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EAST NORRITON –When Liz Martin scored on a fast break bucket to put her Central Bucks East team on top 4-2 early in Wednesday night’s PIAA Class AAAA game against Abington, the Patriots couldn’t have imagined it would be their last hurrah.
It pretty much was. Emily Leer saw to that, answering with a bucket on the low post to knot the score, and that was just the beginning.
At the other end of the court, Leer delivered a block of Martin’s shot attempt, came up with the ball and – looking very much the part of a guard - drove the length of the court for a basket.
“It was really tough,” Martin said. “I got like 20 of my shots blocked.
“It’s just hard because she’s 6-2, and I’m 5-8 or 5-9. She’s a good player.”
Leer didn’t just prevent an East basket in close with her big play, she much established the tone for the game.
“She did a great job of blocking the shot, but she still shouldn’t go 75 feet with the basketball with nobody catching her,” East coach Tom Lonergan said. “There’s no question that made a statement. They came ready to go hard for 32 minutes.
“Not that we didn’t, but we were just basically outplayed.”
Leer – bound for Villanova on a basketball scholarship – can pretty much do it all, and in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s showdown, she did.
The senior captain scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the quarter on an assortment of nifty moves and even connected on a pair of three’s, propelling the Ghosts to a 16-9 lead. They never looked back, rolling to a 50-31 win over the Patriots in a game played at Norristown High School.
Leer admits she’s been having a lot of fun during the Ghosts’ memorable post-season run.
“This game was exceptionally fun,” she said. “Our team got into a fantastic rhythm. You could just feel it.
“Everyone was feeling it – the crowd was feeling it. It was one of those games that was really, really fun. It was an environment that was great. Everyone played fantastic, everyone stepped up, and we came out and played so hard.”
Most of the Ghosts’ fun on Tuesday night came at the expense of the Patriots. “We were just intimidated,” Martin said. “Everyone played not to our game plan but to their strengths. We just didn’t play the way we can.”
Lonergan admits he was concerned when he saw his team matched up against the Ghosts.
“They’re not just bigger, they’re stronger,” the Patriots’ coach said. “Before the tournament started, I said – the whole key to the tournament is how you match up.
“Abington is not a good match for us. You could see our inside game – we had none. We had no inside game whatsoever.”
Aiyannah Peal and Chynna West each added 11 points for the Ghosts with most of those coming on the inside, and on several occasions, Peal found West cutting to the basket for an easy deuce with pinpoint passes.
“It’s so fun,” Peal said. “Me and Chynna work on that at practice just to play around. She’s a great cutter, and if I see her cutting, I’ll just pass it because I know where she’s going.”
While the Ghosts certainly had their share of big plays on offense, it was on the defensive end that they were most impressive, regularly getting their hands on East’s passes and forcing one turnover after another.
Jessica Schmidt led the defensive charge with six steals to go along with eight rebounds and six points.
“A lot of times, they were telegraphing their passes, and I was just really into the game,” Schmidt said. “We were really clicking as a team.
“We dug deep on defense, and we definitely redeemed ourselves after the Hershey game because we know we didn’t play our best game. We just really wanted to win and come out and play hard, and we did. We did everything right.”Leer echoed those sentiments.
“We were just everywhere on defense,” she said. “If the ball went down low, we were doubling them, boxing out. Everyone was aware, and that’s something we’ve been working on all season. It’s just great to see us come out at this time of year and be able to execute like that.”
This game was won for all intents and purposes in the first quarter, and when Leer buried a three-pointer from the top of the circle, the Patriots might have known they would be in for a long night. She followed that with a short pull-up jumper, and the Ghosts led 11-5.
“To come out that strong and get defensive stops and finish our shots really helped us and gave us great confidence, but we never stopped playing,” Leer said. “From the first quarter to the last second, we were playing the whole time.
“That’s why I’m really proud of everyone.”
A Schmidt steal – her second of the quarter, set the stage for Peal burying a pair from the foul line, and while the sophomore standout was the offensive catalyst with 10 first-quarter points in the Ghosts’ district win over East, this time it was Leer setting the offensive tone.
