Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Thursday.
SOL American Conference
UPPER DUBLIN 66, ABINGTON 61 (OT)
Morgan Funsten nodded in the direction of Kara Grebe.
“She’s our leader this year,” the Upper Dublin coach said of his junior co-captain.
Grebe certainly filled that role magnificently on Thursday night. The junior forward – despite being saddled with fouls – put the team on her shoulders in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points to spearhead the most remarkable of all comebacks for a UD squad that erased a 23-point deficit in the final seven minutes of regulation and went on to win in overtime.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Funsten said, shaking his head. “I told the girls in one (timeout) huddle, ‘Girls, we were just down 94 points, and now it’s almost a game.’
“Just the balanced effort we got. I thought the girls out on the floor were cooked after the third quarter. I thought to myself, ‘If we are going to pressure them, how are we going to have any energy to do anything?’ I don’t know where they found it, but it was pretty magical. This was a pretty magical game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
The amazing win came five days after the Cardinals were humbled by PIAA 5A state runner-up Archbishop Wood, 57-34.
“We were embarrassed – that’s the best word to use to describe our game against Wood on Saturday,” Funsten said. “We were embarrassed how we played for three quarters tonight. We’re looking for leadership on the team this year.
“Kara Grebe – it’s the first time I’ve ever had a junior as a captain. She and (senior) Meg Barbera are our captains. That’s what you hope your captains do.”
The Flying Cardinals trailed 50-27 after Abington’s Cam Lexow turned a steal into a layup to open the fourth quarter. It was certainly the final nail in UD’s coffin, but Grebe and company – well, they didn’t see it that way.
“We started pressing, and the pressing really got in their heads,” the junior captain said. “The fourth quarter was crazy. We turned it on.
“We were so positive throughout the whole game. It was definitely frustrating, but we did try to stay positive. It started to click. It was incredible. I was patting people on the back, I was yelling in people’s faces. I was just saying, ‘Let’s go’ because we needed to turn it on. It was insane.”
The comeback began innocently enough with a pair of 3-pointers – the first by Dayna Balasa and the second by Grebe – sandwiched around a Ghost turnover. Khalis Whiting answered with a basket for the Ghosts, but Jess Polin buried a three-pointer and followed that with a deuce. Another Grebe three made it a 52-41 game midway through the final quarter.
Whiting – who fouled out with 3:10 remaining in regulation – interrupted the Cardinals 14-2 run with a basket at the 3:47 mark, prompting a timeout by Abington coach Dan Marsh with his team on top 54-41 and still seemingly in command. After a Balasa basket, the teams exchanged empty possessions before Grebe found Jackie Vargas for an easy bucket, trimming the once-comfortable 23-point lead to nine. After an Abington miss, Grebe buried both ends of a one-and-one. The Cardinals forced a jump ball and regained possession. Sarah Eskew scored on a drive, and suddenly, it was a 54-49 game with 1:21 remaining.
The Ghosts misfired on the front end of a one-and-one, and Grebe – who was fouled on a putback attempt – sank both free throws to pull her team to within three with 23 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock. Eskew came up with a steal and found Balasa for an easy bucket, and with 15 seconds remaining, the Cardinals trailed by just one.
“Ideally, we don’t have to pressure them to win a game like this,” Funsten said. “That’s not necessarily a strength of ours, but when you pressure a team who doesn’t know if they should be aggressive or if they should slow things down, a lot of times you get them to make bad decisions, and you could see with every play in the fourth quarter our girls’ confidence growing and them questioning themselves.”
With 12.5 seconds remaining, Tamia Wessels sank the front end of a one-and-one to put the Ghosts on top by two. A Cardinal three-pointer for the win fell short, but Grebe was there for the putback at the buzzer, knotting the score.
“Just the intensity and our heart – we just kept going,” Polin said. “We didn’t give up. We knew what to expect coming into this game.
“I know it didn’t show in the first three quarters, but in the fourth quarter, we just picked up the intensity and just had a lot of heart. We didn’t want to lose. We went over their plays in practice, so we knew what they were running. We just talked to each other and it was successful.”
