New Hope-Solebury saw its successful season come to an end after a 43-28 loss to Gwynedd Mercy Academy in the District One 4A championship game Saturday. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Class 4A
#1 GWYNEDD MERCY 43, #2 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 28
There was no hiding their disappointment as the Lions accepted the second place medals after falling to the Monarchs in Friday’s district title game. Harder to swallow than the loss was the fact that a special season was over.
“It’s really sad, for sure,” senior Kate Dougherty said. “I always look forward to basketball season because it’s so competitive, and we always work so hard. It was a great four years. I love the team so much, and I know we’ll stay close past this.”
Dougherty is one of three seniors who have been together for what seems like a lifetime.
“I play three sports, and I think this team over all of them is truly a family,” senior Juliana ‘J’ Covino said. “I think it stems from we’re such a small group of girls, and we had the pleasure of growing our numbers over the years.
“Especially the seniors – we’ve been playing since travel league together, so there’s really a bond there. It’s such a team atmosphere and we all have each other’s backs. It’s something special that you don’t get with a lot of other teams.”
The Lions – who moved up to Class 4A this year – fell behind 8-0 out of the gate but rallied to make it a 13-8 game after one quarter. Covino and Dougherty both had 3s in the quarter, but Kaylie Griffin had three 3s to ignite the Monarchs.
Gwynedd took a 19-15 lead into halftime, but back-to-back Covino 3s in the third quarter made it a 24-23 game with just under five minutes remaining in the frame.
Jenna Mangen connected on one-of-two at the foul line, marking the beginning of a 14-0 run to close out the quarter that effectively gave the Monarchs control of the game.
“I think it was a momentum swing,” Covino said. “You have to give them praise – they’re knock-down shooters on the right side of the court.
“They got the momentum, they got their shots in, and we had trouble coming back.”
The Monarchs outscored the Lions 19-8 in the third quarter to go on top 38-23.
“The third quarter was the best quarter I think we’ve played by far on both sides of the floor,” Lonergan said. “At halftime, we talked about that we weren’t moving the ball like we’re supposed to, and they did a much better job of that in the second half, and we got some open looks.”
No one capitalized on those open looks more than junior Sophia Coleman, who buried a pair of 3s and scored 10 points in the quarter.
“I reminded her at halftime how important she is to be on the floor for us,” Lonergan said. “She was off the floor for nine-and-a-half minutes in the first half (due to fouls), so that’s going to affect our offense because she’s by far our best field goal percentage shooter.
“She helped open it up. She found the spots in the 3-2, and she was able to knock some shots down. She hit some huge shots to open the game up, and that’s when you saw Maddie (Newell) get some drives.”
Another key to the game was the Monarchs’ defensive strategy. Saxton, the focal point of the Monarchs’ defense, scored just two points and did not have a field goal.
“Maddie (Newell) and Hannah (Griffin) were switching up on her,” Kaylie Griffin said. “We changed – we don’t usually press that much, but Maddie did great, pressuring her. She really stepped up and kept control.”
Underscoring the effectiveness of Gwynedd’s defense was the fact that the Lions scored just five points in close to 13 minutes to close out the game.
“The second thing that we did extremely well – this is a team that it’s a ball screen offense, and we spent a lot of time just working and drilling our ball screen defense,” Lonergan said. “I thought they did an excellent job for the most part handling their ball screens.
“(Saxton) and 14 (Reagan Chrencik) are really effective in that ball screen, and neither one of them was able to get going. To their credit, 12 (Covino) had a really nice game knocking shots down. To our team’s credit, they didn’t panic, they didn’t start scrambling. They stayed with what we wanted to do.”
When it was over, there were tears on New Hope-Solebury’s sidelines, but a season that saw the Lions win 16 games and a share of the SOL Freedom Division title in their first year in the league had to be considered a success.
“Although you don’t want it to end, coming into the SOL and sharing the league championship and only losing a few games is quite a big accomplishment,” Saxton said. “Although we lost today and we really would have liked to win this game, there’s no better way to go out
“Coming into the SOL, we’re one of the smallest schools, and being a small school, you get to know everybody. Having that chance to get to know everybody and to hang out on and off the court, I think that’s what made the team strong.”
For Dougherty, a Penn State commit for lacrosse, her number one sport awaits her this spring, but that did not make the ending any easier.
“I do love basketball, and the girls make it so special,” she said. “It’s a whole different type of thing because we are so small. It’s just so fun going to practice with them every day because they make it feel like we’re just hanging out, but at the same time, we are getting work done, which is really good. And because it’s such a long season, we get to spend so much time together, and it makes a really close bond."
NHS coach Steve Polinsky credited his team's senior leadership - Saxton, Dougherty and Covino - for the team's success.
"I think very highly of my senior leadership," the Lions' coach said. "Since last year when we lost to Jenkintown (in the District One 3A final), they've been focused even with COVID, doing Zoom calls and trying to get better for this coming season knowing we had to play in the tough SOL.
"I've been coaching for a number of years, and honestly, I've never had a leadership group like this. It's incredible, and I'm going to miss them dearly. Not seeing them at practice is going to be odd, but I hope they taught the younger kids how we want to be as a team moving forward.
"I'm thrilled with the season. You lose, and it's a bitter taste, but they're great kids. They played hard, they listened, and they did all the right things they possibly could."
New Hope-Solebury closed out its season with a 16-5 record (9-1 SOL).
New Hope-Solebury 8-7-8-5 28
Gwynedd Mercy 13-6-19-5 43
New Hope-Solebury (28) – Madi Fasti 1 0-0 3; Reagan Chrencik 1 3-4 5; Juliana Covino 3 0-0 9; Kate Dougherty 2 2-2 7; Rachel Saxton 0 2-2 2; Emily Primavera 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 8 7-8 28.
Gwynedd Mercy (43) – Maddie Newell 3 0-0 7; Kaylie Griffin 4 0-0 11; Hannah Griffin 3 0-0 7; Bianca Coleman 1 0-0 3; Sofia Coleman 4 2-2 12; Jenna Mangen 1 1-2 3; TOTALS 16 3-4 43.
3-point goals: NHS – Juliana Covino 3, Madi Fasti, Reagan Chrencik, GMA – Kaylie Griffin 3, Sofia Coleman 2, Maddie Newell, Hannah Griffin, Bianca Coleman.
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