To view game action photos, visit the photo gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
QUAKERTOWN – Kyra Ames and her Quakertown teammates knew that a whole lot could happen in two minutes on the basketball court.
That might explain why they were not panicking when they found themselves staring at a five-point deficit with time winding down in Wednesday’s SOL showdown against Pennridge.
“We just looked at each other and told each other to calm down that we still had more than two minutes, which is a lot of time in basketball,” the Panther senior said. “We told each other to relax and play our game, which is what we did, and we turned the game around.”
Quakertown’s ‘game’ took the Rams out of their game rather quickly, and several costly Pennridge turnovers against Quakertown’s fullcourt pressure resulted in big baskets, allowing the Panthers to send the game into overtime.
Colleen Gavin scored six of her team’s seven points in OT as the Panthers went on to earn a hard-fought 49-45 win over their archrivals on Senior Night.
“It was the best win we could possibly have,” Ames said. “This definitely makes our season.”
The win was the second of the season for the Panthers over the Rams, and this one gave the Panthers (8-5) a leg up over the Rams (6-6) in the battle for third place in the Continental Conference standings.
“This is huge,” Swavely said. “Pennridge is a solid program. They’ve beaten us the last ‘X’ number of years, and for us to get a sweep of them this year – I’m absolutely ecstatic.
“I’m so happy for this program and the girls on this team.”
While Dianna Ciccarone scored 12 points, Gavin– who turned in a monster 19-point, 18-rebound effort – was the catalyst in the win for the Panthers.
“The last two games have been the best games I have seen Colleen play,” Panther coach Greg Swavely said. “It couldn’t happen at a better time.
“Hopefully it will continue, and we can get into some post-season games, and we can keep it going.”
The focus of Quakertown’s Senior Night game was Breast Cancer Awareness, and the Rams – who knew about it beforehand – made it personal, creating pink tie-dyed t-shirts of their own that read, ‘We play in honor of Mrs. Kunkle and Mrs. Domonic,’ two team mothers who have waged personal battles against the disease.
Their daughters - Marissa Kunkle (16 points) and Dominic (15 points) - led the way for the Rams, who were hoping to notch win number 100 of coach Brooke Martin’s career.
“We came in really wanting to win,” Dominic said. “This would have been a really big game for our coach and we wanted to play for our moms.
“We wanted it really bad, and it’s horrible it had to come down the way it came down. Before the game, we were really pumped up and really excited to play.”
Martin wasn’t concerned about picking up a historic win, but she was disappointed to see a game the Panthers had an opportunity to win slip away.
“Toward the end of the game, we were definitely more passive than going into the game, and we weren’t confident the way we were the first three quarters,” the Rams’ coach said. “We’re playing for the playoffs now.
“We were hoping to get a decent seed. This is a big week for us. If we could have pulled these games out, we could have bumped it up a lot, but obviously, things didn’t go our way today.”
The two teams went into the final quarter deadlocked 32-32, thanks to a bucket by Ciccarone at the buzzer. Kristine Jackiewicz buried a trey in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter to put the Panthers on top 35-32, but Kunkle connected on a pair at the foul line.
When Dominic scored on a drive to the hoop, the Panthers led 36-35. Ciccarone connected on a pair of foul shots to put the Panthers back on top, but not for long. Dominic, who was fouled shooting a trey, sank two-of-three from the charity stripe, giving the Rams a one-point advantage.
A Domenic trey that appeared to be off the mark banked off the backboard and through the net, and when Lindsey Lyons connected on one-of-two from the foul line, the Rams led 42-37. They maintained that lead until Gavin - who was a near-perfect 11-for-12 from the line - sank one-of-two foul shots with 2:12 remaining in regulation.
Quakertown’s Juli King came up with a steal on the Panthers’ fullcourt press, and after Gavin hit on a pair of foul shots, King had another theft on the press. This time Ciccarone turned it into a layup that knotted the score 42-42.
“We realized we had to pick up our intensity and we needed to score on every possession,” Gavin said. “We came through and got a couple of turnovers.
“Defense is the most important part of the game. You can score two points, and if they score zero, you win the game. It’s all about defense.”
“As long as we keep our heads in it on defense, the offense will come,” Ames added. “They’re good shooters. We knew we had to get out and help each other.”
Back-to-back charge calls in the closing seconds – both of which raised eyebrows - ensured that the game would go into overtime.
Gavin put the Panthers on the scoreboard with a bucket midway through OT, and they never looked back, opening up a 47-42 lead before Kunkle connected on a trey from NBA range with 14 seconds remaining to pull the Rams to within two. Gavin was fouled immediately on the inbounds. She sank both shots, and the big win was in the books for the Panthers.
“It’s so great,” Gavin said. “Every time we beat them they always say, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t have won.’ We beat them twice. It proves we’re the better team.”
Earlier in the game, the Rams jumped out to a 15-14 lead at the end of one quarter. Domenic and Kunkle both had five points for the Rams while Ciccarone and Ames both had five for the Panthers. The Rams – despite a six-minute drought without a field goal – took a 22-20 lead into halftime. The Panthers knotted things up in the third quarter, setting the stage for the dramatic ending.
“I think our girls just had a greater desire to win,” Swavley said. “They just said to themselves at the start of the fourth quarter that they were going to do whatever it took to win this game.
“It just happened turnover by turnover – you play one possession at a time. I’m just so proud of our girls.”
While the Rams fell to 11-9 overall, the Panthers upped their record to 13-7.
QUAKERTOWN 49, PENNRIDGE 45 (OT)
Pennridge (45) – Lyons 3 3-4 9, Dominic 5 2-4 15, Kunkle 5 4-6 16, Zickler 1 1-2 3, Coley 1 0-0 2, Villela 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 10-16 45.
Quakertown (49) – Ames 3 0-0 7, Starzecky 3 0-0 6, Ciccarone 4 3-4 12, Gavin 4 11-12 19, Jackiewicz 2 0-0 5, King 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 14-16 49.
Pennridge 15 7 10 10 3-45
Quakertown 14 6 12 10 7-49
Three-point goals: Pennridge – Jordan Dominic 3, Marissa Kunkle 2. Quakertown – Kyra Ames, Daniella Ciccarone, Kristine Jackiewicz.
- Log in to post comments
0