In overtime, Vargas and Brown exchanged baskets. The Ghosts misfired on a pair at the foul line, and Barbera gave the Cardinals a lead they would not lose when she sank one-of-two at the foul line with 1:44 remaining. Vargas sank a pair at the foul line, and after Brown scored to pull the Ghosts to within one, Polin sank a pair at the charity stripe.
The Flying Cardinals won it at the foul line. Vargas had six of her 14 points in OT. She was 4-for-4 at the foul line. Polin – who won last year’s state semifinal in the closing seconds at the foul line – connected on 4-of-4 in the overtime period.
“Free points – honestly, I don’t think about anything,” said Polin of her mindset shooting foul shots with the game on the line. “I shoot them everyday at practice. I just block everything out, and I just shoot it.”
The Cardinals were a near-perfect 9-for-10 at the line in overtime and 13-of-15 in the fourth quarter and OT combined.
“I think they feed off Jess Polin – she’s so confident when she steps up there, she’s so calm,” Funsten said. “We need her to lead us on the court with good decisions, and I think shooting foul shots calmly is a contagious thing.”
After Lexow’s basket to open the fourth quarter, the Ghosts were outscored 39-11, leaving coach Dan Marsh with a whole lot of questions.
“I don’t know what to think, I don’t know what to feel,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “We played tremendous, and we absolutely fell apart, just fell apart.
“I knew what they were going to do. We were up 20, and I knew they were going to scramble. All we had to do was spread the floor and pass, but for some reason, we just couldn’t. We couldn’t dribble, we missed free throws. Every bounce went their way.”
Grebe’s 20 points – 14 in the second half – led the Flying Cardinals.
“She was voted a captain because of the type of teammate she was,” Funsten said. “A lot of the attention was on our starters last year, but she was a key bench player.
“She didn’t always get the minutes she wanted, but her positive attitude is what her teammates recognized and why they voted her captain.”
Grebe and Vargas weren’t the only ones to come up big for the Cardinals. Polin finished with 12 – nine in the fourth quarter and OT. Balasa had 10 – seven in the pivotal fourth quarter. Eskew added seven.
“Especially coming after the Wood game when we were very low in confidence – this (win) was huge,” Polin said. “Coming into this game, I knew I had forget about that (game), forget about that. It won’t help me if I’m thinking about that. Just having a clean slate coming into this, it really helped us, especially in the fourth quarter.”
“This is huge,” Funsten said. “We talked to the girls – we still think we have a lot of work to do.
“The fourth quarter effort was incredible. Confidence-wise, it’s huge. You feel for these girls coming in with the weight of the state championship. Certain people – at least at Upper Dublin – expect us to win the league, win the district and win the state. It’s not as easy as it sounds. We didn’t go through the state playoffs last year beating teams by 30. We grinded games out, and we showed a ton of heart and we got great leadership.”
Brown shared game scoring honors with Grebe with 20 points. Whiting and Lexow both added 12 points. Lexow also had six steals. Wessels contributed 11 points, and Miranda Liebtag had eight.
Upper Dublin (5-1, 3-0 SOL) will take on Springside Chestnut Hill in an opening round game of its own Cardinal Classic on Dec. 28, 7 p.m. There will be a state championship banner ceremony at halftime of the game. Abington will compete in the O’Hara Christmas Tournament on Dec. 28.
EXTRA SHOTS: The loss overshadowed a historic night for senior Kassondra Brown, who reached the 1,000-point milestone when she completed a three-point play after burying a foul shot at the 4:44 mark of the opening period. “Kassondra has worked really hard,” Marsh said. “She’s been a beast. After her freshman year where she didn’t play as much as she wanted to, she came in, and she’s been a dominant force ever since.”
Upper Dublin 12-9-6-28-11 66
Abington 14-17-17-7-6 61
Upper Dublin (66) – Bliss Brenner 2, Meg Barbera 1, Jess Polin 12, Kara Grebe 20, Sarah Eskew 7, Dayna Balasa 10, Jackie Vargas 14.
