Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ basketball teams in action Thursday. CB East/CB West photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Colonial
NORTH PENN 57, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 49
After coming oh so close to a conference win in their games against Souderton and Central Bucks West, the Knights – sparked by the 18-point effort of Abby Plaugher – won a close one, outscoring the Titans 34-26 in the second half to earn the big win.
Three North Penn players finished the game in double figures and a fourth had nine.
“Every single game has been a fourth quarter game,” North Penn coach Bri Cullen said. “Everything is coming down to the last five minutes, and tonight they finally got it together and figured it out.
“The key tonight was just keeping our composure and not letting one mistake become multiple mistakes. Tonight, players who have been a little bit drier (offensively) in the last couple games – Caleigh Sperling came up huge, and Olivia Stone came out and put it all together and had a standout game. Abby took a big step forward – she kept her composure when things started getting a little rocky.”
The two teams were deadlocked 23-23 at halftime. Taylor Hinkle’s seven points led the Titans, who saw four different players bury 3-pointers in the second quarter. Plougher had 10 points to lead the Knights.
In the third quarter, the Knights outscored the Titans 19-15. Olivia Stone and Cameron Crowley both had six points. Crowley, only a freshman, connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter.
“Cameron is taking massive leaps forward every single game,” Cullen said. “She’s finally getting her confidence, getting her footing and learning how to lead a team.
“The end of the third quarter is when things started to go our way. We like to play a fast-paced game, and we finally played our game and didn’t let another team dictate how we played.”
The Knights outscored the Titans 15-11 in the fourth quarter. Plougher and Sterling both had six points in the frame to seal the Titans’ fate and propel the Knights to their first division win.
“This was so important,” Cullen said of the win. “To lose four big ones in the last couple minutes of the game – it can really make or break a team. These girls work so hard, and I know they were starting to get in their heads about it, but they stepped up and didn’t take no as an answer.”
In addition to Plougher’s 18 points, Sperling had 14 – 11 in the second half, and Stone added 13 – eight after the intermission. Crowley contributed nine points.
“One big thing that has gone unnoticed is Kelly Donnelly’s defense,” Cullen said. “It’s something that has really been beneficial. She’s not necessarily standing out with her numbers, but all of her effort on defense is really helping us.”
For the Titans, Hinkle’s 16 points led the way. Alyssa D’Orazio added eight points, and Yoyo Samayoa had seven.
North Penn (2-4, 1-3 SOL) will take on Germantown Academy on Tuesday (5:15 p.m.) at Upper Dublin High School in the Cardinal Classic Invitational Tournament. Central Bucks South (3-3, 1-3) will face Downingtown East on Monday (1 p.m.) in the Garnet Valley Holiday Tournament.
North Penn 9-14-19-15 57
Central Bucks South 10-13-15-11 49
North Penn (57) – Caleigh Sperling 4 5-8 14; Cameron Crowley 3 1-2 9; Abby Plaugher 7 1-3 18; Kelly Donnelly 1 0-1 3; Olivia Stone 5 2-2 13; TOTALS 20 9-16 57.
Central Bucks South (49) – Taylor Hinkle 7 0-1 16; Alyssa D’Orazio 3 0-0 8; Mackenzie Erb 2 0-0 5; Maddie Tantum 1 3-4 5; Samantha Schiesser 2 0-0 5; Allison Sauers 1 1-4 3; Yoyo Samayoa 3 0-0 7; TOTALS 19 4-9 49.
3-point goals: NP – Abby Plaugher 3, Cameron Crowley 2, Caleigh Sperling, Kelly Donnelly, Oliva Stone; CBS – Taylor Hinkle 2, Alyssa D’Orazio 2, Mackenzie Erb, Samantha Scheisser Yoyo Samayoa.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 43, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 33
Defense has been a trademark of the Patriots under coach Liz Potash, and six days after handing Souderton its first league loss and allowing the Indians to score just 27 points, the Patriots put the clamps on the Bucks to earn the big win.
In between those two impressive wins, the Patriots lost to Central Bucks South on Tuesday 54-34.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to make of us,” Potash said. “After Tuesday, we said, ‘All we want is a good showing. Let’s just have a good bounce back – win or lose, it doesn’t make a difference. We need to show we are the team that played four tough games the beginning of the year.’”
The Patriots did more than just put on a good showing, they knocked the Bucks from the ranks of the undefeated with another rousing defensive effort that saw them outscore the Bucks 35-22 over the final three quarters.
