Central Bucks West defeated Abington in a battle of SOL powers to clinch the first SOL Tournament title on Monday night at Souderton. To view photos of the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
FRANCONIA TWP – Add winning the SOL Tournament championship to the list of accomplishments for this year’s Central Bucks West squad.
The Bucks defeated Abington 51-38 in the eagerly awaited showdown between the league’s top squads in Tuesday’s title game at Souderton Area High School, and there was no mistaking the key to this game as the Bucks, sparked by their aggressive defense, prevented the Ghosts from developing any kind of offensive rhythm the entire night.
“Just the way we play, always energetic – I think sometimes that wears teams down a little, and that’s pretty much our goal,” West senior captain Mackenzie Carroll said.
With the district seedings already in place, the postseason tournament didn’t count for anything other than pride and an impressive trophy, but Tuesday’s game – featuring a pair of squads that have resided in the top 10 of the state in the PennLive rankings all season – mattered a whole lot to both squads.
“I heard about this in the preseason, and I got really excited,” West senior captain Nicole Munger said. “I was always looking forward to it, hoping we would get here, and it’s really cool.
“As captains and as a team, we like to win. We’ve been playing together since eighth grade, and we’re just excited to play any extra games we got.”
“This is huge,” Carroll added. “This is the first one. Just making history is great, especially with all these great teammates I have.
“It’s a small step to get to where we want to go, but it’s still a huge deal,” sophomore Maggie Rakowsky said. “We’ve never won this, and it’s a really good accomplishment.”
The Ghosts (20-4, 14-0 SOL) took an early 5-2 lead after Bre Bermel buried an outside shot midway through the opening quarter. Peyton Traina hit nothing but net on a three-pointer at the other end, and the Ghosts had seen their final lead.
An Abington turnover set the stage for an easy bucket by Meghan Tillger, using a Carroll assist. Deja Rawls, who led all scorers with 19 points, connected on a pair of foul shots to knot the score, but when senior captain Corrinne Godshall scored on a putback with 2:20 remaining in the opening quarter, the Bucks had a lead they would not lose.
“We were all excited to play,” said Godshall. “We knew it was going to be a battle all 32 minutes, and I think that’s why we might have won because we kept playing.”
A bucket by Munger in the closing seconds of the frame sent the Bucks into the second quarter with an 11-7 lead. The Bucks led by six after Rakowsky found Godshall for a bucket inside. A Rawls baseline trey made it a 13-10 game, but Godshall scored on a drive, and when a Munger floater – after a Ghost turnover – fell through the net, the Bucks led 17-10.
Three times in the quarter, the Ghosts trimmed West’s lead to five, and it was a 23-18 game after Liz O’Leary sank a pair from the foul line. Again, the Bucks had an answer, and this time it was Carroll scoring on a drive to send her team into halftime with a 25-18 lead.
A Bermel basket to open the third quarter trimmed the Bucks’ lead to 25-20. The two teams spent the next two minutes exchanging misses, and it was Rakowsky breaking the drought with a basket just inside the three-point arc.
An Abington miss set the stage for a well-executed play that saw Godshall finding Munger cutting to the hole for an easy deuce. Rawls scored on a drive for the Ghosts, but a nifty reverse layup by Carroll put the Bucks on top 31-22.
It was still a 33-24 game with time winding down in the quarter when – with the Ghosts holding for the final shot – Rakowsky came up with a steal and banked home a shot from near midcourt at the buzzer, giving the Bucks a 36-24 lead.
“That was insane,” Munger said. “They were having a half court shooting competition, and they were trying to get me to shoot at halftime.
“Maggie comes up in the middle of the game and hits it. We were going crazy.”
“That was huge,” Carroll said. “We were so excited after that happened, and that just powered our energy into the fourth quarter.”
What was a boost to the Bucks was a setback to the Ghosts, who never really recovered.
