North Penn will face Spring-Ford in the District One AAAA title game at Villanova University. It is the first time since 1991 that the Maidens will be playing for a district title.
Tricia (Thomas) Pike has an immediate answer when asked to name her favorite high school memory.
“I tell them playing at Villanova,” the 1991 North Penn grad said. “Stepping onto that court – you just stood there at center court and looked around. There were so many people.
“It was an unbelievable thing. It’s the memory of a lifetime.”
Pike was a key member of the last Maiden squad to advance to Villanova and the district title game. Her senior class – Pike, Mickey Wetzel, Denise Murray, Nicole Buckmaster, Jen Jenkowski and the late Jen Strong – didn’t go there just once, they went to Villanova in both 1990 and 1991.
So perhaps no one understands better than Pike just how significant it was when the Maidens defeated Downingtown West on Wednesday night, joining the elite few teams who have had the opportunity to compete in a district title game at Villanova.
At coach Maggie deMarteleire’s request, Pike, who is now a guidance counselor at North Penn, addressed the Maidens at Thursday’s practice.
“I told them you need three things to get there – dedication, commitment and hard work,” Pike said. “We had the team that had that. We loved the game, and you have to have those things to get that far.”
Pike, now a guidance counselor at North Penn, understands the emotions the players will be feeling when they step onto the court on Friday night. She also understands what it’s like to be an underdog heading into the title game since her Maiden squad lost to Downingtown in back-to-back title games (58-46 and 85-61).
Both Downingtown squads that defeated the Maidens went on to win state titles. Both included a pair of the most prolific guards ever to play in Pennsylvania in Tina Nicholson (2,709 career points) and Tora Suber (2,420 points), who went on to excel at Penn State and the University of Virginia respectively.
Spring-Ford, North Penn’s opponent on Friday at Villanova, doesn’t boast a backcourt duo that combined to score more than 5,000 points, but the Rams are ranked first in the State of Pennsylvania and have the kind of depth that allows them to pressure for 92 feet. They boast a 22-game winning streak heading into Friday night’s showdown.
Winning streaks, according to Pike, are meant to be broken.
“We were 23-0 going in, and it was really, really hard to lose,” she said. “I told the girls, ‘You have nothing to lose. Go out there, gut it out and play.’
“Losing is never fun – it sucks no matter what, but it was different to lose there. We made it there, and to make it there, you have to be good. You can’t be average to get there. My biggest memory of high school was playing at Villanova. It was an amazing night.
“Whenever I hear anything about Villanova, I think, ‘I played on that basketball court.’ No one can take that away from me ever, and that was my message – you earn it, and it stays with you forever. There’s no experience like it. I remember it like it was yesterday. That feeling doesn’t go away. You have to take it all in and enjoy everything about it because it’s worth it.”
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Ninth-seeded teams aren’t supposed to play in the district title game. At least not if you listen to the numbers, but numbers often go out the window when playoff time rolls around.
In 2007, Cheltenham was the district’s ninth-seeded team. The Lady Panthers, who finished fifth in the district, went on to win a state championship.
This year’s North Penn squad is the district’s ninth seed. The Maidens proved exactly how much that number meant as they earned wins over 24th-seeded Council Rock North, eighth-seeded Methacton, top-seeded Cheltenham and fourth-seeded Downingtown West.
The Maidens have won 15 of 16 games after opening the season with six wins in their first 10 games.
“Getting to districts is definitely a big goal we reached for ourselves,” junior captain Lauren Crisler said. “We proved some people wrong that doubted us the whole season and said we couldn’t play with the top seeds, but it’s not to prove everyone else wrong – it’s more for us as a team. We definitely have this mindset that we’re not going to give up, we’re going to fight to the end.”
The Maidens have spent the season disproving their doubters. Pike, for one, is impressed by what she’s seen.
“You can see the heart that they have,” she said. “They want this so bad, and Maggie (deMarteleire) is a (heck) of a coach. She knows the game, she knows what to say to the kids to get them hyped up, and that’s a testament to her.
“She knows how to get a team that might be seeded ninth, and she can get them to Villanova because she can adjust the way it’s needed. I saw that at Wednesday’s game.”
The Maidens – who defeated Spring-Ford in a playback game last year - once again find themselves in the role of underdog. They don’t mind a bit.
“I definitely think we have a chance,” Crisler said. “They’re a good team, but I think we can definitely hang with them. All we have to do is keep our turnovers down and just play a 32-minute game and stay focused all the time.”
Tip-off at Villanova University is on Friday at 7 p.m.
Just the facts:
- North Penn
- 21-5 overall, 11-3 SOL
- District One #9 seed
- Won nine straight games and 15 of last 16
- Key players: Lauren Crisler (13.3 PPG), Steph Knauer (11.4 PPG), Vicky Tumasz (7.5 PPG), Erin Maher (6.1 PPG), Brenda McDermott, Emily Hagan
Spring-Ford
- 26-2 overall, 13-0 PAC-10 champions
- District One #3 seed
- Ranked number one in the latest Patriot News state poll
- Boast a 22-game winning streak
- Key players: Mariah Traywick (10.7 PPG, 6.7 RBG), Sarah Payonk (10.2 PPG, 7.0 RBG), Sammy Stipa (9.3 PPG), Brittany Moore (7.0 PPG), Courtney Hinnan (6.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG), Jaida Burgess (6.2 PPG)
- Rams average 61.4 PPG while allowing 35.4 (26.0 scoring differential)
- The Rams force an average of 28.9 turnovers per game
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