“We gave up 11 points in the first quarter, and we just didn’t give up points after that,” Potash said. “I’ll tell you what – It must be miserable to be on the other end of Elise Duffy’s defense. She just makes life so hard, and it’s not just her on-ball defense. She’s rebounding, she’s diving on the floor. She is doing everything.
“That’s what you want from your remaining starter that is left from last year’s team, but it just carries over into everything. She’s such a competitor. She does it on the soccer field, she does it on the basketball court, and the girls just feed off of it.”
Emily Spratt could undoubtedly attest to Duffy’s defensive prowess. The Bucks’ high-scoring forward was limited to just one field goal and four points.
“She really made Spratt’s life incredibly difficult,” Potash said. “She really defended her well. She didn’t even get a ton of shots. It’s not like she missed a lot. I felt she could not get her shot off. Elise blocked a three at the end when it was a four-point game. She was just everywhere.”
Defense, however, is just a part of the story of East’s big win.
“I actually think the real story for us tonight was – we’ve really been struggling to get scoring consistent outside of Anna (Berry) and Elise, and tonight, we ended up with 18 points between Erin and Shayne LeRay and Kendall Gregor, and they were huge.
“It was all in the second half. There were three possessions in a row where Shayne LeRay hit a three, Erin LeRay hit a three the next time 
down, and then Shayne LeRay, hit a two.”
That pivotal sequence came in a third quarter that saw the Patriots, who led 15-12 at halftime, outscore the Bucks 12-6 and then 19-12 in the fourth quarter.
“We shot foul shots well,” Potash said. “Elise Duffy was 4-for-5 in the last minute of the game because this wasn’t a 10-point win. It was a back-and-forth game.
“We would go ahead, they would go ahead. (Alexis) Castro hit a three to put them up with a little under three minutes to go, and we came right back. That’s when Shayne LeRay hit her first three. We were able to get a couple of things off the press a couple of times when we used it. It was a gritty, gritty win. We don’t know what we’re going to get every night, but Tuesday night (the 20-point loss to CB South), I don’t want to say it was a fluke because that’s taking something away from CB South, but I don’t think it was indicative of what we’ve been doing. Tonight was a little bit more – ‘Okay, we have to defend, and hopefully get enough points on our end to come away with a win,’ which we did, but Shayne, Erin and Kendall really came up big.”
Duffy’s 13 points led the Patriots, who received eight points from Anna Barry and seven each from Erin LeRay and Shayne LeRay.
For the Bucks, Ava Longo’s nine points led the way while Gabi Senior and Gabby Reichner each added six points.
Central Bucks East (3-3, 2-2 SOL) will travel to Mount St. Joseph Academy for a non-league game on Monday at 6:30 p.m. Central Bucks West will return to action on Tuesday at the Lancaster Catholic Tournament.
Central Bucks East 7-5-12-19 43
Central Bucks West 11-4-6-12 33
Central Bucks East (43) – Erin LeRay 2 2-4 7; Shayne LeRay 3 0-0 7; Anna Barry 3 0-0 8; Elise Duffy 3 6-7 13; Kendall Gregor 1 2-3 4; Emily Curran 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 14 10-14 43.
Central Bucks West (33) – Tai Henkels 1 0-0 2; Kate Finnan 1 1-2 3; Emily Spratt 1 2-4 4; Alexis Castro 1 0-2 3; Ava Longo 4 1-2 9; Gabe Senior 2 1-2 6; Gabby Reichner 2 0-0 6; TOTALS 12 5-12 33.
3-point goals: CBE – Anna Barry 2, Erin LeRay, Shayne LeRay, Elise Duffy; CBW – Gabby Reichner 2, Alexis Castro, Gabi Senior.
SOUDERTON 49, PENNRIDGE 45
The Indians, who trailed 25-23 at halftime, appeared to be in deep trouble when the Rams opened the second half with a 7-0 run, but this game was far from over.
“We were down nine, and suddenly, we were up four,” Souderton coach Lynn Carroll said. “In that stretch, Brooke Fenchel finished on two tough drives.”
The Indians – thanks to six points from Teya McConnell and four from Casey Harter – outscored the Rams 16-10 in the third quarter.
“It was a game that came down to the wire,” Carroll said. “We could have sealed it with some foul shots, but we did not shoot well down the stretch.
“We got the lead up to six, and they turned us over on two possessions and scored layups. Now it’s a two-point game with less than a minute. We played great defense in the fourth quarter, limited them to three field goals. We had a couple of chances to put it away at the line. Finally, we were up three with six seconds left, and Erin Bohmueller hit one-of-two (at the line) to basically seal the deal because we were up four with six seconds left.”