“A couple of times we were real close to getting over the hump, and that three-pointer – that killed us,” Marsh said. “It was definitely the nail in the coffin.”
The Bucks maintained their double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Another key to their win was the Bucks ability to control the backboards. Munger – whose team-high 16 points included a 6-for-6 effort at the line in the fourth quarter – led the way with 11 rebounds, six offensive. Carroll had eight boards while Godshall and Mason each added four.
“Nicole is one of the better offensive rebounders in the district,” Marsh said. “We told them that coming in here that this team is big, strong and they can jump. I’m not sure our kids believed us.
“When we played Life Center earlier this year with a starting lineup of all six-foot athletes, our kids did a tremendous job of boxing out. It hasn’t really been an issue. They learned tonight. I said – if you give a team that good that many second chance opportunities, you’re not going to win. They killed us on the boards. They’re big strong and athletic. They’re good.”
When it was over, West alum Jen Fabian, a first team all-league selection as a senior, was there to congratulate the team outside West’s locker room. The 2012 grad was a member of Rakowsky’s first team to advance to districts in 2011 as the 32nd seed. They fell to top-seeded Council Rock North 41-13.
“She’s one of the early building blocks to help make this happen,” said coach Rakowsky, who notched win number 100 in his sixth year at West.
“It’s been fun to watch it grow,” senior Nicole Munger said. “Coach Terry has been saying to us since we were freshmen – you can see much further on the shoulders of those who came before you.
“It’s cool to see where it’s gone, but credit all their hard work and all the (hard work) of the people who came before us too.”
The Bucks (23-1, 14-0 SOL) will go down in history as the first SOL Tournament champion.
“This was an awesome experience, especially for the kids,” coach Rakowsky said. “The first one ever, a great crowd – it was nice.”
“SOL Tournament first year – I really like it,” Carroll added. “Just being able to play high competition – I think they’re definitely one of the best, if not the best team we played all year. It’s great to get a win right before districts.”
Don’t rule out another meeting between the two schools. They are in opposite ends of the bracket with the Bucks seeded second and the Ghosts fifth with their only possible rematch in the district title game.
“I told Terry, ‘See you at Temple,’” Marsh said. “We’ll get another shot, hopefully, and hopefully, it will be a better game.”
EXTRA POINTS: For the Ghosts, the game was a far cry from Saturday’s 51-25 win over North Penn that saw their bigs – O’Leary and Leah Simmons – combine for 18 points. The duo had nine on Tuesday – three came on an O’Leary three-pointer in the fourth quarter. The Ghosts’ trio of guards accounted for 25 of their 38 points with 19 of those from Rawls. “I think that was huge for us,” Marsh said. “Not to take anything away from them. They’re obviously very, very good, and they played great defense, but I think we can play with them if we take care of the ball a little bit better and get contributions from other people. Ironically, over the past month, I think we’ve been playing really, really well, sharing the ball really well, and I think we leaned too much on Deja.”
Abington 7-11-6-14 38
Central Bucks West 11-14-11-15 51
Abington (38) – Gabby Nolan 2 0-0 4; Sammy Lochner 1 0-0 2; Liz O’Leary 2 2-2 7; Deja Rawls 6 6-7 19; Bre Bermel 2 0-0 4; Leah Simmons 1 0-0 2; Jordyn Allen 0 0-0 0; Taylor Deal 0 0-0 0; Totals 14 8-9 38
Central Bucks West (51) – Mackenzie Carroll 3 3-4 9; Peyton Traina 4 2-3 10; Corrinne Godshall 4 2-3 10; Nicole Munger 5 6-6 16; Maggie Rakowsky 3 0-0 7; Meghan Tillger 1 0-0 2; Makenzie Mason 1 2-2 4; Abby Spratt 0 0-0 0; Maddie Maio 0 0-0 0; Totals 17 13-17 51.
3-point goals: CBW-Peyton Traina, Maggie Rakowsky; A-Deja Rawls, Liz O’Leary.
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