Abington (61) – Tamia Wessels 11, Cam Lexow 12, Kassondra Brown 20, Miranda Liebtag 6, Khalis Whiting 12.
WISSAHICKON 56, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 31
The Trojans trailed by one at the end of the first quarter (9-8) but responded with a 20-8 second-quarter burst to go into halftime with a 28-17 lead. They outscored the Spartans 49-22 over the final three quarters.
“I think sometimes when you understand that your program is a little more developed than the other, sometimes we tend to not play our game,” coach Rodney Cline said. “They came out ready to play. We did too, but we tried to force the issue a little bit instead of letting the game come to us.
“Finally, we just started to play our game. Our identity is our defense, and we rewarded ourselves with high percentage shots and getting out in transition.”
Anna Schools’ 20-point effort led all scorers.
“Anna Schools got hot tonight – she hit four or five back-to-back jumpers in a row at the same spot,” Cline said. “Bri (Tilghman) had the ball in her hands, and she’s the key to our car. She’s first team all-league the past two years, and you have to watch out for her. She’s an all-around player. Defensively, offensively, her IQ is high. She gets things, she anticipates well, and she gets other players involved. She’s close to being a thousand-point scorer, but she still worries about the rest of her teammates and getting everyone else the ball. That just shows the maturation and type of player you want out there as your leader.
“She got Schools involved. I guess the eye was on Brianna, and when they collapsed on her, she gave the ball to somebody else, and they followed through. It was just a pleasure to watch our girls trust one another.”
Tilghman finished the game with nine points, and Lily Hyatt added 10. Victoria Williams had seven points.
Rileigh Serroni and Maddie Yoder led the Spartans with 10 points each.
Wissahickon (2-4, 1-2 SOL) is off until Jan. 4 when the Trojans will travel to Cheltenham, and Springfield Township (1-5, 0-3) will be on the road at Lansdale Catholic on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. non-league contest.
Wissahickon 8-20-17-11 56
Springfield Township9-8-9-5 31
Wissahickon (56) – Lily Hyatt 10, Anna Schools 21, Brianna Tilghman 9, Lauren Fadel 2, Kelly Prestipino 1, Rebecca Selverian 2, Victoria Williams 7, Kelly Dickson 2, Tessa Mountain 2.
Springfield Township (31) – Grace Barraclough 5, Raya Davis 1, Rileigh Serroni 10, Maddie Yoder 10, Emily Smith 5.
SOL Continental Conference
NORTH PENN 48, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 46
North Penn suffered through a rare down year last season, winning just two league games and finishing 7-15. The Knights are looking to turn things around this year, and they took a big step in the right direction Thursday night, eking out a win over the visiting Patriots.
“This is a huge win,” first-year coach Jen Carangi said. “We still are trying to figure out how to win. It’s almost like they don’t understand that winning is an attitude – when you go out on the floor, you expect you’re going to win, and you find a way to win even when your back’s pressed against the wall.
“I feel like tonight was that time where it could have been very easy for them to just revert back to what we’ve done before and relinquish the lead and when things aren’t going well on offense forget to play defense, but they played hard to end. I was thrilled for them.”
The Patriots led 16-14 after one quarter, but the Knights – behind five points from Val McGriff – outscored their visitors 12-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 26-25 lead. They took a 39-34 lead into the final quarter and then held off a hard-charging East squad.
“We would go up by five, they would come back and go up by five, we would go up by five,” Carangi said. “The start of the fourth quarter is when we made our run.
“In true North Penn fashion, we had to make it interesting.
“We missed five foul shots in the last two minutes. We could have put the game away, but we didn’t. Carley Adams finally hit one and put us up by two with six seconds left. They drove down, put a shot up, missed it, and we won.”
McGriff led the Knights with 16 points, and Millaly added 12, including a pair of 3-pointers. Alli Lindsay and Carley Adams both added six points.
“Alaina Mullaly was really key for us tonight,” Carangi said. “Besides scoring some big baskets, her decision making was great. She attacked when she should attack, she played great on defense.
