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PLYMOUTH MEETING – They dreamed of playing the role of giant killer, and they came oh so close.But in the end, Central Bucks East was doomed by a seven-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter of Saturday afternoon’s District One AAAA quarterfinal against second-seeded Downingtown East.
The seventh-seeded Patriots pulled to within three after Madge Ross converted a three-point play at the 7:05 mark of the fourth quarter but then didn’t score until 39 seconds remained in the game, allowing the Cougars to escape with a 47-42 win.
“From my standpoint, we were really anxious to get the score and get momentum,” Ross said. “We were as close as we had gotten the whole game.
“The turnovers – double dribbles, travelling – it just seemed like they were plays of anxiety. We weren’t concentrating on the little things.”
While the Patriots were struggling through an offensive nightmare in the fourth quarter, the Cougars weren’t doing much better as they were more than a little flustered by East’s fullcourt pressure defense and scored just four points.
“Our defense after the first quarter gave us a chance to win the game,” East coach Tom Lonergan said.
And it was the Patriots’ relentless effort that was applauded when it was over as their fans rose to their feet and gave their squad a sustained ovation.
“We don’t feel defeated,” Ross said. “We want revenge really, really badly.”
The Patriots, who have averaged 58 points a game this season, couldn’t come close to that on Saturday. They shot 26 percent from the floor in the first half and 31 percent for the whole game.
“You’re not going to win games against teams the level of Downingtown East shooting that poorly from the floor,” Lonergan said. “When the defense plays as well as it did after the first quarter, it’s very disappointing.”
The Patriots were ultimately doomed by a first quarter that saw the Cougars go on a 19-12 tear.
“Their offense against our man was incredible,” Ross said. “They had it down pat, and they executed.
“I think the worst part of that game was we started out slow, but I definitely saw in the second half that they were getting tired against our fullcourt defense. We really proved ourselves. Like our coach was saying, if we had a couple more minutes, I think we could have gotten it.”
The Patriots began to find their defensive stride in the second quarter, outscoring the Cougars 9-8, but Downingtown East still took a 27-21 lead into halftime.
The Patriots exchanged baskets with the Cougars in the third quarter and could get no closer than six until Ross’s three-point play to open the fourth quarter. Their pressure defense forced turnovers on six out of eight Cougar possessions, but they couldn’t capitalize and had three turnovers of their own in that stretch.
“That fourth quarter we had more turnovers than in the first three quarters combined,” Lonergan said. “We just made some bad decisions out there with the ball, got a little lackadaisical with it.”
The Cougars went on top 45-40, thanks to a pair of foul shots in the final 1:43, before Ross connected on a pair with 39 seconds to break the seven-minute drought. It was too little too late for the Patriots.
Ross, however, believes that her team’s shooting woes are not cause for concern.
“If that was the one thing that stopped us and prevented us from pulling through, that’s a good thing because we can totally fix it,” she said.
“It was a one-game, fluke situation where something happens like that.
“It’s not like someone got hurt or we didn’t know what to do or our defense was breaking down. People will still take us lightly, and that gives us even more momentum to fix the little things.”
The Patriots will face Council Rock North in the fifth place game. The third-seeded Indians were upset by the 11th-seeded Whippets 51-42 in a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
EXTRA SHOTS: Caitlin Vasey led the Patriots with 11 points while Ross had seven. She scored all of those points in the second half and was an integral part of East’s success on the defensive end as well. “Our guards are as big as our center, so we try and take advantage of that with our man-to-man and try and use our size as a defensive mechanism,” Lonergan said. “Madge is a good size for a guard, and she and Cait Vasey have long arms and really do a good job of getting in the lanes. Madge is good at being very aggressive with the ball, and that’s what we felt we had to do against them. We knew they weren’t very deep at all, and we knew we wanted to go at them, get them in foul trouble, and we did all that. All of their players had two or three fouls at the end of the first half.”
DOWNINGTOWN EAST 47, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 42
Central Bucks East (42) - Jaime Donovan 2 0-0 5; Sarah Pullar 0 0-0 0; Madge Ross 2 3-3 7; Caitlin Vasey 5 1-2 11; Sarah Martin 0 0-0 0; Liz Martin 3 1-2 7; Kristina Pogue 1 2-2 4; Jordan Seiz 1 2-2 4; Melissa Remmey 1 0-1 2; Amanda Lippincott 0 0-0 0; Courtney McManus 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 9-12 42.
Downingtown East (47) Kelly Joran 4 1-1 10; Biz Matta 4 2-6 10; Meghan Kerrigan 3 2-2 9; Kristen Blye 2 2-6 6; Ro Gentry 4 0-0 12; Taylor Thompson 0 0-0 0; Amber Yacenda 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-15 47.
CB East 12 9 16 5-42
Downingtown East 19 8 16 4-47
Three-point goals: CBE-Donovan; DE-Gentry 4, Joran, Kerrigan
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