Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Thursday. CR South/Wissahickon photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Freedom Division
WILLIAM TENNENT 44, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 28
There are bounce-back wins and then there’s the Panthers’ 44-point uprising in Thursday’s win over the Spartans after managing just 13 points in a loss to New Hope-Solebury two days earlier.
“We needed this after Tuesday,” Tennent coach Laura Whitney said. “It was definitely a good bounce-back win because Tuesday’s performance was definitely disappointing.
“Obviously, it was our first game and their third game – that’s certainly not an excuse. They were clearly the better team on Tuesday. They’re a great team, they’re coached well, and they play smart. On Tuesday, we came out with no energy. We didn’t have a field goal in the first half – we had some looks, but we didn’t finish. It was a struggle, so to come out the way that we did tonight – I was just proud of the girls.”
The Panthers – behind six points from Courtney Bragen – led 9-2 after one quarter and stretched that to 22-10 by halftime. Bragen accounted for nine of those points, and Chase Dubzak had four.
“It was definitely a bit ugly at times, and I attribute that to – we’re a young team, and there were times when we had three freshmen on the floor at once and girls that had very little varsity experience,” Whitney said. “I think the key was we came out early and got after them, put pressure on them in the half court and got some fast break points just to get ourselves into the game, give us a little bit of that confidence.
“In the second quarter, we started moving the ball a little bit better, getting some good looks.”
Sparked by 10 points from senior Maddie Yoder, the Spartans outscored their hosts 13-6 in the third quarter to pull to within 28-23 heading into the final frame.
“In the third quarter, we struggled,” Whitney said. “I don’t know if it was that we were tired and just relaxed a little bit because we had a nice 12-point lead at halftime. We played a little bit too casual, we were a little careless with the ball and had poor shot selection on offense.
“Give Springfield credit – they’re a great team. They play hard, and that third quarter we were doing everything possible to give the game back to them. Springfield showed a lot of toughness, and they kind of outworked us in the third quarter, so going into the fourth quarter, we were only up five.”
The Panthers regained control in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Spartans 16-5. Ten of those points came at the foul line. Kailyn Hansen had the other six.
“We started to take control of the game better with our pressure, looking for good shots on offense,” Whitney said. “Kailyn Hansen had three clutch baskets in the third quarter. Courtney (Bragen) is a beast just with getting offensive rebounds, giving us second chance opportunities. Chase Dubzak hit some big free throws down the stretch to kind of seal the game. When we needed to make baskets and plays at the end, we finished our shots, we made free throws when we needed to, so all around. I was just proud of the resiliency our girls showed.
“It was a great win. We have Upper Moreland tomorrow. They’re going to be another tough team, so it never gets easier.”
Bragen’s 16-point effort led the Panthers. Dubzak added eight points and Hansen seven.
Yoder’s 16 points led the Spartans.
William Tennent (1-1 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland on Friday, and Springfield Township (0-3, 0-2) will host Lower Moreland Friday.
Springfield Twp 2-8-13-5 28
William Tennent 9-13-6-16 44
Springfield Twp (28) – Annie Coll 0 1-2 1; Raya Davis 1 0-0 2; Alan Decker 1 0-3 3; Maddie Yoder 7 2-7 16; Allison Briggs 2 0-0 4; Paige Robinson 1 0-0 2; Emma Cawley 0 0-2 0; TOTALS 12 3-14 28.
William Tennent (44) – Kailyn Hansen 3 1-3 7; Olivia Kaczmarek 2 0-0 4; Emily Thran 1 2-4 4; Courtney Bragen 5 6-10 16; Chase Dubzak 1 5-9 8; Alyssa Lewick 0 2-2 2; Ella Mednick 1 0-0 2; Savannah Zeaman 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 13 17-28 44.
3-point goals: Springfield – Anna Decker, WT – Chase Dubzak.
SOL Patriot Division
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 34, NESHAMINY 26
Defense was the story of a game that saw the Indians limit their visitors to just five points in the first half and 14 in three quarters.
“It was a very nice win,” Rock North coach Jim Roynan said. “Joe (Lally) does such a good job coaching those girls, and you have to prepare for so many things when they come at you.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time on the defensive end from the beginning of the season, just trying to get the girls to buy into the defensive philosophy that we’re trying to implement. I said to the girls at the end of the game, ‘That’s what happens when you get 100 percent buy-in from everybody on the team with what you’re doing.’”
