WYNCOTE – Kaycee Schaefer admits she has never seen anything quite like the pressure defense Cheltenham threw at her Central Bucks South squad in Saturday’s non-league battle.
“We’re used to being the fast team, but stacked up against Cheltenham, we know that’s not always going to be the case because they’re extremely fast,” the Titans’ senior point guard said. “They put the most intense pressure on you that I have ever seen, and it’s hard and it’s frustrating at times.”
On most days, that pressure brings opponents to their knees, but the Titans were not your ordinary opponent. They were fearless and quite simply refused to be taken down for the count.
“We had just had a tough game the night before,” Schaefer said of CB South’s 10-point win over Souderton. “We had confidence, and we were in a great mood because of the Souderton game, and we just really didn’t want to stop that at all.
“We were like, ‘Hey, we really don’t have anything to lose. This is a great team that might not be expecting much of us.’”
For 32 minutes, the Titans matched the Lady Panthers basket for basket, but in the end, Cheltenham capitalized on a pair of trips to the foul line.
Shayla Felder and Kira Ogden both connected on a pair to give the Lady Panthers a four-point lead before South’s Katelyn Schneider sank a trey at the buzzer for the 51-50 final in a non-league thriller that had the look and feel of a playoff game.
“Oh my gosh, it was one of the most intense atmospheres I have ever played in personally,” Schaefer said. “We knew there would be cheerleaders, there would be the parents, the fans, the coaches and whatever.
“Every single aspect in that gym was going against us, trying to get in our heads. That’s when you really have to try to shut it out, and every time they started building any kind of lead – we weren’t going to roll over and die. We did whatever it took to get that one extra basket, to get that one defensive stop. We wanted the game so bad, and we knew exactly what would happen if we had any negative thinking at all.”
The final minute of the contest was a game within a game. Consider only that the two teams combined for five turnovers and six timeouts in that span.
“I felt like I went through the wringer,” South coach Beth Mattern said. “In that fourth quarter, we just decided to not quit. We really wanted to go for it.
“The intensity in that gym for a Saturday afternoon was unbelievable. It was a great atmosphere. It was a fun game to be part of.”
The final minute of the game began innocently enough when – with 58.3 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock - Felder buried both ends of a one-and one at the foul line to break a 45-45 tie and put the Lady Panthers on top by two. The senior point guard immediately stole the inbounds but uncharacteristically missed the front end of a one-and-one.
“I was on myself about that,” Felder said.
There was still plenty of game left.
Four turnovers and three timeouts later – a stretch that included a pair of Cheltenham timeouts to avoid a five-second call before eventually turning the ball over on the inbounds any way, Felder found herself on the charity stripe yet again. This time she sank both foul shots, giving the Lady Panthers a 49-45 advantage with 19.5 seconds remaining.
“I like the pressure, I can take the pressure,” Felder said. “I don’t think about anything. I don’t look at the scoreboard. I block everybody and everything out.
“I just play to win.”
Nicole Mummert connected for an easy bucket on an inbounds play under South’s basket to make it a 49-47 game with 10 seconds remaining.
Ogden was fouled on the inbounds, and the senior forward calmly buried a pair to put the Lady Panthers on top 51-47 before Schneider’s trey at the buzzer.
The Lady Panthers could at long last exhale.
“I was happy and relieved because this is the first game we had competition and we had to work for our win,” Felder said. “They weren’t hesitant about shooting three’s at all, and they threw us out of our defense more than half the time.
“It was hard to adjust to where everybody was on the court because they had shooters.”
All told, the Titans connected on seven treys – two each from Schaefer, Schneider and Brittany Kaewell. Kaewell had a team-high 15 points while Mummert added 14 points – eight in a pivotal fourth quarter that saw the Titans outscore the Panthers 20-14.
“They’re a good, solid, physical team,” Cheltenham coach Bob Schaefer said. “If they had gotten off as many shots as we did, we would have lost by 15 or 20. Their jayvee had six or seven three’s. It was unbelievable.