The Indians share the top spot in the topsy turvy SOL Colonial with CB West.
“This is a huge win,” Carroll said. “As expected, every game in our conference is going to be a tough one, and Pennridge has been playing really well. They have a couple of kids that are just flat out players.
“There’s still some stuff we need to work on and figure out, but we’re making enough plays down the stretch to find ways to win, and we’ll take that at this point in the season.”
McConnaha led the Indians with 13 points and 13 rebounds in a monster effort, and Harter added 11 points and six assists. Bohmueller contributed 10 points, and Fenchel had nine
“Casey had five field goals, and every one of them was just really hard earned – they were all over her (defensively),” Carroll said. “Erin had a good shooting night – hit two 3’s.”
For the Rams, Anna Coyle led the way with 13 points, which included two 3-pointers. Katie Yoder added 11 points – seven in the first half. Ryan Hodder had nine points.
Souderton (5-2, 3-1 SOL) will face Susquehanna Township as part of the Reading Christmas Tournament on Monday at 3 p.m. Pennridge (4-2, 2-2) will be in action at the Boyertown Christmas Tournament on Tuesday.
Souderton 11-12-16-10 49
Pennridge 12-13-10-10 45
Souderton (49) – Brooke Fenchel 4 1-3 9; Erin Bohmueller 3 2-4 10; Mikayla McGillian 1 0-0 2; Casey Harter 5 1-2 11; Alexis Stefanowicz 2 0-0 4; Teya McConnaha 5 2-3 13; TOTALS 20 6-12 49.
Pennridge (45) – Anna Coyle 5 1-2 13; Katie Yoder 4 2-4 11; Ava Fantaskey 1 3-7 5; Emma Pyne 1 2-3 4; Ryan Hodder 3 2-2 9; Abby Huskin 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 15 10-18 45.
3-point goals: Souderton – Erin Bohmueller 2, Teya McConnaha; Pennridge – Anna Coyle 2, Katie Yoder, Ryan Hodder, Abby Huskin.
SOL Freedom
HATBORO-HORSHAM 48, QUAKERTOWN 21
Alice Hall scored nine of her game-high 18 points in an opening quarter that saw the Hatters open up a 21-5 lead on their way to a 40-11 halftime advantage. They never looked back.
The Hatters’ convincing win came on the heels of an 80-50 loss to Abington two days earlier.
“We played great in the first half against Abington, but they just wore us down,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Eric Glemser said. “Tonight was a real good team effort. We jumped out early.
“Emily Thomas was getting a lot of steals early, and we got some good contributions from our bench. Kitty Randa came off the bench, and Alli Hewish, who hasn’t been getting a lot of time lately, gave us some real good minutes, and so did Alyssa Tooley.”
In the first half, Hall led the Hatters with 13 points. Emily Thomas added 10.
The Hatters scored just eight points in the second half – none in the fourth quarter, but by that time, the outcome had long since been decided.
Hall’s 18 points led the Hatters while Thomas, who also was credited for her strong defensive play, added 10.
“They did a good job on Alice Hall,” Glemser said. “Brit (Bamford) had one of her big girls – number 24 four (Katie Offner) – on her, and she was really boxing her out the whole time and frustrating Alice, who was having a tough time getting offensive rebounds, but some other kids were stepping up and getting some boards, and Alice started getting some points.
“I was just pleased with the balanced attack. We’ve been working hard at practice, just trying to get better. Our goal is to try and be in the game in the fourth quarter. That’s been our goal this year.”
Offner’s six points led the Panthers.
Hatboro-Horsham (3-2, 2-2 SOL) will face Atlantic City in the Wildwood Tournament on Wednesday, and Quakertown (3-4, 1-3) is off until Tuesday, Jan. 4, when the Panthers will travel to Abington.
Hatboro-Horsham 21-19-8-0 48
Quakertown 5-6-3-7 21
Hatboro-Horsham (48) – Caroline Shegogue 2 1-2 5; Alice Hall 8-2-3 18; Kitty Randa 2 1-2 5; Leah Harrington 1 0-0 3; Alli Hewish 2 0-0 5; Emily Thomas 5 0-0 10; Toohey 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 21 4-7 48
Quakertown (21) – Katie Catalano 0 0-2 0; Katie Hagerty 1 2-7 4; Laney Mitchell 1 0-0 2; Ava Pistone 2 1-1 5; Kayla Sicher 1 0-0 2; Katie Offner 3 0-0 6; Leah Mestayer 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 9 3-10 21.
3-point goals: HH- Leah Harrington, Alli Hewish.
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