Not to be overlooked in a contest that featured shutdown defense was the glittering 21-point effort of Jaden Wan, who also had double-digit rebounds. It was the sophomore standout’s third double-double of the season and came on the heels of an 18-point, 16-rebound effort in the Indians’ win over Harry S Truman and her 18 points and 12 boards in a loss to Council Rock South.
“We talk about it as coaches – we try not to take her for granted because she’s quiet, but she’s relentless,” Roynan said. “She just keeps going. I joke with our coaches – sometimes I think our best offense is Jaden’s offensive rebounding. She’s 5-9, not overly tall, but she just doesn’t stop.
“She’s not showy, she has no ego whatsoever, and she’s a great teammate. The girls love her. It’s just a pleasure to have her, and you can’t help but be happy for any success she has. She just plays hard the whole time, she doesn’t take any plays off. In our first two games, our Hudl stats had her playing 33 minutes a game in a 32-minute game. We’re trying to be cognizant of getting the right spots to take her out.”
The two teams were deadlocked 5-5 after one quarter, and the Indians took a 16-5 lead into the intermission.
“I told them at halftime – I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team that held a team as good as Neshaminy to five points in a half,” Roynan said. “That was just a phenomenal first half defensive effort.
“They have some very talented players. Their freshman, Reese (Zemitis), is a tremendous player, and you always have to know where she is, and Taylor (Gurysh) is such a nice player. They have a couple of role players – they just play so hard. Kacie (Sienko) is a senior, so they have a good mix of youth and skill and tenacity.
“We try to structure our defense where we’re forcing girls baseline, sideline, and we’re setting our help in the lane. It’s been an up and down result for us this year.”
The Redskins outscored the Indians by three in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a five-point first half.
“We spent a day and a half, two days really going over our defense, just getting everyone on the same page, understanding what we’re trying to do, understanding where we’re switching, understanding where we’re not switching,” Roynan said. “Tonight they got it. It was really nice to see them all working together, talking together, helping each other and getting an idea what we can be as a defensive team. The nice thing was – after the game, they were all really ecstatic about the defense. It was a fun game, it was a rewarding game, and I was just proud of the way they bought in tonight.”
For the Redskins, sophomore Taylor Gurysh (11) and freshman Reese Zemitis (10 points) accounted for all but five of their team’s points.
Council Rock North (2-1 SOL) will be on the road at Pennsbury on Tuesday, and Neshaminy (2-2, 2-1) will host Bensalem on Tuesday.
Neshaminy 5-0-9-12 26
Council Rock North 5-11-10-8 34
Neshaminy (26) – Kacie Sienko 0 2-2 2; Skylar Lall 1 0-0 2; Taylor Gurysh 5 1-2 11; Maya Lewis 0 1-2 1; Reese Zemitis 4 1-4 10; TOTALS 10 5-10 26.
Council Rock North (34) – Kiera Katz 1 0-0 2; Delaney McCaffery 0 2-2 2; Riley Hamilton 1 0-0 2; Erica Martin 1 0-0 2; Kristen Polinsky 2 1-2 5 Jaden Wan 9 3-3 21; TOTALS 14 6-7 34.
3-point goals: Neshaminy – Reese Zemitis.
Non-league
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 54, WISSAHICKON 46
The visiting Golden Hawks – sparked by the stellar 24-point effort of Nicole Blaustein – closed out a tightly contested game with clutch plays down the stretch to earn the hard fought non-league win.
“We battled and played really tough down the stretch defensively and closed the game out,” Rock South coach Blair Klumpp said. “We did some things well in our loss versus Pennsbury (Tuesday) – we only had seven turnovers, we had a high number of assists, they took advantage of some good opportunities.
“We didn’t have our best practice Wednesday, but we talked about some positives and some things we need to improve on and the girls were solid tonight. We played better team defense. We played at a pace we are looking to play at and we executed down the stretch.”
In addition to scoring 24 points, Blaustein had three steals. Carley Irvin added six points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals.
“Our two seniors, Carley and Nicole, were rock solid tonight,” Klumpp said. “Both made plays down the stretch and hit foul shots.
