Check out the results for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Thursday.
National Conference
HARRY S TRUMAN 53, PENNSBURY 37
Sabria Lytes turned in a monster performance for the Tigers, finishing with a double-double that included 25 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots. Daeja Moore was one steal shy of an unusual double-double, scoring 13 points and collecting nine steals. She also had five rebounds and three assists.
The Tigers led by just one after one quarter but took a 29-19 lead over the Falcons into halftime. They led 48-30 heading into the final frame.
Although his team came up short, coach Frank Sciolla – whose team has had a rash of late-season injuries – believes his team may have found its identity.
“I had a feeling tonight I’m not sure I’ve ever had in coaching in terms of being proud of the group that I’m with,” the Falcons’ first-year coach said. “I tried to separate that from – am I feeling this way because it’s new? Am I feeling this way because I have a different instinct because of the gender? What is it?
“A couple of nights ago, we lost Kate Mix, and then we played Rock (North) great the next night without her. We also lost Cami Wiegand, who broke her finger. Tonight another girl hurt her knee, and then another girl got hurt. I looked out on the floor, and we were down four starters since the first day of the season, and we weren’t deep as it was.
“We had all these jayvee girls out there, and they were playing so hard. I just felt really, really good. I was looking all year long for this moment – have we turned the corner as a program and what is our identity. I think our identity is going to be that we just don’t quit, and we’ve never rolled over.”
And for a young Falcon squad, the effort is more important than the outcome.
“Kate can’t play tonight, so there’s your main ball handler,” Sciolla said. “Cami Wiegand has been really consistent shooter for us, and she’s hurt. Syd Buell is another key for us, and she’s in foul trouble. You’ve got basically all freshmen and sophomores on the floor. Truman is physical, and they’re pressing to the wire, and they can’t shake us.
“I thought the same thing against Rock (North) the other night. They beat us by 40 the first time, and we’re playing without Kate Mix, who really makes us go in terms of her ability to handle the ball. I just felt great for the kids and super proud of how they’re competing and really, really positive about where we’re going down the road.”
Freshman Mary Miller led the Falcons with 15 points, which included a 5-for-6 effort at the foul line. Sophomore Skyler Sulby added 10 points, and junior Sydney Buell had nine.
Harry S Truman (13-8, 4-7 SOL) will close out conference play at Council Rock North on Tuesday, and Pennsbury (7-12, 2-9) will finish out its conference season at Bensalem Tuesday.
Pennsbury 9-10-11-7 37
Harry S Truman 10-19-19-5 53
Pennsbury (37) – Sydney Buell 9, Mary Miller 15, Skyler Sulby 10, Meredith Webber 1, Sammy Hackman 2.
Harry S Truman (53) – Daeja Moore 13, Daisha Campbell 1, Jayda Campbell 8, Briana Cliney 2, Alexis McCoy 4, Sabria Lytes 25.
NESHAMINY 57, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 32
The Redskins, who led by just a 6-5 score after one quarter, blew the game open with a 21-8 second quarter to go into halftime with a 27-13 lead. The ‘Skins – in their final conference game – limited the Golden Hawks to single digits in each of the first three quarters before they put 14 on the board in the fourth.
“It was a better defensive effort tonight,” Neshaminy coach Joe Lally said. “(Rock South coach) Jason (Rapp) always is prepared, and his girls play hard.”
Allison Harvey had a double-double to lead the Redskins, finishing with 16 points –which included three 3-pointers – and 10 rebounds. She scored 12 in a productive first half that saw her bury 4-of-4 from the foul line.
Devon Storms also was in double figures with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds while Brooke Mullin added eight points and nine rebounds.
“We also got great play from sophomores Meghan Ansel and Hannah Stonkus and freshman Olivia Scotti and Kelli Kowalick,” Lally said.
Kasey Schlupp led the Golden Hawks with 12 points, and Allison McGowan had six.
The two teams combined for 47 trips to the foul line – the Redskins were 22-of-30 while the Golden Hawks connected on 11-of-17.
Neshaminy (15-5, 9-3 SOL) will host Chester in a non-league game on Wednesday, and Council Rock South (10-11 5-6) will host Abington on Tuesday.
