Nashira Brown 4.
Quakertown: Sam Howard 2, Maggie Garlick 8, Marina Cooke 10, Caitlin Rosenberger 7, Jill Martin 6, R Best 1.
Non-league
NORTH PENN 50, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 24
Jess Huber had a monster first half for the Knights, scoring seven points in both the first and second quarters and propelling the Knights to a commanding 31-15 halftime lead.
“Jess Huber really had a terrific first half,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “She scored all of her points in the first half despite getting two fouls early in the half.
“We had taken her out and put her back in, and she didn’t pick up her third until late in the second half.”
The Knights, who led 14-9 after one quarter, blew the game wide open with a 17-6 second quarter tear. The Crusaders never threatened.
Bri Hewlett also had a big game for the Knights, sharing game scoring honors with Huber with 14 points. Hewlett had five points in the first quarter, teaming with Huber to ignite the Knights.
“Bri Hewlett had another solid game for us,” deMarteleire said.
Mia Melchior had nine points, five – which included a trey – in the second quarter.
“Sam Carangi was very, very unselfish distributing the ball,” said deMarteleire.
North Penn (5-1, 1-1 SOL) is off until Tuesday, Jan. 3, when they will travel to Souderton.
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 9 6 2 7 – 24
NORTH PENN 14 17 7 12 – 50
Lansdale Catholic: Megan Maloney 2, Julia Eckroth 2, Carolyn Ferko 1, Lauren Crum 8, Brady Wassel 6, Maile Erwin 2, Emily Smith 3.
North Penn: Irisa Ye 7, Jess Huber 14, Sam Carangi 2, Kate Early 4, Mia Melchior 9, Bri Hewlett 14.
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