“They were paying a little more attention to me this time than the last time, and Emily was getting more open,” Peal said. “Everybody wasn’t paying attention just to her.
“She played really well, and it opened up a lot for us in the second half.”
Melissa Remmey, who led East with 12 points, answered by burying a shot from just inside the three-point arc to make it a 13-7 game, but Leer responded with her second three of the quarter to put the Ghosts on top 16-7.
“We were planning on trying to control the paint as much as possible,” Lonergan said. “When Leer starts hitting from the outside and you have to step out even further on her, it just opens things up inside.
“They were getting loose inside, they were getting behind us, and it was downhill after that.”
Martin connected on an outside shot to make it a 16-9 game at the end of one quarter, but the Ghosts were just getting started.
Leer – after attracting a double team – found West cutting to the basket for an easy hoop, and then junior guard Sheila Longo intercepted a pass and took it coast to coast for a bucket and a 20-9 Abington lead.
“I think it really boiled down to our defense,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “Holding this team to (13) points in the first half is what we wanted to do. These girls were focused.
“I keep worrying about them – whether they’ll be able to keep their focus, and they come out ready every time.”
Sarah Martin interrupted the Ghosts’ run with a basket for East, but Leer answered at the other end, connecting on her sixth shot in eight attempts. “We know what Emily can do,” Marsh said. “Hershey did a good job on Friday – they were all over her, they were hanging onto her, but when Emily gets some space, she’s dangerous.
“That’s what teams don’t understand – we don’t have to give her the ball on the block. We can give it to her on the wing or run weakside screens for her. She’s worked so hard on her game, and she’s made herself so versatile that she’s basically unguardable, in my opinion, and she proved it tonight.”
Schmidt came up with a steal on the defensive end and then turned an offensive rebound into a bucket. Peal followed her steal by connecting on a short jumper, and the Ghosts led 26-11. A trey from NBA range by Jamie Shectman capped the 13-2 run and put the Ghosts on top 29-11.
Abington took a 31-13 lead into halftime. East never threatened the rest of the way.
“We were just basically outplayed, and it kind of flustered us and put us back on our heels,” Lonergan said. “If you’re not bigger and stronger than the other team and you get pushed back on your heels, you’re in trouble, and that’s what happened tonight.”
The Continental Conference champions closed out their season with a 23-6 record while the Ghosts – who improved to 25-4 – live to see another day.
They will face Red Lion – a 37-33 winner over Council Rock South - in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
“It still hasn’t registered in my mind that we’re in the top eight in the state, and we actually have a chance at (a state title),” Schmidt said. “I’m really excited.”
“It’s really exciting,” Leer added. “To beat a good team like this in the second round of the state playoffs – it shows our potential.
“To be playing like this right now, I just want to keep going. I’m ready for our next game.”
ABINGTON 50, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 31
Central Bucks East 9 4 9 9-31
Abington 16 15 8 11-50
Central Bucks East (31) – Melissa Remmey 4 4-5 12; Kristina Pogue 1 0-0 2; Sarah Martin 2 0-0 4; Liz Martin 3 1-2 7; Courtney McManus 1 0-0 3; Shannon Devlin 0 0-0 0; Jenna Sanfilippo 0 1-2 1; Lindsey Kelly 0 0-0 0; Rachel Fryatt 0 0-0 0; Laura Aseltine 0 0-0 0; Morgan Kelly 0 0-0 0; Alexis Scrivano 1 0-1 2. TOTALS 12 6-10 31.
Abington (50) – Jamie Shectman 1 0-0 3; Chynna West 5 1-2 11; Aiyannah Peal 4 3-5 11; Emily Leer 6 3-5 17; Carli Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0; Lauren Peretti 0 0-0 0; Sheila Longo 1 0-2 2; Sarah Listenbee 0 0-0 0; Lovelle Faison 0 0-0 0; Francesca Montrosso 0 0-0 0; Emily Willard 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20 7-16 50.
3-point goals: CB East – McManus. Abington – Leer 2, Schectman.
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