Neshaminy 6-21-15-15 57
Council Rock South 5-8-5-14 32
Neshaminy (57) – Emily Tantala 1, Alex Ziegler 2, Hannah Stonkus 3, Emily Alexis 3, Olivia Scotti 1, Brooke Mullin 5, Kristin Curley 8, Meghan Ansel 4, Kelli Kowalick 4, Devon Storms 10, Allison Harvey 16.
Council Rock South (32) – Kasey Schlupp 12, Payton Spadaccino 4, Allison McGowan 6, Faith Turner 2, Bailey Vetter 4, Hannah Binder 2, Claudia Steinmetz 2.
ABINGTON 66, BENSALEM 15
Instead of going with the traditional Senior Night, the Ghosts celebrated ‘Lizzie Night’ in recognition of the team’s lone senior – Lizzie O’Leary. The Ghosts’ senior center scored 16 points to help lead the Ghosts to the big win.
O’Leary and Kassondra Brown dominated the paint as they combined for 33 points with Brown collecting a game-high 17 – 12 in a 29-point first quarter. Sam Brusha also finished the game in double figures with 14, which included three threes. She scored 12 of those points in the first quarter.
Tamia Wessels and Michaela Coyle both added six points.
Haley Keenan, Sydney Bawuah and Chloe Munyon each scored five points for the Owls.
Abington (16-4, 9-2 SOL) will be on the road at Council Rock South on Tuesday, and Bensalem (2-18, 0-11) will host Pottsgrove on Saturday.
Bensalem 6-0-1-8 15
Abington 29-12-20-5 66
Bensalem (15) – Haley Keenan 5, Sydney Bawuah 5, Chloe Munyon 5.
Abington (66) – Britney James 5, Camryn Lexow 2, Lizzie O’Leary 16, Tamia Wessels 6, Michaela Coyle 6, Kassondra Brown 17, Sam Brusha 14.
Continental Conference
NORTH PENN 59, PENNRIDGE 26
Jess Huber buried four 3-pointers in the opening quarter, scoring 14 of her team’s 15 points as the Knights opened up a 15-8 lead over their visitors. In the second quarter, Irisa Ye found her rhythm, connecting on a pair of threes and completing two three-point plays for 12 points. The Knights led 29-16 at the intermission on their way to a win that clinched a share of the conference title.
Ye finished with a career-high 24 points while Huber added 23. The dangerous duo combined for nine threes with Huber collecting four. Jess McKenzie added six points for the Knights, who were without Bri Hewlett. The junior guard played Tuesday night’s game despite battling a case of pneumonia.
Brooke Bachtle – who had a pair of 3-pointers – led the Rams with 10 points. Gillian Anderson added seven.
North Penn (18-2, 9-2 SOL) will close out the season at Central Bucks East on Tuesday.
“We have a very tough opponent, and we have two days to practice,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said.
Pennridge (6-16, 1-11) saw its regular season end on Thursday.
“Probably the last three or four games we’ve had some really close quarters where we have hung with some of these better teams,” first-year coach Mike Elton said. “They’re not able to sustain it yet.
“They get a turnover, and (the other team) gets a basket, and it’s almost like, ‘Here we go again,’ but they fought through the whole game. They didn’t give up at all.”
Pennridge 8-8-3-7 26
North Penn 15-14-21-9 59
Pennridge (26) – Samantha Murreda 1 0-0 3; Brooke Bachtle 3 2-2 10; Rose McCormick 1 0-0 2; Gillian Anderson 3 1-2 7; Emilee Cramer 1 0-0 2; Corinn Mart 1 0-0 2; Totals 10 3-4 26.
North Penn (59) – Irisa Ye 8 4-4 24; Jess Huber 9 0-0 23; Jenny Hulmes 1 0-2 2; Sam Carangi 1 0-0 2; Jess McKenzie 2 2-4 6; Aarti Boghura 1 0-0 2; Totals 22 6-12 59.
SOUDERTON 47, WILLIAM TENNENT 25
Ten players contributed scoring for the Indians in Thursday’s win at Tennent. Junior Kate Connolly led a balanced attack with 13 points while Megan Walbrandt added nine and Alana Cardona, eight points.