“Our kids showed a lot of character, hanging in there and getting the baskets when they had to. They have a real nice team.”
Felder finished with a game-high 21 points and made all the big plays for the Lady Panthers. Sophomore Ciara Andrews added 12 points for the Lady Panthers.
The Lady Panthers took a tenuous 20-18 lead into halftime, but it was a 22-21 game after Gabe Vass buried a trey early in the third quarter. The Lady Panthers answered with a 6-0 run that was capped by an easy basket by Monet Constant with a Felder assist to put the Panthers on top 28-21.
Kaewell connected on a shot just inside the arc to break a scoring drought of close to three minutes, but Felder found Andrews for a bucket in close to put the Panthers back on top by seven.
When Felder scored on a tough shot off the dribble, the Panthers led 34-25.
This was the perfect time for the Titans to fold, but it didn’t happen.
Although they still trailed by seven at the end of three quarters (37-30), Schaefer got the ball rolling by burying a trey to open the final frame.
Liz Taliaferro answered with a bucket for the Panthers. Then it was Mummert converting an offensive board into a basket. A Vass steal resulted in a basket by Schneider, and the Panthers’ lead had been trimmed to one.
Felder found Constant for another bucket, but Mummert connected on an outside shot, making it a one-point game yet again.
The Panthers came up short on the front end of a one-and-one, and when Schaefer connected on a trey from the top of the circle, the Titans led 43-41 with 2:42 remaining.
“It was so frustrating because we had to alter our defense,” Felder said. “First we were in the ‘T’ and then we went to a three-up. Then we played a box-and-one on their shooter (Kaewell), but everyone on their team is a shooter.
“It was very frustrating.”
Felder – unflappable under pressure – scored on a tough shot off the dribble to knot the score with 2:24 remaining.
“Shayla Felder is a phenomenal point guard,” Mattern said. “She is just absolutely fantastic. There’s nothing else to be said about her.
“(Colleges) would be crazy to pass on her. I don’t care how tall she is – I would put her on my team any day. She could help anyone.”
Moments later Taliaferro turned a steal into an easy bucket and a 45-43 Cheltenham lead, but Mummert answered at the other end, setting the stage for the longest – and possibly most dramatic - minute of the young season.
“When they went up by nine, I told them, ‘We have a decision to make – we’re either going to fold and let them finish it out, or we’re going to suck it up and get ourselves back in the game,’ and we did,” Mattern said. “It was a tough one to swallow, but our kids just battled.”
While the Panthers improved to 10-0, the Titans fell to 5-6.
“Right after the game, it was like, ‘Oh crap, this sucks. We should have had this – we were so close,’” Kaycee Schaefer said. “But after thinking about it for a little while, it was still a negative feeling, but it was as good as it could be because we’re proud of how we played.
“I guarantee you – whoever was watching this game or knew it was going to be played probably thought we were going to get just stomped on. Everyone was so proud of how we played.”
CHELTENHAM 51, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 50
Central Bucks South (50) – Katelyn Schneider 2 0-0 6; Brooke Eife 0 0-0 0; Tyler Vitelli 0 2-2 2; Nicole Mummert 7 0-2 14; Kaycee Schaefer 2 2-2 8; Brittany Kaewell 6 1-2 15; Kelsey Herrmann 0 0-0 0; Shannon Senour 0 0-0 0; Gab Vass 2 0-0 5. TOTALS 19 5-8 50
Cheltenham (51) – Liz Taliaferro 3 0-0 6; Monet Constant 2 0-0 4; Ciara Andrews 5 2-2 12; Tiffany Johnson 1 0-1 2; Christina Coleman 0 0-0 0; Kira Ogden 1 2-2 4; Shayla Felder 7 6-8 21; Austin Hamler 0 0-0 0; Lorraine Oliver 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 10-13 51.
Central Bucks South 11 7 12 20-50
Cheltenham 14 6 17 14-51
Three-point goals: CB South – Brittany Kaewell 2, Katelyn Schneider 2, Kaycee Schaefer 2, Gab Vass. Cheltenham – Shayla Felder.
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