“Nicole had a good offensive spurt with 13 in the second quarter. She came off a game versus Pennsbury with six assists where she showed an understanding of how she was being guarded and showed trust in her teammates. Carley was very aggressive tonight and dictated our tempo. She was fantastic on defensive rotation and communicated well.”
The scored was knotted 12-12 after one quarter, and the Golden Hawks – with Blaustein the catalyst – outscored their hosts 19-13 in the second to go into halftime with a 31-25 lead. They still led by six heading into the final quarter.
“We didn’t want to let Blaustein get going,” Wissahickon coach Rodney Cline said. “We let her go, and she hit back-to-back three’s – she got hot in the second quarter.
“We were down by seven, down by nine, and we went on a little run – Lily Hyatt got hot and hit back-to-back jump shots. Kaitlyn McGeary couldn’t be stopped all night. They wind up going into a zone to neutralize her late in the game. Lily hit a three and we were down by one with two minutes to go, 55-54. They shot a quick shot, and we came down and turned the ball over. The story was turnovers for us. We turned the ball over at crucial time, and that deflates you. We had to foul, and they knocked down a couple of free throws.”
Also for the Golden Hawks, Karissa Smedly contributed eight points, nine rebounds, two assists and four steals. Mia Stock had six points, five rebounds and two steals, and Jess Mangoni had four points and five rebounds. Kim Speiser had two assists.
“We played 11 girls meaningful minutes, and they all contributed tonight to the win,” Klumpp said. “It was a true team effort. Karissa (Smedley) was fantastic all around and impacted the game in every area. (Mia) Stock had her best game and was able to stay out of foul trouble and that helped her.
“We talked about that as a whole, cleaning that up, and it was better tonight. I thought Mia (Stock), Jess (Mangoni), and Ryann (Szydlik) all made their best players work really hard. (Kaitlyn) McGeary killed us last year, she had a double double tonight (19 points/13 rebounds), but it was well earned tonight.”
Klumpp acknowledged performances that don’t show up in the box score.
“We talked about impacting the game in other ways when you can’t score and we had a lot of girls do that tonight,” the Hawks’ coach said. “I thought Kim (Speiser), Ryann (Szydlik), Lily (Bross) and Katie (Purpura) all gave us good minutes on the defensive end and were active.
“Cam (Gregory), Jess (Mangoni) and Montanna (Chambers) all got good looks within our offense as well. We talked about buying into a role. Tonight we played 11 girls in a game that was tight throughout. For whatever reason, any time we play (at Wissahickon) it’s always a grind-it-out type game and close. Rodney (Cline) does a really good job having his group play hard. Our girls really battled, and I am proud of their toughness and how we controlled our emotions through the up and down flow of the game. We earned this one tonight and we have a short turnaround with Bensalem tomorrow.”
For the Trojans, McGeary led the way with 19 points while Hyatt had 12.
“We got sped up a little bit tonight,” Cline said. “I give credit to them – they sped us up. Besides Blaustein, they have a better supporting cast than they’ve had. I thought they played well. I have to give them credit.
“It was close, and once again it came down to crucial mistakes at the end, but we played four quarters. It’s the first time we played all four quarters.”
Council Rock South (2-2, 1-2 SOL) will host Bensalem on Friday, and Wissahickon (1-3, 0-1) will travel to Upper Dublin Friday.
Council Rock South 12-19-10-13 54
Wissahickon 12-13-10-11 46
Council Rock South (54) Montanna Chambers 1 1-2 3; Cam Gregory 1 0-0 3; Nicole Blaustein 9 3-5 24; Carley Irvin 2 2-3 6; Mia Stock 2 1-3 6; Karissa Smedley 4 0-0 8; Jess Mangoni 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 21 7-13 54.
Wissahickon (46) – Lily Hyatt 5 0-0 12; Leah Dubin 3 1-2 7; Kylie Friedman 1 3-5 6; Emlyn Ebert 0 2-2 2; Kaitlyn McGeary 9 1-2 19; TOTALS 18 7-11 46.
3-point goals: CRS – Nicole Blaustein 3, Cam Gregory, Mia Stock, Wissahickon – Lily Hyatt 2.
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