Behind eight points from Connolly, the Indians led 16-2 after one quarter. In the second quarter, they got their perimeter game untracked, outscoring their hosts 15-4 to go into halftime with a 31-6 lead. In the quarter, the Indians buried five threes – two by Walbrandt and one each from Curran O’Donnel, Sami Falencki and Megan O’Donnell.
For the Panthers, Emma Stanfield led the way with 11 points – eight in the second half. Kyla Gibson added six points.
Souderton (16-4, 8-3 SOL) will travel to Methacton on Saturday for a non-league game. William Tennent (6-15, 1-10) will close out its season at Central Bucks West on Tuesday.
Souderton 16-15-6-10 47
William Tennent 2-4-7-12 25
Souderton (47) – Tori Dowd 2, Alana Cardona 8, Megan Walbrandt 9, Erica Stephens 2, Liz O’Hara 2, Curran O’Donnell 3, Sami Falencki 3, Megan O’Donnell 3, Kate Connolly 13, Cara Romaniello 2.
William Tennent (25) – Kyla Gibson 6, Emma Stanfield 11, Bryn Evans 1, Jess Rutkowsky 3, Brianna Broccardi 2, Paige Schmidt 2.
American Conference
CHELTENHAM 47, HATBORO-HORSHAM 38
The Lady Panthers, who led 17-10 after one quarter, took a nine-point lead into halftime only to watch the Hatters pull to within two in the third quarter. They closed out the game with a 15-7 fourth quarter to earn the big win.
“We got off to a really good start, and we shot the ball really well,” coach Brendan Nolan said. “We’ve been saying the guards have to loosen things up for the bigs, and we did that.
“We were really balanced scoring tonight, which was nice. Hatboro made some adjustments at halftime and made a little run on us in the third quarter. It got down to two points at one point. Courtney Murray and Caitlin Wallace each hit a three early in the fourth quarter that kind of got the ball back rolling in our favor, and we got stops at the end.
“They shot more threes than twos, so they really tried to spread us out. We kind of got caught helping on penetration and leaving shooters open. I kept telling the girls, ‘Stay on the shooters. If they’re going to penetrate, let Mia (Leonard) deal with them at the basket, but don’t leave shooters open at the three-point line. That’s a hard thing to do when you’re taught defensively to protect the basket. We kind of readjusted and got the hang of it in the fourth quarter.”
Wallace had another big game from the outside, burying four threes and finishing with a team-high 15 points. She also had four assists. Leonard finished the night with 14 points, 20 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
“She is just such a presence in there defensively, and offensively, she’s drawing so much attention, and she still scored 14 points,” Nolan said. “She had 12 of her 14 in the first half, and they were really trying to take her away in the second half, and the guards just found themselves open, and Caitlin Wallace continues to fill it up. She had four threes – one in each quarter, and Courtney Murray had two threes.
“We’re starting to be this team that I really thought we could be at the beginning of the year. It’s just taken a little time, but it’s nice to see balanced scoring.”
Murray finished with nine points, and Nashira Brown added seven points and six rebounds.
“Nashira Brown had a big play in the fourth quarter when it was really close,” Nolan said. “We fed it to her in the post, and they double teamed her, and she went up and scored, got fouled and made the free throw.
“That gave us a little breathing room. It was a big play for her, and I’m happy for her to make a big play like that because she had a tough time on Tuesday night (against PW). It was her birthday tonight, so that made it even sweeter.”
The Hatters connected on three 3-pointers in their 13-point third quarter – two by Julia Thornton. Bergen Sims led the Hatters with 15 points, which included three 3-pointers. Thornton added 13 and also had three threes. Lexie Brett had five rebounds to go along with four points, and Cam Ryan led the defense with five steals.
Cheltenham (12-9, 8-5 SOL) will host Upper Dublin on Tuesday, and Hatboro-Horsham (8-14, 6-8) will host Springfield Township on Tuesday.
Hatboro-Horsham 10-8-13-7 38
Cheltenham 17-10-5-15 47
Hatboro-Horsham (38) – Bergen Sims 15, Julia Thornton 13, Kylie Halko 4, Lexie Brett 4, Cam Ryan 2.
Cheltenham (47) – Mia Leonard 14, Caitlin Wallace 15, Courtney Murray 9, Danielle Brown 2, Nashira Brown 7.
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