“Also, when we really made our final run, Val McGriff, our post player, came up big for us. She was getting offensive rebounds, and she was 8-for-10 at the foul line in the game.”
The Knights’ coach is hoping Thursday’s win will boost her young team’s confidence.
“I kept talking to them – we’re not playing to not lose, we’re playing to win, and that has to be our attitude,” Carangi said. “There’s such fear after last year. They feel like no lead is safe. Really, it’s the mental part that we’re trying to get over, and I hope this is the first step in getting past that.”
For the Patriots, Skylar Krause led the way with 12 points, and Emily Chmiel added 11. Freshman Aubrey DeAngelis had seven points while Gabby Wilga and Caroline Pla had six each.
North Penn (2-2, 1-1 SOL) will host Governor Mifflin in a non-league game Saturday at 1 p.m., and Central Bucks East (2-4, 1-2) will take on Archmere Academy in an opening round game of the Garnet Valley Tournament on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Central Bucks East 16-9-9-12 46
North Penn 14-13-13-9 48
Central Bucks East (46) – Mia Salvati 4, Gabby Wilga 6, Caroline Pla 6, Emily Chmiel 11, Skylar Krause 12, Aubrey DeAngelis 7.
North Penn (48) – Cayla Sharkey 3, Laynie Doran 1, Alli Lindsay 6, Rachel Dunne 4, Alaina Mullaly 12, Carley Adams 6, Val McGriff 16.
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 36, BENSALEM 22
The Falcons threw some serious defense at the Owls, limiting them to just 11 points over the first three quarters. Pennsbury – which led 9-3 after one quarter – took a 21-7 lead into halftime. Ava Sciolla’s six points led a balanced attack.
Sciolla finished with a team-high 11 points, and Abbi Nassivera also finished in double figures with 10.
For the Owls, Chloe Munyon scored 12 points and Haley Keenan added six. The remainder of the Owls combined for just four points.
Pennsbury (4-2, 1-1 SOL) will face Oxford in Friday’s opening round of the Ridley Holiday Tournament at 3 p.m. Bensalem (4-2, 1-2) will compete in the Robert Hopf Memorial Basketball Tournament on Friday, Dec. 28.
Pennsbury 9-12-6-9 36
Bensalem 3-4-4-11 22
Pennsbury (36) – Abbi Nassivera 10, Bella Arcuri 2, Kate Mix 5, Mary Miller 4, Ava Sciolla 11, Cami Wiegand 4.
Bensalem (22) – Michaela Sit 2, Haley Keenan 6, Samantha Daut 2, Chloe Munyon 12.
NESHAMINY 84, HARRY S TRUMAN 36
The Redskins scored 28 points in the first quarter and added 23 more in the second on their way to a 51-19 halftime lead.
Brooke Mullin led the Redskins with 25 points, which included three 3-pointers. Allison Harvey (13 points) had three 3-pointers, and Kacie Sienko (12 points) also finished in double figures. Alexa McCoy added nine points while Kristin Curley and Alex Ziegler chipped in six points each.
For the Tigers, Daisha Campbell led the way with 19 points while Haniyyah Jones added 12. The rest of the team combined for just five points.
Neshaminy (7-0, 3-0 SOL) will compete in the Diamond City Classic at St. Elizabeth High School on Saturday, Dec. 29. Harry S Truman (2-5, 0-3) will compete in the Conwell-Egan Christmas Tournament on Friday, Dec. 28.
Harry S Truman 8-11-5-12 36
Neshaminy 28-23-14-19 84
Harry S Truman (36) – Haniyyah Jones 12, Daisha Campbell 19, Hannah Smith 3, Dahlia Gumaa 2.
Neshaminy (84) – Emily Tantala 4, Kacie Sienko 12, Brooke Mullin 25, Kristin Curley 6, Alexa McCoy 9, Alex Ziegler 6, Kelli Kowalick 2, Allison Harvey 13, Meghan Ansel 5, Mia Lewis 2.
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